therunningdream

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The Running Dream

Wendelin Van Draanen

Draanen, Wendelin. The Running Dream Random House Children’s Books. New York, NY. 2011.

The Running Dream, by Wendelin Draanen, is a wonderful story for any age. This intense storyline that Wendelin Draanen created seemed to reach a whole new level of greatness. Each chapter is heartfelt, yet frustrating at the same time, due to the multiple challenges that Sammy has to face. This motivating story is very inspirational, making you want to read every chapter as fast as possible to see what’s next!

The Running Dream, begins with an average girl. Her name is Sammy Adams, a sixteen year old girl who has a big dream that she wants to come true, and she’s doing everything she can to make that dream happen. Sammy has always dreamt of becoming a big track star, but there’s two big problems that is making everything quite difficult. First, her parents disapprove of the idea, and won’t put in the money for lessons, track shoes, or the time for Sammy’s “silly” idea. Second, Sammy has been having a hard time in school. In P.E. she always struggles, and she can’t seem to complete even the simplest exercises, which makes Sammy feel terribly self-conscious about herself. But she has a dream, and she’s willing to do what it takes to fulfill that dream. All she needs is the motivation and support from her parents.

Every day, Sammy has been nagging at her parents about the track lessons. Finally, she convinces her dad to put in the money for the best track shoes, and lessons from the school coach. She’s exsatcic! The next morning, she went to the school’s track field to meet the coach to give her some basic lessons and exercises. Sammy was nervous, but she had to ignore those feelings and just do it.

After weeks of training, Sammy started to gain confidence in herself. She could tell that her coach had faith in her. She was slowly starting to feel stronger after every lesson, but she didn’t feel satisfied enough with the little progress she felt she was making. This made Sammy even more motivated to reach her goal of being able to run as fast as she possibly could.

The Running Dream is an excellent book for any age, it’s a story that any person can relate to, and the writing is wonderful. Wendelin Draanen did an excellent job of capturing the character of Sammy, and the multiple struggles she had to face.

5 out of 5 stars

Contributed by A. Valentine

April 30, 2013