Romar Jones Takes a Hike: Runaway or Missing Person ... - Softcover

Walker, Jan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0984840028 ISBN 13: 9780984840021

Publisher: Plicata Press, 2015

Synopsis

Meet Romar Jones, 15 ½, basketball player with months to go before the next season and no one who cares about him since Granny died. His dad's been dead for two years. When his 9th grade language arts teacher says pay attention to the poetry unit or take a hike, Romar opts for the hike, leaves Roseburg, Oregon, and embarks on a journey to find his mother. He knows she's in prison in Washington. He shrugs on his dad's trail-guide backpack, and sets out, heading first to the coast to leave some of Granny's ashes. Within minutes of first chasing waves on the ocean beach, he encounters a derelict man he dubs Meth Mouth. Five days after leaving school he stops at Vesta's by the Sea near Yachats. Could have been good luck. Could have been Granny steered him there and had a hand in all that happened after.

About this title

From the Author:

Romar's story, though fiction, began growing in my mind and heart while I taught parenting and family classes to female offenders in the Washington Corrections Center for Women. During my tenure, a young man looking for his mother showed up at the locked gates of that prison. He couldn't get inside. No one can walk in without prior authorization, documentation and rigorous screening. That young man had to be reported to proper law enforcement authorities.   
   When I started writing this story about a young man setting out to find his incarcerated mother, I chose a departure place that seemed reasonable for someone to hike. I traveled the route that Romar hiked so I would see what he saw. 
   Romar enters this story with no memory of his mother. He needs to know why she has never been a part of his life.  
   Early in his journey, Romar encounters a man he dubs Meth Mouth. Methamphetamine is destroying lives of those who use it, their children and family members, and their many victims. The manufacture and use of meth is one thread that runs through this story.   
   Children of incarcerated parents tend to become forgotten kids.Most don't talk about their parents crimes or imprisonment. Without intervention by a caring adult, a high percentage of these kids end up behind bars.

From the Back Cover:

Romar Jones, 15 1/2, runaway or missing person? It makes a world of difference.

When his 9th grade language arts teacher tells him to pay attention to the poetry assignment or take a hike, Romar opts for the hike, walks out of Roseburg Oregon High School and embarks on a journey to find his mother. He figures that shouldn't be too hard. She's in prison in Washington.
   Romar lived with his dad and Granny for thirteen years. When his dad died in an accident, Romar and his Granny moved in with relatives who didn't really want them. Granny and basketball kept Romar going for the next two years, but now Granny is dead, the basketball season is over and his uncle plans to pawn him off on another relative.
   Before she died, Romar promised Granny he'd get some of her ashes to Smelt Sands Beach on the Oregon Coast. Heading there first, before hiking north to Washington, feels like his best shot.
   Romar Jones Takes a Hike is the sometimes sad, sometime funny and totally satisfying story of a teenage boy finding his way to independence in a place he calls Home. Settings include Yachats and the Cummins Creek Wilderness on the Oregon Coast and the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor, Washington.

About this edition

• Publisher: Plicata Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0984840028
• ISBN 13: 9780984840021
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 208