The Republic of Trees

Here's one I didn't think quite so highly of at the time but it keeps coming back to haunt me ever since then. The Republic of Trees is the story of a group of children who, one summer, decide to run away from home and live in the woods. It takes a certain amount of 'suspension of disbelief' to get beyond this whole central premise in which nobody actually seems to be looking for the kids (and they are not that far away from home) but once you get beyond that it just adds to the whole sense of unreality. A disturbing book that is reminiscent of The Lord of the Flies but, unlike in the all male world of that book, this one highlights the things that can go wrong when the society is a mixed sex one.