Gone From Home [Hardcover]

Angela Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1998

In a selection of brief but trenchant tales, young people hold out a hand to family or one another to find answers, to give hope, to say thanks. Or simply to share the wild oddity of life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Angela Johnson, whose Toning the Sweep won the Coretta Scott King Award in 1994, once again proves her finesse at capturing the voices of youth and the struggles they face in the 12 poignant, exquisitely crafted short takes constituting Gone from Home. Teens especially will recognize and appreciate Johnson's subtle nods to their intelligence and depth. "It's funny when you see people with bald heads. Most of us think fashion. I guess at fourteen you shouldn't be thinking cancer and dying. Dying and cancer." In "Starr," a motherless girl bonds with her eccentric, lip-ring-sporting, bald baby sitter, and must learn how to cope when she loses her outrageous new mentor to a fatal disease. In "Barns," Walter, a teenage boy whose young cousin was killed in a drive-by shooting, now spends his time sketching and thinking about the silence of farm buildings ("monuments to a time that would never be again"). Although many of these lovely stories portray young people dealing with loss and abandonment, Johnson's characters are able to find a circle of peace amid the pressure and pain of urban life: "Five in the morning looks like the moon, like nowhere I've ever been. Even the streets look clean. It's so quiet... like the first snow before everybody walks on it and the cars drive through. Pure and soft." (Ages 12 and older) --Brangien Davis

From Publishers Weekly

In these 12 well-honed stories told in first-person narrative, Johnson (Toning the Sweep) zeroes in on the idealism and resiliency that make young people a powerful force in the world. Despite their rough circumstances, these characters have a keen and refreshing sense of justice that helps them recognize?and perform?compassionate acts. In "Starr," Johnson paints a stirring portrait of an unusual woman who makes the most of her finite life span, as seen through the eyes of the young girl she babysits. And in "Sweetness," Johnson delves into the contradictions of human nature, focusing on a 15-year-old who saves an abandoned baby and holds up a convenience store in the same day. Johnson ties this collection together with the dual themes of homelessness and belonging; whatever their personal hardships, these characters find shelter in their connection to others, grace in their appreciation of life's uplifting moments. Johnson's flavorful language will draw readers immediately into these brief, emotion-packed dramas. And after entering the often harsh and humbling worlds Johnson describes, readers will agree with the narrator of "By the Time You Read This": "Some people come into your life and do nothing but make it better. They help you see what you may become. They foster growth and health in all things." Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; 1st edition (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789424991
• ISBN-13: 978-0789424990
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,277,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Angela Johnson is the author of the Coretta Scott King Honor picture book When I Am Old with You; as well as A Sweet Smell of Roses, illustrated by Eric Velasquez; Just Like Josh Gibson, illustrated by Beth Peck; and I Dream of Trains, which was also illustrated by Loren Long. She has won three Coretta Scott King Awards, one each for her novels Heaven, Toning the Sweep, and The First Part Last. In recognition of her outstanding talent, Angela was named a 2003 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Kent, Ohio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take time to savor the Short Takes, July 20, 2004

By 

Cassandra Heifetz "Media Specialist" (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gone from Home: Short Takes (Library Binding)

This book should be read like you eat a box of very expensive chocolates--very slowly, enjoying and savoring every morsel. Each of these stories packs a whollop of emotion and meaning. If you rush through them, you'll miss it. Let it sink in. Only a very skillful writer like Angela Johnson can say so much in so little space. It's been weeks since I read them, and I've read many books since then, but these stories haunt me, and I am glad. This book is intended for young adult readers, but many adults would do well to take the time to read this slim collection.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book!, June 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Gone From Home (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and also a quickread. Although nothing absolutely phenomenal about it, it was verygood. It is an interesting collection of stories about twelve different people. The stories were not very varied and seemed somewhat similar. Howevever, they were still funny and imaginative. I really enjoyed this book and would reccomend it for a quick read.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Jumping all over the Place!, March 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Gone from Home: Short Takes (Paperback)

A Review by Jake
This book's main characters are " Sweetness " , a girl in the book that is the main character , and a boy and also her mentor Walter. Her and Walter meet in school one day in the lunchroom of their school. Walter was eating his lunch all by himself , like he always does , while Sweetness approached him. They were a little scared of eachother at first but then they became best of friends.

Walter had a rough childhood which included his mother and father excluding him from them in a way that it really brought him down. His brother died at a young age in a drive-by shooting while Walter was at a young age also. He is emotionally scared from his death but over time he has become a better person because of it. He now spends his time continuing school while he is a underground artist on the side. The pictures that he draws are different than others artists work-he draws pictures of barns. Whenever he sees a barn that is obscure to him , he draws it. He had a reputation of drawing alot in his early years of school. He would draw pictures on the walls of the school in alot of places that he went. Because of this he obviously got in trouble. This is what attracted Sweetness to Walter. She knew that he was different than everone else so she made an effort to become friends with him. Throughout there years of friendship , Sweetness would meet Walter at the neighborhood park in which he would pick her up in his truck and they would go to a secluded area so they could spend time together and have picnics. Overtime , Sweetness and Walter friendship transformed into a relationship.

If I were to rate this book , I would probably rate it a 2. Why would I rate this book a 2? Because it is a very complicated book to understand and it never really hes a rising action. It never really stuck to one plot , it was always jumping all over the place which is very confusing. Because of this it was a very boring book and I would not recommend this book to anyone.