"The Art of Running Away" by Sabrina Kleckner is a poignant MG-YA fiction that delicately explores themes of family, art, love, and acceptance. At the heart of the story is twelve-year-old Maisie, an aspiring artist whose world revolves around her passion for sketching and her family's portrait art shop, Glenna's Portraits.

Kleckner weaves a compelling narrative that follows Maisie's journey as she grapples with the imminent threat of the shop's closure due to financial troubles. Forced to confront the possibility of her dreams crumbling, Maisie's life takes an unexpected turn when she is sent to live with her aunt in Edinburgh for the summer. However, her plans are disrupted once again when her estranged brother, Caleb, reappears after years of silence.

The dynamic between Maisie and Caleb is beautifully portrayed, offering readers a glimpse into the complexities of sibling relationships. As Maisie embarks on a summer adventure with Caleb and his roommates in London, she begins to unravel the truth behind her brother's departure and confronts the realities of her family's past.

What sets "The Art of Running Away" apart is its authentic portrayal of life's messy and imperfect nature. Kleckner doesn't shy away from addressing important issues such as homophobia, allyship, trust, and respect, making the story both enlightening and thought-provoking. While the book is geared towards a younger audience, its themes resonate with readers of all ages, offering valuable lessons about compassion and understanding.

The character development throughout the novel is gradual and compelling, with Maisie's growth as she navigates the complexities of her family's relationships and her own identity being particularly noteworthy. Kleckner's prose is engaging and heartfelt, drawing readers into Maisie's world and keeping them hooked until the very end.

Overall, "The Art of Running Away" is a captivating and emotionally resonant read that leaves a lasting impression. Whether you're a fan of MG fiction or simply appreciate a well-crafted coming-of-age story, this book is sure to delight and inspire.

This was a wonderfully nice Middle Grade novel about a little girl struggling to keep her family's art store open while also bonding with her older brother who went away six years before. As Maisie discovered more about her brother's predicament and the errors her parents made, I liked watching her struggle with her sentiments towards her family.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I think this a great book. There's a lot of material here to start a conversation with kids on how to be an ally. There's also a lot of great emotionally deep moments, that I feel tweens get overlooked for having the capacity to handle. I greatly enjoyed the discussion on the impact of forgiveness on trust.

Despite being quite a quick read, the pacing felt right and the story was just heartwarming enough to be memorable. I enjoyed the exploration of family dynamics and even though this tackles complex topics, it's all described in ways that are easy to understand, especially for younger readers. 5/5 stars! :)

Summary: Twelve-year-old Maisie is an artist. When she’s in front of her sketchbook or apprenticing at Glenna’s Portraits, the family-run art shop her grandmother started, the world makes sense. She doesn’t think about Calum, her brother who mysteriously left home and cut ties with her family six years ago, or her parents’ insistence that she “broaden her horizons” and try something new—something that isn’t art.

But when Glenna’s Portraits falls on hard times, Maisie’s plan to take over the shop when she’s older and become a lifelong artist starts to crumble. In desperation to make things right, Maisie runs away to London to reconnect with her adult brother, hoping he might be the key to saving the shop. But as Maisie learns about her family’s past from Calum, she starts to rethink everything she’s ever known. Maisie must decide not only if saving her family’s art shop is worth it, but if she can forgive her parents for the mistakes they've made.

This was a very cute and quick read, I recommend it!

Maisie, a 12 years old girl runs away to London to reconnect with her adult brother, hoping he might be the key to saving the shop. But as Maisie learns about her family’s past from Calum, she starts to rethink everything she’s ever known.
I loved the book, it was a breath of fresh air from the heavy books I've been reading. Who doesn't love a middle grade book?

Archived right after approval! I was happy to see the joy this book sparked online though! I will be getting this book from the library to read now.

The Art of Running Away by Sabrina Kleckner is a MG-YA fiction that's equally beautiful and heart-breaking.
Maisie, is a 12 year old, who desperately wants to be an artist and run her grandmother's portrait art shop, Glenna's Portraits, when she grows up. And all her hopes and dreams are broken when she finds out that the art shop is losing it's biggest donor. Without donors & customers an art shop cannot function, which likely means her parents will have to close down the shop. Amidst the shop's financial troubles, Maisie's parents send her to live with her aunt for the summer, in Edinburgh. Disappointed by her parents decision, she sets off for Scotland, to live with Aunt Lisa, but things change when Caleb turns up unexpectedly. Caleb is her brother who ran away almost 5 years back and she never heard from him since, until now. Maisie finds out that Caleb was in touch with Aunt Lisa while he had made no attempts to contact her or their parents.

