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Summary
Summary
Escaped and on the run, can Digger find redemption?
His bold escape from a juvenile detention facility nearly kills him, but soon an angry fourteen-year-old Digger is on the run, hijacking a tractor trailer, "borrowing" a bicycle, and stealing a canoe. When injuries stop him, Digger hides at a riverside campground, where he befriends a young boy and a girl his own age. New friends, a job caring for rescued horses, and risking his life to save another make Digger realize that the journey back is not just about getting home, it's about discovering what he's really running from, and how to come to terms with his troubled past.
Author Notes
Priscilla Cummings is the author of Red Kayak and A Face First , among other titles. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Michael "Digger" Griswald, from The Red Kayak (Dutton, 2004), takes center stage here. After his 14th birthday, he escapes from the Cliffside Youth Detention Center, where he has been incarcerated for his role in a young boy's death, and heads home to protect his mother and young siblings from his abusive father. After stealing a tractor trailer and driving to the C&O Canal towpath, the angry teen takes a bike, food, and a canoe to continue his journey. However, his progress is hindered when he injures his ankle and gets a bad case of poison ivy. A stray dog becomes his companion and he happens upon third-grader Luke and teenager Nora. They take him to a campground home, where he hides out with Luke and his father. The incorporation of the poverty seen in the campground provides a glimpse into a life in America. Digger gets a job and grows closer to Luke and develops feelings for Nora. He also processes his anger issues and he gains a stronger sense of self and accountability for his actions. While the tied-up loose ends, didactic nature of the plot, and clean language might induce eye-rolling from discerning readers, the book's life lessons have merits. Cummings focuses on "if/then" and TOP (think of the other person) thinking. She incorporates these life skills into the story through memories, contemplation, and a white laminated card of Cliffside rules that Digger carries.-Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Sentenced to a juvenile detention camp and eager to escape, Digger has a plan that sends him on a journey that is both a survival story and a lesson in trust. Introduced as the culprit in a prank gone wrong in Red Kayak (2004), Digger is angry yet determined to help his mother and siblings, who have long been abused by his father. Though seemingly anxious for their safety, Digger is derailed surprisingly easily once on the outside, as he tries to evade authorities and fend for himself as best he can. He develops a whole new persona as Gerry, the baby sitter for a kid with reading difficulties and a gambling father, and gets a job as a stable hand for a nearby horse-rescue farm. Some of the survival techniques he uses are both unlawful and unlikely, but Digger's strong narrative voice and the basic decency beneath his stupidity help readers overcome these flaws. A surplus of action keeps the plot moving forward and obscures questions of logic that might emerge if readers had an opportunity to stop and think. The trope of the underdog who survives and wins a better future due to kindness in the world and in his heart is fairly standard fare, and this is no exception. It's a satisfying one, though, and it rises above the genre via gritty language and secondary characters with lives of their own. (map) (Fiction. 12-16)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Fourteen-year-old Digger schemes about bolting from Cliffside Youth Detention Center so he can get home to protect his mother and siblings from his dad's rage. (He is in there for a caper that went tragically wrong see Cummings' Red Kayak, 2004.) From his jaw-dropping escape in a garbage truck to the commandeering of a semi and other thefts along his desperate trek, Digger careens through the Maryland countryside. Hiding out in a campground, he meets an interesting community of folks living on the edge who enrich and sometimes crowd the story with lively subplots. Thanks to a new connection with a girl named Norah, Digger spends time caring for rescued horses and begins envisioning himself in a better light. While the thoughtful riffs on morality can get a bit overdone and a couple of farmhands are needlessly stereotyped, this high-action journey has suspense to spare, and the continual near misses will keep readers cheering for Digger. Technically a sequel, this works just fine on its own.--O'Malley, Anne Copyright 2010 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
A daring escape. I was thirteen--no, fourteen--years old and I was in prison because I played a practical joke on the rich neighbor who bought my grampa's farm. My grampa is in a nursing home now, but it used to be, when things were bad at home, I could escape to Grampa's. That's why I hated Mr. DiAngelo so much. He was the snooty guy who bought Grampa's farm, tore the house down, then build a mansion there so he could show off how much money he had. One day, he even kicked me and my friends off his property. So I played a joke on the a-hole, only the joke went sour and his little boy died... For a minute there, the memories stopped. It was like hitting a wall. Everything stopped for me when I thought back to what I done. Which is why I tried not to think back on it. What good did it do? I couldn't undo the past. I went to prison for my crime, but now I needed to get home, so I escaped in a garbage truck, which is how I came to be squashed beneath a ton of garbage. The sound of a distant siren pierced the air. I knew if I didn't crawl out of that garbage and disappear, I'd be right back where I came from with even more time ahead of me. Excerpted from The Journey Back by Priscilla Cummings All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
