"Escapist fiction" is usually just a figure of speech, but a new adventure series by D.E. Knobbe puts escape front and center. Runaway Storm (Emerald Book Co., $16.95), the leadoff title, takes readers 12-and-up along for the ride as an unhappy teen kayaks through Canada's Gulf Islands in a desperate show of independence from his estranged parents.Nate has spent a miserable year in New York with his mother and can't wait for the two of them to return home to Vancouver, B.C., where his father still lives. But now his mom is wavering on her promise to limit the New York stay to one year -- and a so-called emergency has prompted his dad to cancel their summer plans for kayaking together through the Gulf Islands. With his dad out of town and his mom vacationing in Paris with her new boyfriend, Nate decides to fly to Vancouver on his own -- misleading both his parents about his whereabouts.
From there it's just a short hop to Galiano Island, where Nate's ill-conceived solo voyage teaches him valuable life lessons. Namely, that cash and currents flow surprisingly quickly, that some kids have it tougher than he does, that drinking water and sunscreen are essential and that it's best to keep one's distance from friendly strangers who turn out to be drug smugglers.
There are some good, gripping moments in Runaway Storm, but they come relatively late in the story. There's a lot of unnecessary plot setup, some of it revolving around a ne'er-do-well New York kid named Sam who talks big and smokes big but otherwise isn't very well developed. (Perhaps we'll meet him in a future installment?) In addition, the dialog is unconvincing in spots. I can't picture teens uttering lines like, "...That doesn't mean you can't use a helping hand from a friend once in a while," or, "Nothing like the runaway school of hard knocks to change a person." Still, once the action starts rolling, this is a fun read.
Author Dawne Knobbe, who lives in California, says she was heavily influenced by Hatchet, Gary Paulsen's classic survival tale, and by Down River and River Thunder, by Will Hobbs.
Knobbe doesn't have Paulsen's awe-inspiring mastery of the written word -- but on the other hand, my kids thought Hatchet was boring, so go figure. Hobbs is a very accessible writer. I especially like Leaving Protection (treachery and a dangerous storm on an Alaska commercial-fishing trip) and Crossing the Wire (the desperate journey of a 15-year-old illegal immigrant). Click the links to read more about Hobbs and Paulsen.
On her website Knobbe explains how she came to write Runaway Storm:
"The idea for Runaway Storm formed when I was about 15. My brother and I were on Galiano Island at a place called Montague Harbor. We met a runaway there who was about my age and I was fascinated by his experiences. He told us that on his first night on the island he’d unrolled his sleeping bag too close to the water and the rising tide had crept up and soaked him and everything he owned in the middle of the night. It was illegal to camp on the beach in the park, so by day he hid his supplies under the roots of an old oak tree so that the park ranger wouldn’t kick him out.
"He seemed to enjoy talking to us, and I got the feeling he was lonely. He invited us to stay for lunch and promptly donned a mask and snorkel. He disappeared under water only to pop up moments later with a crab in each hand. We didn’t stay for lunch, but I never forgot the boy, and the nut of the idea for Runaway Storm has been with me ever since."
Although Nate's escapades make for good armchair adventure, Knobbe acknowledges that runaways face potentially serious dangers, including involvement in pornography or prostitution. Her website includes a page of advice ("Things to Do if Your Teen Runs Away") and help-line numbers for at-risk youth. The U.S. phone number is 1-800-375-5683. In Canada call 1-800-387-7962. Still, this is not an "issue" book, it's coming-of-age entertainment that revels in escapist fantasy. And that's fine by me.
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