I went through a box of books today that came from my parents’ house. My sisters packed it up last summer and put my name on it. It was mostly children’s books. And I’m the one with the children. In it was a book called Runaway Alice. I looked at it fondly because it was one of my favorite books from childhood, right behind the Chronicles of Narnia and the Katie John series. I must have read it many times, because I remember the story in great detail. You know how that is, right? Lazy summer afternoon, just a little bored, so you reach for the company of an old friend . . .
This book is about a 10 year old girl who has been tossed around in the foster care system in a small community where everyone wants younger children. She runs away when things get hard. Finally, she’s run out of options and her social worker takes her to a farm wife whose sons are grown and wants to foster a little boy because boys are what she knows . . . just until they find a place for her.
Well, predictably, after some bumps and detours, the farm woman and Alice figure out that they are meant to be together. And, I believe, in feel-good fashion, there is even a small foster brother introduced at the end to tie everything up with a nice bow.
Nice story, right? But, really, not that special. I was wondering why it caught my heart so when I was 10 that I read it over and over. It didn’t strike any chords of similarity in me. I never really wanted to grow up in any other family or had any particular inclination to run away. To my knowledge, none of my friends were foster kids.
But, here’s what I think. Even though I hadn’t realized or acknowledged it until recently, my primary spiritual gift is mercy. And, knowing that now, I can see many evidences of it in my childhood. God used this book, among others, to develop my sense of justice and mercy.
Also, isn’t it beautiful how God sowed the seeds of compassion in my 10 year old heart that eventually grew and flourished and made room for the adoption of my own little “Alice” all these years later?
. . . he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
June 13, 2007 at 10:09 am
What a wonderful story! And what a sweet pic!
June 13, 2007 at 7:48 pm
I think it’s really cool how God can make sense of something even years past and thoughts changed….
God bless you!
March 10, 2009 at 9:22 am
I have that book. It was also one of my favorites from my childhood.
February 20, 2011 at 10:14 pm
I too read this book over and over again when I was a kid. I loved it.
April 28, 2011 at 4:30 pm
I have thought about this book off and on over the years and for some reason today the title that had eluded me for some time suddenly came back and i googled it. I must have read more than two dozen times as a child…I repeatedly checked it out of the school library. Thanks! I wonder if there is a copy out there – I would love to have one.
April 28, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Hi Deb! Thanks for visiting. On a whim I checked amazon and they have 5 copies listed! Maybe I should buy one for my little Alice …
September 26, 2011 at 12:50 pm
I teach at a middle school and we have been asked to make a “bookprint” to put outside our classroom door about a book that has made an indelible mark on our lives. This would be your bookprint! For me, this is the only book that comes to mind for me. I, like your other friends, read it over and over and over — and still have my original copy on my shelf. My story is not quite as moving as yours, but because of the dresses Alice received, made from flour sacks, I began an eternal love of sewing, and to this day will stop at an antique booth to finger the flowery sack cloth. I appreciate and love all fabrics and any attempts to preserve them or recycle them in to something else!