Run, Shelley, Run!

by Gertrude Samuels

A sixteen-year-old girl runs away from a state training school and struggles to hold on to her freedom

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

174 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shelley is a girl from a troubled home, named for the English poet Shelley. For various reasons she keeps having to run away from home (mother is an alcoholic, sleazy stepfathers etc).

Social services are hot on her heals but aren't able to offer any solutions that really work, and the running away continues.

Because she doesn't stay put, Shelley eventually ends up at a young offenders institution where she makes a friend, Deedee, whom she later stays with after being released from juvenile detention. There is a happy ending, but not until after Shelley and her friend have been to hell and back.

A book I read in Swedish that was available at my school library.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, my gosh. Hilarious and sad, both for the wrong reasons. If my grandmother knew what was in this book, I'm sure she wouldn't have let my aunt read it. (I picked it up off the bookshelf at their house.)

[Arlene Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite teen in trouble novel.

[Julielenore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this while camping at age 12 and have always remembered it. Recently I spotted the cover at a flea market and picked it up. Reading it again as an adult I realize how risque it was, especially since it was written in the early 1970's. Very gripping subject matter.

[Flora · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great bad-teen young-adult novels of all time. If you liked "Go Ask Alice," this should make you happy, too.

[Anne Sanow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drunk mamas, lecherous stepfathers, creepy truck drivers, hilarious tough-girl talk, moralistic amped-up fear of prison shower lesbians and much, much more!

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in middle school and LOVED it. I lost it, but am looking forward to finding a copy and re-reading it again.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Believable. From the 70s about a teen girl caught in the system of family courts, sadly. An eye-opener.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel both has incredible literary merit and is a classic histrionic YA problem novel. This is the book that made me gay.