By Brian Selznick
(Scholastic, 2025)
I’ve been a fan of Brian Selznick since before I knew it. His name first registered with me with the publication of thick-as-a-brick books The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), adapted into the 2011 Martin Scorsese film Hugo, and Wonderstruck (2011). What I didn’t realize—or I’d forgotten—is that Selznick also illustrated middle grade novels by Andrew Clements such as Frindle (1996) and The School Story (2001). What makes Selznick’s novels distinct is that they are chock full of illustrations which are not presented in the traditional way where they are spread out throughout chapters; instead, his illustrations come in large chunks, pages and pages of detailed black and white, full-page sketches. The illustrations often move the story along, filling gaps between the sections of prose that come before and after.
His new book, Run Away with Me, is a slight departure from Hugo and Wonderstruck which were both what I would classify as middle grade. Run Away is decidedly young adult in terms of content and its two sixteen-year-old main characters, Danny and Angelo. As well, the chunks of illustrations appear at the beginning (the first ninety-three pages) and the end (the last eighteen), none interspersed within the prose. For the most part, the illustrations don’t propel the story but enhance it. For instance, I found myself constantly flipping back to the first set of illustrations as particular places were mentioned in the story.
I would say this is a book about storytelling, both oral and in print. In the prologue, the narrator (Danny), tells the reader that the book is set in Rome in the summer of 1986. The prologue goes on to say that he met “a strange, curly-haired boy…who told me he had no name and shared true stories that couldn’t possibly have been true.” Indeed, the boy, Angelo—a name Danny ascribes to him—claims to be nearly three thousand years old. Selznick also gives us an idea of the tone of the novel when he writes: “He took over my imagination until he was all I could see, in every brick and stone and sculpture of the city. He looked like an angel…”
Yes, Selznick, the immensely successful children’s author has decided to tell a gay love story. (After the prologue, I immediately flipped to the About the Author page at the end wherein Selznick’s husband is mentioned.) A gay love story for younger teens. Not the first, but a welcome addition. Hallelujah!
In the main story, Danny and Angelo spend their days wandering—running, often—through the streets of Rome where Angelo seems to have his own stories to go with every statue, fountain and, of particular interest to Danny, obelisk. Some stories are one-time tellings while others continue throughout the novel, most notably a story about the twin Mondo brothers, Alberto and Vittorio, and a sculptor and a young man who seemingly needs to live at sea, Dante and Giovanni. Incidentally, Danny’s mother works at the Mondo Museum, a site dedicated to books, especially known for restoring old and damaged works.
Yes, the story is not just a love story between two boys, but also and ode to storytelling, books and the city of Rome.
More than anything as I read the book, I wished I’d had something like this to read when I was fourteen or fifteen or even while I was still mostly closeted in 1986 at twenty-one. There is a tenderness between these boys from the very beginning:
He looked at me with a dazzling
kind of joy, deep and pure and full
of surprise. I’d spent so long hiding
in the shadows, looking longingly at
others, I’d never imagined someone
might look back.
This is a love story young queer readers deserve. The boys’ first kiss:
He was quoting a famous poem by
Keats…When he was done reciting,
he slipped off my glasses, folded
them, and put them in my shirt
pocket. He then placed his hands
on either side of my face. He was
trembling slightly, and so was I.
We both leaned forward, closer to
each other. Our lips touched, and
I understood what I’d been
running toward all this time.
We kissed, and he tasted of
honey, and figs, and Rome.
I wish my taste buds were that good.
As the boys spend more time together, they share more about their real lives and interests but the storytelling never stops. In fact, there are three other gay couples whose stories are told within the book. How great to have a book like this on shelves young readers can access! Selznick is masterful in putting just enough on the page while leaving details to the reader’s own mind, thus thwarting book banners who might salivate at the chance to rid libraries of another gay book. (I Googled and it doesn’t appear that the book has created a ruckus.)
As an adult reading Run Away with Me, it’s another reminder how far we’ve come in terms of gay visibility and validation. It also emboldens me to fight for other queer stories on bookshelves so readers with other identities can access their own love stories…or mysteries, thrillers and fantasies.
