Run Far and Run Fast
By Timothy Decker
I was captivated by the cover of this book, it is black and there are a bunch of pictures in a comic book format. It definitely does not look a normal children’s book. When I opened the book I was in complete surprise and had to check it to look at it further. The illustrations of the book were pencil drawn and put in a comic book format. There are a bunch of little pictures together in a rectangle shape. These pictures related to what was occurring during a specific part of the story but were not explicitly stated in the text. I think that the comic book format is an interesting choice for this book since the plot is about a plague that hits medieval Europe. Comic books and the medieval time period are not usually two things that go together. When I first looked at the book I had no idea what it was about, and I defiantly did not think that it was about the plague. Honestly the first time I read it I did not understand what was going on but when I reread I was able to identify that the girl in the story was in fact running away from a plague. Since this girl is running from this deathly plague I have to say the overall tone of the book is slightly depressing and the pencil drawn black and gray illustrations did not help to make it less so. Due to the fact that this book addresses a slightly depressing topic and that it is far from the norm of children’s books I would recommend an older audience. This is also not a book to read in class I think that it would be hard to follow and that students would not be able to see all of the illustrations. Overall this is an interesting book that but unfortunately it was not necessarily a book that appealed to me. I would approach this book with caution, it is not for everyone.