Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne - ADVISABLE

Boyne, John  Noah Barleywater Runs Away, 222  p. David Fickling Books, 2010. $16.99 Language: G (0 swears, 0 'f') Violence: G, Mature Content: G.  Noah Barleywater has run away from home.  The further he goes the stranger things get; from an apple tree that won’t let him pick its fruit, to a newspaper in the next town that already knows what he did! He decides to stop and stay for a while at a magical toy shop with a strange old man and the most amazing handmade wooden puppets.  Noah’s story unfolds as he hears about the old man’s life (which, by the way, is strangely familiar to this reader - - no spoilers here) and he learns some very valuable lessons about living his own.  Although Noah is only 8, the appeal of this book is for a bit older reader, at least middle school because the most enjoyment is figuring out who the old man might be (or have been) and without the background knowledge to help with that, it’s just a magical story.   MS, HS - ADVISABLE.  Lisa, Reading Teacher