Status
Available
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Collections
Publication
Ember (2012), Edition: 1, 336 pages
Description
Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:The acclaimed author of Flipped delivers a powerful and healing story that�??s perfect for anyone who�??s ever thought that something was impossible. Readers will revel in the story of a girl who puts herself back together�??and learns to dream bigger than ever before�??after she�??s told she�??ll never run again. Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself�??she wants to take Rosa with her Winner of the Schneider F… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member brandileigh2003
The Running Dream is very inspirational, and I love books that make me feel, think and moves my heart.
Jessica is a great narrator- she has a concise voice, and I like how the emotion comes out in this book. It is fictional, but it all feels real. From the details, the emotions, the responses of
I love the message that comes through both Jessica and Rose- do not see the disability- see the person. I love that even though Jessica has her own physical problems, she must overcome her prejudices and notions with Rose.
This is a great story and I recommend it
Jessica is a great narrator- she has a concise voice, and I like how the emotion comes out in this book. It is fictional, but it all feels real. From the details, the emotions, the responses of
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friends and family, down to financial matters. I love the message that comes through both Jessica and Rose- do not see the disability- see the person. I love that even though Jessica has her own physical problems, she must overcome her prejudices and notions with Rose.
This is a great story and I recommend it
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LibraryThing member smheatherly2
I love how the main character Jessica is strong and relate able. You are able to feel her pain as she goes through losing her leg and coming to terms with her new life, however, she realizes that just because she is different doesn't mean she cannot still do what she loves, running.
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
Jessica is a runner. But on the way home from a track meet, her school bus is hit by a runaway truck, and Jessica loses a leg below the knee. She wants to run; she dreams about running. Will she be able to get a prosthetic leg that enables her to run?
LibraryThing member ALelliott
For readers:
I highly recommend this book to everyone. It's got a story you can't stop reading, characters you'll fall in love with, and believability oozing out its pages. Jessica is a competitive runner who loses her leg in a horrible accident. Convinced she'll never run again, Jessica can barely
Kids who will like this book: kids who like stories about friendship, kids dealing with hardship, pretty much anyone
For Educators and Librarians:
Van Draanen really became a big name with Flipped. This book is even better than Flipped, and that was a very good book. But whereas Flipped has lots of appeal for 6th through 8th grade, any teenager will like this book. Jessica is a very relatable character; she's not a saint, but her toughness and determination shine through, so you are always rooting for her. If you don't have this book in your library, you should. Just sayin'.
Reading level: 5th grade and up
Appropriateness: Recommend or assign without worry!
Who would like this book: Anyone, even boys. There's something for everyone.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. It's got a story you can't stop reading, characters you'll fall in love with, and believability oozing out its pages. Jessica is a competitive runner who loses her leg in a horrible accident. Convinced she'll never run again, Jessica can barely
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bring herself to face the world. But as she progressses through her recovery, she meets Rosa, a girl with cerebral palsy who teaches her a lot about math and even more about perseverance.Kids who will like this book: kids who like stories about friendship, kids dealing with hardship, pretty much anyone
For Educators and Librarians:
Van Draanen really became a big name with Flipped. This book is even better than Flipped, and that was a very good book. But whereas Flipped has lots of appeal for 6th through 8th grade, any teenager will like this book. Jessica is a very relatable character; she's not a saint, but her toughness and determination shine through, so you are always rooting for her. If you don't have this book in your library, you should. Just sayin'.
Reading level: 5th grade and up
Appropriateness: Recommend or assign without worry!
Who would like this book: Anyone, even boys. There's something for everyone.
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LibraryThing member Karen_D
The Running Dream is a look into the mind of a girl who has become a BTK (below the knee) amputee. Van Draanen really did her homework on this one. I know I learned a lot about the world of prosthetics and how people deal with losing a limb. It really makes me want to read Soul Surfer by Bethany
Jessica is a character I can believe in and care about. She spends the first part of the book wallowing in her own misery and even tries to block the mental pain with drugs. Thank goodness her parents are on the ball with that one and throw away the pills. That is another good thing about the book. The parents do not just fade into the background, instead they are fighting right along side Jessica, especially her mom. Her dad is hard at work trying to pay the bill because of Jessica's lack of insurance. It really makes me want to check and see that everyone I know have insurance because I do not want them to go through what Jessica's family goes through. This however gives her track team the initiative to start a fund raising campaign to buy Jessica a racing prosthetic racing leg. The team really pulls together and supports Jessica, especially her best friend Fiona. Fiona is a friend that I want right now! She helps Jessica and also pushes (not just her wheelchair) her to be more!
