HARRY MILLER'S RUN

Ages 7-10 years will love this joyful and uplifting story of times gone by from the internationally acclaimed author of Skellig. Liam just wants to go out running with his mates. It's not long until the Junior Great North Run and there's training to be done, but Mam needs him today to help old Harry clear out his house. Harry knows a thing or to about running because when he was a lad he says he ran from Newcastle to South Shields. 'But, Harry,' says Mam, 'That's 13 miles!' Harry grins. 'Different times' he says. This is the story of that day, of sweltering heat, clattering boots, briny sea air and the heavenly taste of ice cream - the day when Harry and his pals ran and ran and ran through the blazing sunlight all the way to the sea on 29th August, 1938. Having a clear-out we see old Harry's apprenticeship papers as a welder in a shipyard, photos, documents, savings books, rent books, pension books, his dad's death certificate in 1954 and his mother's just a few months later, holiday bookings, outdated foreign money, medications and hospital appointment cards and pictures of four skinny big kids on a beach, three lads and a lass, the lads wearing baggy shorts and boots and vests. A little bit of Newcastle dialect, two stories of childhood running simultaneously, Salvatore Rubbino brilliantly captures the pace of the story and the period in his colour artworks. 64pp.