The Horn Book Guide

LITERATURE

Johnson, Angela

Running Back to Ludie

45 pp. | Scholastic/Orchard | October, 2001 | Trade ISBN 0-439-29316-2 $$15.99

(2) YA Illustrated by Angelo. In unobtrusive language that is as transparent as it is luminous, Ludie's teenaged daughter voices her ambivalent feelings about her absent mother. Each of thirty-four free-verse vignettes adds another defining moment in the girl's life, another dimension to her character. Johnson's exploration of a young person's coming to terms with a perceived rejection by an absent parent is subtle and beautifully wrought.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2001