Library Book-es

Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen
Abused by several foster families, Holly decides to run away. Her journal tells of jumping trains, sleeping in boxes, and eating trash, and she pours out her anger as poems. She trusts no one, not even the kindly woman who hands out food or the girl who tries to help. But Holly is lonely, and people offer her their home. Can she forget her anger and learn to trust them?

I can't imagine having to find my food and clothes and shelter. I've never experienced anything like that, and at the very least I would become bitter and disillusioned. My family is supposed to help me, but they're gone. The state handed me to other families who were supposed to help by they starved me and locked me up. It's a salvation story: you've hit rock bottom, and someone inexplicably helps you up and carries you on.

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The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones
Mitt, accused of murder in the South, has fled North, only to find himself ordered to assassinate the heir to the throne. If he refuses, the lives of his friends are in danger. He joins Moril the musician, Maewen, who has been kidnapped from the future to replace the heir apparent, in their quest to bring peace to Dalemark. But the evil of Kankredin is gathering, and it seems that none of them, or Dalemark, can escape.

Time travel is always hard to sort out, and if the person in question must also play the part of another person, it can quickly become chaotic. This is Jones's style. Her other books seem similarly scattered, but once the ending has been read twice the general feeling is of liking. Jones's descriptions are very powerful.

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