My Review: Perfectly pitched story about two eleven year olds who run away from the situations at home for completely different reasons and end up on the same journey together. Jamie and July have very different backgrounds and outlooks on life but this carefully crafted story explores how easy it is for young people to slip between the cracks and the dangers that they then face. The writing is never preachy, it is always empathic and sensitive. She manages to capture the two main characters so clearly through the dual narrative structure and they are vividly and authentically imagined. Topics sensitively touched upon include having a parent in prison, drug abuse (veiled, not specific), alcohol abuse, assault, racial profiling, neglect, homelessness, foster carers, social workers and peer pressure. This probably sounds like a hard-hitting read but somehow it isn’t. It’s a warm, compassionate and hopeful story that leaves you feeling grateful for the kind and giving people out there and with a greater understanding about how parents and children can get themselves in and out of difficult situations.

Suggested For: readers who enjoy realistic, contemporary stories about young people and the struggles that they might face.

If You Like This You Might Enjoy: Ella on the Outside by Cath Howe, Snow Foal by Susanna Bailey, Boy Underwater by Adam Baron, All The Things That Could Go Wrong by Stewart Foster, Bigg School: Double Drama by Lisa Williamson, The Star Outside my Window by Onjali Q Raúf (9+)

Blurb: He needs to get lost. She wants to be found.

Jamie and July are both eleven-year-olds living in London – but they have very different lives. They meet for the first time at Waterloo Station in the last week of the holidays. They are both desperate to get away from home. July is really worried about her unreliable mum – she needs to get help. Jamie has done something terrible – and left in a panic. Despite their worries, the sun is shining and, as they escape everything they’ve left behind in the city, Jamie and July can’t help but sense adventure in the air.

But running away isn’t just harmless summertime fun. What are they really trying to escape? And will either Jamie or July find a place that finally feels like home?

Three homes, two kids, one journey.