Red Rover, Red Rover

by George Ella Lyon

When Sumi's brother leaves for boarding school, her best friend moves away, her grandfather dies, and her mother withdraws into grief, Sumi finds herself facing the beginning of adolescence alone and afraid.

Genres: Fiction

131 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

George Ella Lyon is a Kentucky author who has published in many genres, including picture books, poetry, juvenile novels, and articles.

Reviews

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published as Red Rover, Red Rover, this brief young adult novel was re-released by Troll as The Stranger I Left Behind. Troll apparently used no author input in re-titling the book, much less in giving it a new cover that is so irrelevant one wonders if anybody in editorial read the book at all.

The novel is a sensitive portrait of a girl experiencing her toughest year: the death of a beloved grandparent, her brother's absence, her best friend moving, and the onset of puberty. All of this happens at a time when Peter, Paul, & Mary are riding the pop charts, so God knows what's going on with the early-90s kid on the cover here. Why is she afraid of the red Jeep? A better question is *what* red Jeep; I'd mark this as a spoiler, but I don't think it's a spoiler when something never even existed.

Like many adolescents, especially those whose parents are in denial about their children's changing maturity, Sumi may think the world is against her, but at least she's not living in whatever throwaway thriller the cover promises here. This is a book about grief, isolation, and discovering the ones you love are imperfect people, all handled with a deft hand and Lyon's meticulous eye for telling detail.

[Texmexlex · Rating 1 out of 5]

when I picked this up years ago I thought I was going to read a thriller and waited the whole book for something to happen only to find the biggest thing was the girl getting her period. Apparently it's a kids book, a 'coming of age' book, to be fair my copy had the entire summary ripped off its spine and all I had to go off of was the cover.
never again loool very misleading cover art and title

[Mary Jo Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t realize it’s a kids book, but it was in a pile of books gifted to me so I read it

[Oxalis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great read for young women, around grades 5 and 6. I think this could really help them transition to the "awkward years."