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On the Run
In 1944, Frans, is a twelve-year-old boarding school student taking care of a band of ponies when an American airman is shot down over occupied Holland. Frans rescues Bill. While trying to bring him to a safe place, they are both nearly captured by the Germans. On the run, they survive a number of harrowing experiences. This book relates in graphic detail how people survived the occupation, the hunger winter, separation, displacement, and the loss of family, friends and homes. It is a story of friendships, of people taking care of each other, of Germans who took care of the Dutch and of Dutchmen who were deceitful. The boy has to come to grips with good and evil, coming of age in a difficult time.
82 pages, Library Binding
First published August 15, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 13, 2026
This book was a very interesting story, and it was one of the few middle-grade-ish historical fictions that was actually really historically accurate. I'd give five stars for historical accuracy for sure!
I also cannot stress how much I loved the fact that the boy, Frans, was not acting on his own and saving the world on his own and disobeying the "stupid adults" to do it. When he first discovers the pilot, the FIRST thing he does, (after giving the man water) is to run to the adult in his life that he trusts most. (one of the brothers at the school where he is living.)
From there, the adults are the ones directing his moves, and he listens to them. When things go wrong, he looks to the adults first, and obeys them without question. In moments when snap decisions are needed and he is the one who knows the area and/or situation better, he does make some wise decisions, but you never feel that he's leading the way for the grown ups. Also, the tasks that he was given were ones that could have been (and often were) completed by children in that time. (not like one book I read where the 12-year-old takes on the highly trained S.O.E. officer's mission because he broke his leg. Wouldn't have happened, and she never could have done it) Anyways, I really, really appreciated his deference to grown ups, his obedience to them, and the fact that he was clearly still a kid and some of the tasks got pretty hard for him. There were a few times where he was ready to drop a lot sooner than the man he was with. When he was on his own, he made good, yet still novice decisions. I could go on and on about this, as it is a huge pet peeve of mine that I see all the time in middle-grade fiction. So five stars to that for sure!
The thing that made me give it three stars was the writing. The author is a good one, I can tell that by reading the book. He knows how to write for sure, but I don't know if fiction and stories is his normal genre. It felt like he was still discovering how to write characters, scene changes, etc. I was never able to get inside any of the character's heads, learn their personality, or really root for them because of who they were. I was more rooting for the side of the war they were on. There were some repetitive descriptions or even just a large lack of description in several chapters. I would call the writing style, "immature" in the meaning that I don't think this author has written enough of this style of book to have a really "mature" writing voice in it. It almost seemed like I was listening to him tell the story word-of-mouth and didn't get all the in-depth description and character study that I would expect in a book.
All that to say, to those of you who can forgive the lesser-quality of the story-telling, it's a great book and has a brave young fellow as the MC. I think I can safely say I would be willing to give another of his historical fictions a try (if he writes anymore) because at least I know it will be accurate to history and not have "save the world power kids"
I also cannot stress how much I loved the fact that the boy, Frans, was not acting on his own and saving the world on his own and disobeying the "stupid adults" to do it. When he first discovers the pilot, the FIRST thing he does, (after giving the man water) is to run to the adult in his life that he trusts most. (one of the brothers at the school where he is living.)
From there, the adults are the ones directing his moves, and he listens to them. When things go wrong, he looks to the adults first, and obeys them without question. In moments when snap decisions are needed and he is the one who knows the area and/or situation better, he does make some wise decisions, but you never feel that he's leading the way for the grown ups. Also, the tasks that he was given were ones that could have been (and often were) completed by children in that time. (not like one book I read where the 12-year-old takes on the highly trained S.O.E. officer's mission because he broke his leg. Wouldn't have happened, and she never could have done it) Anyways, I really, really appreciated his deference to grown ups, his obedience to them, and the fact that he was clearly still a kid and some of the tasks got pretty hard for him. There were a few times where he was ready to drop a lot sooner than the man he was with. When he was on his own, he made good, yet still novice decisions. I could go on and on about this, as it is a huge pet peeve of mine that I see all the time in middle-grade fiction. So five stars to that for sure!
The thing that made me give it three stars was the writing. The author is a good one, I can tell that by reading the book. He knows how to write for sure, but I don't know if fiction and stories is his normal genre. It felt like he was still discovering how to write characters, scene changes, etc. I was never able to get inside any of the character's heads, learn their personality, or really root for them because of who they were. I was more rooting for the side of the war they were on. There were some repetitive descriptions or even just a large lack of description in several chapters. I would call the writing style, "immature" in the meaning that I don't think this author has written enough of this style of book to have a really "mature" writing voice in it. It almost seemed like I was listening to him tell the story word-of-mouth and didn't get all the in-depth description and character study that I would expect in a book.
All that to say, to those of you who can forgive the lesser-quality of the story-telling, it's a great book and has a brave young fellow as the MC. I think I can safely say I would be willing to give another of his historical fictions a try (if he writes anymore) because at least I know it will be accurate to history and not have "save the world power kids"
August 22, 2020
Good story, very informative. I enjoyed learning about the Dutch at the end of WWII.
July 31, 2021
5 stars! I know the author and can just hear his voice telling this story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews