The books in this section are usually hardcover and in decent shape, though we'll sometimes offer hard-to-find books in lesser condition at a reduced price. Though we often put images of the book with their original dust jackets, the copies here won't always (or even often) have them. If that is important to you, please call ahead or say so in the order comments!
"He started to run across the wet grass, between the apple trees and down to the gate. Outside the road wound before him like a ribbon. He kept running farther into the summer night."
Nine-year-old Rasmus was running away from the orphanage. They weren't really cruel to him there and he did regret leaving his good friend Gunnar. But he had resolved to look for a home of his own, and parents who wanted a boy of his age with straight hair instead of a small girl with curls. He was sure there must be such people somewhere and he set out to find them.
As he trudged along alone in the night, everything seemed unfriendly and Rasmus grew more and more homesick for the only home he knew. But there could be no turning back. By the time his weary feet had found a little barn and he had fallen asleep in a pile of hay, coldness had crept even into his stout heart.
Sun-up changed everything again, for then he met Oscar—Paradise Oscar—the most remarkable tramp anyone is ever likely to meet. He described himself as "God's best friend" and with Rasmus it was love at first sight.
How the boy took to the road in earnest, encountered robbers and police, and at last found exactly what he had longed for and sought, makes a wonderful and exciting story, well worthy of the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal.
This is a Junior Literary Guild selection, chosen as an outstanding book for boys and girls (A Group).
—from the dust jacket
Did you find this review helpful?