Publisher's Weekly Review
Rudd (I'll Hold Your Hand) weaves an uplifting tale of connection and found family featuring an unhoused tween. Twelve-year-old, white-cued Raymond is used to his unreliable parents constantly moving house. So when he starts at yet another middle school--this time in River Mill, N.C.--he does what he does best: keeps his head down and tries to stay invisible. But when his parents abruptly leave, abandoning him and his dog Rosie outside their locked, rented trailer, Raymond takes to the woods to avoid state care. Thus begins months of living in a tree hollow, where he contends with wild animals and faces hunger, bitter cold, and sickness. Keeping his situation secret, Raymond continues attending school and makes new friends--classmates, adults, and animals alike--who inadvertently help Raymond come to terms with his harsh reality and prompt him to question the long-term effects of his solitude and secrecy. Via introspective third-person prose, Rudd juxtaposes a typical middle school milieu of crushes and school projects against Raymond's harrowing position. A hearty dose of existentialism, depictions of necessary wilderness skills, and ruminations on the perseverance of the human spirit permeate this meditative survival read. Ages 10--14. Agent: Mary Cummings, Great River Literary. (June)
Horn Book Review
"Most people didn't live in hollowed-out trees behind their middle school," but twelve-year-old Raymond does. A seventh grader at River Mill Middle School in North Carolina, he had lived in a rented trailer with his feckless parents three miles from school. But one day he comes home to discover that they have abandoned him, and now here he is living in the woods with his dog and doing his best to fly under the radar. He saves food from cafeteria lunches, does nighttime dumpster dives, and sometimes has luck fishing. He does have a new friend in Harlin, who in an act of kindness chooses as a bingo prize a sleeping bag for Raymond instead of the NASCAR tickets he'd wanted. Gradually, Raymond finds a circle of caring people (and a coyote) in his orbit: Lexi, his first girlfriend; Stigs, a former army surgeon who lives in a cabin nearby; and various teachers who don't let Raymond remain invisible. The third-person narrative allows for fully realized secondary characters who play important roles in Raymond's life and, ultimately, in his rescue. Rudd's straightforward, meticulous prose perfectly captures the daily routines and occasional drama of life in the woods. A worthy match for My Side of the Mountain and Hatchet the book Raymond checks out of the library toward the end of the novel. (c) Copyright 2024. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
When 12-year-old Raymond's parents abandon him, he takes to the woods to survive. The Outsiders meets Hatchet in this story that follows Raymond's ordeal to both survive in the winter woods of North Carolina and attend middle school without anyone finding out how he lives. Trying to balance keeping up his grades with living in a hollow, overturned tree with his dog, Rosie, existing on fish he catches and food he scavenges from the dumpster outside his school, Raymond stoically accepts his reality even as he wishes for parents who cared for him. The narrative poignancy of Raymond's being cold, hungry, and doing homework by the light of a fire is grounded by descriptions of creative survival techniques: how to catch minnows using a plastic water bottle, how to make fire with a battery and foil gum wrappers, and how to build a lean-to with branches. Completely devoid of cheap drama, this tightly written, understated narrative tells its story through finely drawn characters, intensely realistic atmosphere and setting, and a protagonist who will capture readers' hearts with both his courage and his creative survival skills. All secondary characters--irrepressible NASCAR-loving classmate Harlin; red-haired love interest Lexi; emotionally torn old man Stigs, who offers friendship; and the teachers, both callous and obtuse--are drawn with originality and verve. Characters read default White. An exceptional story of courage. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Survival tales generally take place in remote locales, but this one hits closer to home. Suddenly abandoned once again by his deadbeat parents, Raymond takes up residence in the woods behind his latest middle school--determined to make a go of it and actually doing a creditable job of keeping his head down in class while, often, going hungry or barely subsisting on dumpster produce and fish from the local stream as days turn into weeks and then months. While Rudd makes it clear that Raymond is far from safe or comfortable, as points of reference she name checks both Hatchet and The Outsiders and lightens the load by giving him an unusually intelligent dog and a playful young coyote, two loyal but not too inquisitive friends in school, and an elderly loner who is willing to respect his refusal to contact social services while providing help and temporary shelter at need. Rather than even try to explain the behavior of her protagonist's parents, the author just focuses on Raymond's realistic hurt, incomprehension, and resulting lack of trust in any grownup's motives, all of which many young readers may, sadly, find easy to understand. Still, following a nearly fatal reversal of fortune, she closes the tale on a hopeful note by leaving him in the care of adults who do at least seem to have his best interests at heart.