When Caleb asks Maisie to spend the summer with him, she agrees. And thus starts her journey towards learning the truth behind her brother's running away from home and why he never came back. The Art of Running Away is essentially a story of a family, love, heart-break and the acceptance of each other in a family. Maisie and Caleb, both their characters are unforgettable. This book's full of surprises that will keep you hooked throughout. And the well-written characters had so much to offer, it was the gradual character- development that I loved the most.

(This is my book and I'm just posting here so my review rate doesn't go down on Netgalley oops). Apparently my review must be 100 characters long! So a bit more: I liked writing this book? 10/10 in terms of the writing process. Would definitely recommend writing this book.

The Art of Running Away is a really sweet and quick read.
I loved the relationships between all of the characters and especially Calum and Maisie’s. Their sibling bond was well written and I enjoyed it a lot.
There are so many topics discussed in this book, which I loved, and the way ally ship is talked about in this book is incredible.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants to read a quick, sweet and queer book!

I practically live for LGBT books, and this book gave me a lot of joy although I also cried in many other parts, it shows us the lack of support that parents sometimes show towards their children who are part of the LGBT community. I think this book also shows young kids that parents are not always perfect. Is a cute story with a great storyline.

I went into this with little expectations and was happily blown away by how much I enjoyed this book. I loved the art aspect and reading about a young girl who dreams of being an artist. As a non-artistic person, reading about someone else's love for it has always been enjoyable for me.
The sibling dynamic was one of my favorite things about this. Despite the age gap, I thought it was really well done and realistically written.
This is the kind of book I'd give a pre-teen who wants to learn what it means to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community or who loves art.
After finishing it, I started calling this book the MG version of "I'll Give You The Sun" by Jandy Nelson.

Read full review at our blog - link provided. We'd like to thank the publisher for giving us a copy in exchange for a review!

The Art of Running Away tells the complicated story of a girl who learns that her family loyalties might be misplaced and struggles with how to make sense of a new reality. When Maisie's parents learn that their art business is in trouble, they send Maisie off to go spend the summer with her aunt in Scotland so they can deal with the problem. But when she gets there, she is confronted with her long-lost brother who ran away when Maisie was only six. Maisie has spent years resenting her brother for leaving and causing turmoil in her family, but she soon realizes that the story is a lot more complicated than she was led to believe--and that her parents may actually bear the brunt of the blame for the rift. The book focuses on LGBTQ+ issues and brings to light complicated family relationships. A great read for kids who might be struggling with these same issues.

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

awwwww
so heartwarming
and slightly lighthearted
like
this was just a nice
middlegrade-ish novel
such a refreshing read
kind of like a palette cleanser??
idk what I'm saying
anyways... 5/5 stars

Such a cute book for middle-graders ! I quite enjoyed it. You should check this out for yourselves and the cover is so cute

I can appreciate hat Kleckner is aiming for here. You can sum it up as "how not to be an ally." The protagonist is learning that you can't fix things for people, have to let them run their own lives and make their own decisions. The intent is good. BUt reading it is the bad kind of uncomfortable. There are too many lies, too much manipulation. And there's only one major child character, not a lot for the young reader to see themselves in.

This MG novel follows the story of 12 year old Maisie, a young girl whose parents ship her off to live with an aunt whom she’s never met before. When her estranged/runaway brother shows up at her aunt’s house and offers her a chance to finally get to know him after 6 long years of silence, Maisie decides to join him and his roommates in their London flat for the summer. What follows is a heartfelt and enlightening coming-of-age story where Maisie not only learns how to be a better person to her family and friends, but also what it means to be an ally.

Though this book is written for a younger audience, I enjoyed it quite a lot. While it definitely presents itself as an MG novel, there are many lessons that readers of any age will learn from in this book. At times it can come off as a little preachy, but the messages provided through this novel are invaluable. It highlights important issues about homophobia, harmful inaction/action, allyship, trust, and respect.

One of the things this book doesn’t shy away from (and I think that made it all the more powerful) was the idea that real life is not clean cut. The relationships in this book are messy. There are times where they’re uplifting and loving, and there are times where they’re toxic and traumatizing. Parents often try to shield their children from these raw depictions of real life, but children experience these dynamics every single day. We shouldn’t pretend they don’t exist. That type of apathy serves no one.

This book is a little escapism of sweetness and honesty. I just love the characters. Everything is so unique and refreshing!