Today I Thought I'd Run Away - Hardcover

Jane Johnson

9780525441939: Today I Thought I'd Run Away

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052544193X ISBN 13: 9780525441939

Publisher: Dutton, 1986

When he decides to run away, a young boy packs a bag with special things that help protect him from the ogre, goblin, dragon, and other monsters that he meets on the way

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-3 A mixed bag of ideas that don't mesh. A young child decides to run away. He packs a bag with special objects and sets out. Encountering an ogre, a dragon, a demon, and a monster, he pulls various items from his bag which are magically transformed and help him to escape. Eventually the boy runs out of tricks and returns home to get more objects, planning to run away tomorrow. The emphasis seems to be on a child overcoming the fear of monsters, although this child goes about it very matter-of-factly. The motivation for running away is never addressed. The text reads well, but the illustrations of the monsters are a major problem. A mixture of watercolor, colored pencil and pen-and-ink, most of these pictures are vivid and very frightening, such as a large demon with flames bursting from his skin. One is quite similar to Sendak's monsters in Where the Wild Things Are (Harper, 1963); the language pattern used by this child is imitative of Max. Max' taming of the wild things provides an infinitely more satisfying adventure, and the runaway child aspect is better handled in The Runaway Bunny (Harper, 1972) by Margaret Wise Brown. Judith Gloyer, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

This engrossing picture book brings the power of old-fashioned magic to a contemporary tale. Armed with a carpetbag full of treasures, a little boy runs away from home. When he meets a "grumbling, rumbling, lumbering ogre," he throws his comb on the ground and makes a forest grow between himself and the ogre. On he goes, magically fending off dragons and demons with his talismans. At last he meets a "howling, growling, yowling monster," and dispenses with him by donning his Dad's old hat, crying "Behave yourself!" in his loudest voice, and then he goes home to bed. The genuinely scary creatures here may frighten some readers, but heartier souls will delight in the lustily rendered depictions of ferocious monsters. The text has the cadence of poetry and is reminiscent of mythological tales.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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