There is also a story line that involves a girl in her class that has cerebral palsy. Rosa is also an awesome friend that helps Jessica with her own tidbits of wisdom. Jessica dreams of being able to race with Rosa and show her what it is like to run. This is an inspiring story and made me cheer throughout. It is a bit predictable but that is part of its charm. I would recommend it to anyone who needs an inspiring tale!
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Hamilton to see her real life experience.Jessica is a character I can believe in and care about. She spends the first part of the book wallowing in her own misery and even tries to block the mental pain with drugs. Thank goodness her parents are on the ball with that one and throw away the pills. That is another good thing about the book. The parents do not just fade into the background, instead they are fighting right along side Jessica, especially her mom. Her dad is hard at work trying to pay the bill because of Jessica's lack of insurance. It really makes me want to check and see that everyone I know have insurance because I do not want them to go through what Jessica's family goes through. This however gives her track team the initiative to start a fund raising campaign to buy Jessica a racing prosthetic racing leg. The team really pulls together and supports Jessica, especially her best friend Fiona. Fiona is a friend that I want right now! She helps Jessica and also pushes (not just her wheelchair) her to be more!
There is also a story line that involves a girl in her class that has cerebral palsy. Rosa is also an awesome friend that helps Jessica with her own tidbits of wisdom. Jessica dreams of being able to race with Rosa and show her what it is like to run. This is an inspiring story and made me cheer throughout. It is a bit predictable but that is part of its charm. I would recommend it to anyone who needs an inspiring tale!
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LibraryThing member carma91
The Running Dream is kind of a typical inspirational, feel good, overcoming adversity type of book, but it's really good. Not ashamed to admit that I cried a lot reading it, because I was so happy for Jessica. Great book!
LibraryThing member AlexisLRogers
This book is very realistic and heart touching. I loved every part of it.
LibraryThing member teilermadison
The Running Dream is a great fiction novel about a teenage girl named Jessica and her struggle to get her life back on track. After losing her leg in a car accident, Jessica struggles to believe she will ever run again, but when her fellow track team comes up with a plan to help Jessica, her life
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might be turning around. I thought The Running Dream was full of heartfelt and love as Jessica's family and friends help her to regain not only her confidence, but her faith in herself and in others as she faces the biggest challenge of her life. The Running Dream is a great read for both young adults and adults of all genres. Show Less
LibraryThing member sbballard
This book was very readable from page 1. Jessica shares the story of the school bus accident in which she lost her lower leg. Her transition from feeling depressed and helpless to getting back to her running team is very moving and realistically told. As a medical librarian I found the details of
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her rehabilitation and the making of her prosthesis fascinating. Because of her own loss, she connects with a student with cerebral palsy and realizes that she was overlooking a girl who comes to be a good friend. Show Less
LibraryThing member phh333
really liked this book about a girl who gets in trouble even though her intentions are good. About her friendship with a troubled girl and how they help each other. Good brother/sister relationship too.
LibraryThing member mamzel
This moving book was about the determination of youth and the love of running and how these factored into getting a young woman back into the race. Jessica lost one of her legs BK (below the knee) because of an accident and has to learn all over again how to walk and how to rejoin the world of high
This is a book about a remarkable young woman with incredible strength who makes a terrific comeback thanks to her family, her friends, her teammates, and her community.
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school. Along the way she learns that she does not have the worst situation, that she can have a boyfriend that doesn't feel sorry for her, and that friends and family are everything.This is a book about a remarkable young woman with incredible strength who makes a terrific comeback thanks to her family, her friends, her teammates, and her community.
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LibraryThing member sleahey
When Jessica loses her leg in an accident on the way home from a track mete, her despair is overwhelming. Bit by bit, she regains hope and perspective, thanks to friendship, family, and her team's devotion. The characters in this book may be too good to be true, but it's a powerful story
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nonetheless. The information about amputation and prostheses is interesting. Although there is some edginess and irreverence, there isn't bad language or sex, so this will meet the need for a "clean" teen book. The audio reader, Laura Flanagan makesa a believable teen. Show Less
LibraryThing member MarieCasillas
Character: Jessica, Fiona, Rosa, Frank, coach, Sherlock, mother, father, track team
Setting: Small city
Theme: Understanding, acceptance
Genre: Realistic fiction
Summary: Jessica loses a portion of her leg in a bus accident while returning from a track meet. One of her fellow teammates, Lucy lost her
Audience: YA
Curriculum ties: overcoming disabilities
Personal response: I really enjoyed this book but thought that Jesscia accepted the loss of her leg rather easily. She also seemed to learn how to walk and run easily with her prosthetic legs. I think in real life that wouldn’t have been the case. Overall, I believe this book would be inspirational to a student with or without disabilities.
