runnerland

Well, not so much a review as a synopsis, a precis. But that’s cool too - all press is good press, yes yes? It’s from the Edmonton Sun’s weekend comix page. In celebration, rocking the Moby Live: The Hotel Tour 2005. See, it’s not always about the metal. Not always.

March 11, 2007
Runaway

How life can change so quickly for a normal boy in Runnerland (Raincoast Books, $11.95), a new novel by John Burns for readers ages 12 and up.

Peter is living a normal life until his dad dies suddenly. Then Peter accidentally discovers he was adopted. Feeling betrayed, overwhelmed and confused, Peter runs away and finds himself living with street kids in a squat ruled by a dangerous but charismatic man named Dekman.

Soon bored of panhandling, Peter finds a way to escape, using his mind, to a psychedelic subconscious world he calls Runnerland. As pressures mount, more and more times Peter goes to Runnerland, blurring the border between
reality and fantasy.

Finally, Peter must make some hard choices and find answers to the questions that have been bothering him. Can he escape Dekman’s gang? And if he does escape, what kind of home does he have to return to? This book is particularly poignant in its depiction of life on the streets for young people. An average of 48,217 children run away from home in Canada each year and youth living on the street has become a common sight in many cities.

This account of a young man’s search for self – and self worth – realistically depicts another side of the runaway child story.