On the Run

by Michael Coleman

Fifteen-year-old Luke is a skilled thief with a perfect record until the day he is caught running from a robbery gone wrong. He chooses to save the life of a blind girl, Jodi, rather than escape... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525473181
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

On The Run by Michael Coleman

"On The Run." By Michael Coleman This book is about a boy named Luke. He steals things often. He is like the lock picking champ. He can unlock any lock that you give him. One day Luke saw some shoes in a car so he unpicked the car lock and got the shoes. When he turned around two boys named Lee Young and Mig Russell were standing there. They stole the car that Luke had just unlocked. The owner came running out of the store and was chasing the car. Then he saw the Luke had stolen the shoes. But there was a girl about Luke's age that was standing right were the car was heading. So Luke ran as fast as he could and pushed her out of the way of the car. The owner then cought Luke and toke him to court. Luke had to help blind people for his service. And that is when he found out that the girl standing there that he pushed out of the way was blind and the daughter of the man owning the car. Luke had to help her and run with her so that she could enter a race. Because her old guide runner (her dad) broke his foot chasing Luke. The girls name is Jodie. So her and Luke worked together so much that they became friends and trusted each other. But a couple of days before the race Luke ran into Mig and Lee. They wanted him to pick locks the day of the race so that they could stele stuff. But Luke didn't want to because he was trying to do better. But then they said they would hurt Jodie. And Luke didn't want her to get hurt so he said he would do it. Luke tried to figure out how he was going to do the race and the thing for Mig and Lee. But he was scared of not making it to the race and Jodie wanted to win really bad. Read this book to find out if Luke makes it to the race and wins. I thought this book was really good and I recommend it to people because it is good and exiting. It keeps you reading and into the book!! Review by Jacquel Cunico Lehi, UT

On The Run

On The Run is about a boy named Luke that is a thife. Luke stills things from stores to cars. One day Luke stills a pair of shoes and starts to still a car still a car. I would tell you the part were he gets mugged but I would be giving you the best part.So if you like exciting books then reed On The Run. P.S the athor is Micheal Colman.

Fast paced and amazing.

Originally titled Going Straight, this UK release about 15-year-old thief Luke Reid focuses who inherited his career choice from his father. Luke hates his father for missing his last 10 birthdays but hasn't quite made the logical leap that if he continues on this path he too will end up at Markham prison like his father. A possibility for reform and redemption comes in the form of blind marathon runner Jodie who is the victim of a crime Luke could have prevented. Coleman succeeds in creating a fast paced work that maintains suspense and doubt about the main characters' futures. In a few places the English lingo makes the text a bit obtuse, as most readers will not realize that `to grass' is thief slang for narcing or ratting someone out. Another area needing work is a slow chapter that is bogged down by entirely too much information about Louis Braille that would have been better suited to an epilogue. Luke is fascinating internally conflicted young man who has many gifts including the potential to change and the realization that he is in control of his own rehabilitation. The culmination of Luke's choices is a brilliant heart-pounding finale at the London Marathon involving tv cameras, police and an ambulance. All in all a compelling and wild ride about a boy with whom many young readers can emphasize and model their own desires for self-improvement.

A Nice Pair of Running Shoes -- a review by Alec, age 10

Luke Reid is a fifteen-year-old thief whose dad is in jail for thievery. All Luke did was try to steal a pair of nice running shoes, but he got caught and now has to help the blind. Unfortunately, the owner of the shoes is a blind girl named Jodi, and Luke has to work for two months with her. Then, if he does well, he gets to work another two months with the blind. If he does badly, he gets sent to jail for two months. Jodi wants to run the London Marathon for kids, which is two and a half miles, with Luke leading her. Will Luke help Jodi win the marathon, or will he have to go to jail? Michael Coleman is a great author who pulls you in with the present part of the story, causing you to forget what happened in the past parts of the story until it's too late. The speed of the information is a bit slow, and so is the storyline, but in the best moments (such as when they are playing Goalball), this book is amazingly good!