Setting: Small city
Theme: Understanding, acceptance
Genre: Realistic fiction
Summary: Jessica loses a portion of her leg in a bus accident while returning from a track meet. One of her fellow teammates, Lucy lost her
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life in the accident. Jessica has a hard time accepting that her leg the loss of her leg and her new prosthetic leg. Jessica is forced to sit in the back of the classroom with Rosie a student bound to a wheelchair due cerebral palsy. Rosie inspires Jessica when her letters and enables her to see beyond her disability. Soon Jessica becomes a celebrity when her team decides to raise money for a running leg and the story is covered in the newspaper and on television. Rosie is constantly asking why Jessica loves to run, soon Jessica decides to train for a community run where she will push Rosie all ten miles to raise awarness. The race is difficult and Jessica is just able to finish it. The story ends with Jessica and Rosa crossing the finish line and Jesscia saying that she has begun a new race. Audience: YA
Curriculum ties: overcoming disabilities
Personal response: I really enjoyed this book but thought that Jesscia accepted the loss of her leg rather easily. She also seemed to learn how to walk and run easily with her prosthetic legs. I think in real life that wouldn’t have been the case. Overall, I believe this book would be inspirational to a student with or without disabilities.
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LibraryThing member scote23
This is my favorite MSBA nominee (outside of the one written by Gary Schmidt). I enjoyed Jessica's journey and thought it was an accurate teenage reaction to losing a dream only to come up with a new one. There were a few parts that were a little too tidy.
LibraryThing member ewyatt
A feel-good story about overcoming adversity and going beyond oneself to help others. Jessica is devastated when there is a bus accident and her leg is amputated. She had just PR'ed in a track meeting and suddenly her past time for running is ripped from her. This story has Jessica share her
This is a story designed to pull at the heartstrings. Sometimes it is too perfect - Jessica's best friend Fiona always does and says just the exact right thing - but it is a touching and inspiring journey.
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journey of recovery, her drive to run again, and her developing friendship with Rosa, a girl with cerebral palsy who will never know how it feels to run. This is a story designed to pull at the heartstrings. Sometimes it is too perfect - Jessica's best friend Fiona always does and says just the exact right thing - but it is a touching and inspiring journey.
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LibraryThing member agrudzien
On the way back from beating a state record Jessica's bus gets into an accident and she must have her leg amputated below the knee. For Jessica who lives to run, this is as bad (or worse) than a death sentence. As she goes through therapy and learns how to walk again, Jessica realizes that you must
Super whiny at the beginning...but it got better by a quarter of the way through. Good messages, not too much teenage angst past the first part, and quick. She has a good group of friends, and even befriends a girl in a wheelchair she would have never met before her accident. Sometimes the friendships seem too cliched, but girls will enjoy reading about true stick-by-your-side friends (especially during the drama that is frienship is middle/high school).
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work through the tough times to make everything worth more. Super whiny at the beginning...but it got better by a quarter of the way through. Good messages, not too much teenage angst past the first part, and quick. She has a good group of friends, and even befriends a girl in a wheelchair she would have never met before her accident. Sometimes the friendships seem too cliched, but girls will enjoy reading about true stick-by-your-side friends (especially during the drama that is frienship is middle/high school).
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LibraryThing member C.Davidson
A heartwarming but predictable story about a young runner, Jessica, who loses a leg but finds compassion. After the bus carrying her track team crashes, Jessica wakes up in the hospital missing part of her leg below her knee. We follow her through her grief, eventual acceptance, and adaptation to
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her new physicality. Buoyed by the steadfast friendship of her best friend Fiona, she reenters high school and through a new friendship with Rosa, a girl with cerebral palsy, becomes a champion for people with disabilities. While the descriptions of prosthetics and unique obstacles amputees must overcome seemed well-researched and made the story interesting, the rest of the story seemed fairly uncomplex. Everyone in Jessica's life was just so supportive. Her friends didn't gradually fade away; her parents' marriage didn't disintegrate; her family wasn't pushed into poverty due to medical bills (though there was the threat of that happening). Altogether a nice, if unchallenging, read that will make you feel good. Show Less
LibraryThing member djlewis
The Running Dream will fill your heart with hope. Emotions are well contained yet powerful, and inspiration appears throughout the book. Disabilities of many kinds keep the plot moving in unexpected places.
LibraryThing member freeborboleta
4Q, 4P
Jessica is the best runner in high school, running is her life so when she loses her leg, she's obviously devastated. The overall message of the book is a good one - there's a lot of positivity and inspiration. However, I feel like there could've been a little more character development,
Quote: “Don't sum up a person based on what you see, or what you don't understand; get to know them”
Jessica is the best runner in high school, running is her life so when she loses her leg, she's obviously devastated. The overall message of the book is a good one - there's a lot of positivity and inspiration. However, I feel like there could've been a little more character development,
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especially with Gavin - the whole thing felt confusing and I was not sure why it was there. Overall though I feel this is a good reads that I think teens would enjoy a lot.Quote: “Don't sum up a person based on what you see, or what you don't understand; get to know them”
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LibraryThing member PolyDrive
This quickly became a favorite read for me. What a heart-warming, sad, funny, happy and touching story about accepting others and feeling grateful for what we have in life. I will be sure to recommend this book to 4th-6th graders.
LibraryThing member TerriS
This is an excellent YA book about a young girl who loses her leg in a car accident. Since she is the star of her high school track team, she is devastated. This is the story of how she overcomes her disability with the help of friends and family, and how she is able to help others see the "real
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person" not the disability. Very good book! Show Less
LibraryThing member HollyHerndon
The storyline centers around a high-school-aged track athlete who loses a leg in a car accident. She lives for running, and when she wakes up from surgery, she can't even walk. She needs to adjust to her new circumstances and learn how to live with her disability. For me, I learned a lot about what
The book was well reviewed (and here's another review). It's LibraryThing rating is 4.23 out of 5 stars, and on GoodReads, it has 4.29 out of 5 stars. The book won the 2012 Scheider Family Book award. I think it is a good book and I liked it, but I am slightly less enthusiastic about it than many of the reviewers. I thing the author is good at drawing the reader in, and allowing the reader to feel that she is in the book, seeing and experiencing the things the characters are seeing and experiencing. As I said above, the book has a little too much optimism in it to be realistic, and it puts message over story in some ways. That the characters' "can do" attitudes always paid off just rubbed me the wrong way.
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a recovery from such an injury would look like, from figuring out how to get in and out of the shower or car, to living in a wheelchair and using crutches (Can this table accommodate my chair? How am I going to get up this staircase?), to fitting and acclimating to a prosthesis. I also learned a lot about cerebral palsy.The book was well reviewed (and here's another review). It's LibraryThing rating is 4.23 out of 5 stars, and on GoodReads, it has 4.29 out of 5 stars. The book won the 2012 Scheider Family Book award. I think it is a good book and I liked it, but I am slightly less enthusiastic about it than many of the reviewers. I thing the author is good at drawing the reader in, and allowing the reader to feel that she is in the book, seeing and experiencing the things the characters are seeing and experiencing. As I said above, the book has a little too much optimism in it to be realistic, and it puts message over story in some ways. That the characters' "can do" attitudes always paid off just rubbed me the wrong way.
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LibraryThing member kacieg
REVIEW: This book needs to be more popular! The rating reflects it's quality as superb. The Running dream really reaches and tugs the heartstrings for anyone at any age. Although I think it's best audience would best be middle school aged students. As an adult I read into different qualities of the
OPINION: I wish the romance was gone. YA novels need to be able to stand on their own two feet (irony) without the super artificial love story woven in where it's not needed. Had that have been nixed I would've given it a 5Q. However, sometimes these things are unavoidable.
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book than those between 11-14 would; this did not stop me from loving the main plot line.OPINION: I wish the romance was gone. YA novels need to be able to stand on their own two feet (irony) without the super artificial love story woven in where it's not needed. Had that have been nixed I would've given it a 5Q. However, sometimes these things are unavoidable.
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LibraryThing member Kimba512
5Q, 4P
This book is easy to read, well paced, and emotional. I have never been a runner, nor cared to, but reading Jessica's love for running, and how much a part of her life physical activity is made me feel like running is second nature to me which speaks to how powerfully Van Draanen writes about
This book is easy to read, well paced, and emotional. I have never been a runner, nor cared to, but reading Jessica's love for running, and how much a part of her life physical activity is made me feel like running is second nature to me which speaks to how powerfully Van Draanen writes about
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such a complicated topic. When her leg is amputated, Jessica has to battle depression and readjust to life, and rebuild her identity. Her perseverance throughout her hardships, and the fact that she does not let her disability define her or limit her is particularly inspiring for young adults facing difficulties (whether physical, emotional, or mental) of their own. I find that the author's positivity and optimism is refreshing, and she has a style of writing that helps someone who does not have a mental disability to relate to Jessica's struggles. Show Less
LibraryThing member madamerazz
The Running Dream sucked me in right away. The pace is quick and it was hard for me to put the book down. Van Draanen does a great job of describing the mental anguish of Jessica’s first weeks after losing a leg. She also provides a lot of details about doctor’s visits, prosthesis fittings,
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etc., that feel authentic and are told in a way that is interesting. The story if very upbeat, perhaps to a fault, and the characters are not overly nuanced. However, this didn’t stop me from enjoying the book overall and I think it would appeal to a lot of readers. Show Less
Pages
336