June Oldham

Written in 1995, and set in a dystopian 21st century, four children who were left alone for various reasons find allies among one another in an unforgiving environment. Working toward a common goal, they learn teamwork, reliance and strength as they all pitch in for their common survival.

I’m not usually a fan of dystopian books, but I really enjoyed this one. With characters you can root for, a setting from your own memory, yet changed, and a really good YA story, this book is worth show more seeking out. show less

I bought this on the basis of a couple of good reviews from usually reliable sources, but this book was really pretty bad in several ways.
In a dystopian near-future, four children of indeterminate age meet up in the uninhabited areas away from the cities. One child, Ren, has been abandoned by the person who was supposed to deliver her from her parents (who have to get rid of her because they had a baby) to her aunts house in another city. One, Brocket, has grown up in this uninhabited area. show more One, Lil, is a "street person" which seems to be a distinct class of people who can be arrested for no reason... but like most things in this book, it's never explained. And the fourth, Hilary (a boy) is trying to complete the work of his deceased father (which isn't explained.) A baby is abandoned nearby where these kids have holed up. Why the baby was abandoned is (surprise, surprise) not explained. The kids decide they have to take care of the baby, which means taking it from one place to another, for reasons that are never clearly explained. The baby is completely irrelevant by the end of the book, merely a McGuffin to trigger the four kids taking off on a survival trek across these unexplained badlands. They encounter several other people who are totally unexplained; Brocket has a fear of "It" which is totally unexplained... Almost nothing in the book seems to have any point.
But all of that is made worse, because none of these four children are provided with sufficient character development for the reader to feel like we know them, and therefore care about them. We go along with this pointless journey, not even caring what the result is, or how the kids come out, because we don't really know them.
Do not waste your time on this. show less

Vividly written and an evocative description of the fells "up north" in a dystopian future where cities are made up of living-work units that the inhabitants rarely leave and in which they live a claustrophobic screen based existence, and where the countryside is largely deserted, inhabited by a few hardy old women, and absconders like Ren.

Ren is a girl whose mum is basically illiterate - we eventually learn that she named her daughter after the wren, a small bird seen on TV. When her mum show more became pregnant and could not afford the tax on a second child, she sends Ren off with a lorry driver to someone living in a smaller less urbanised community but the person fails to turn up to meet her and Ren is left in a cave with some basic supplies to await collection. She is befriended by Brocket, a boy raised by an old woman after he was abandoned, and later meets a street person, Lil, an older girl.

When Brocket finds an abandoned baby, the fun really starts as the children trek across the forbidding land - in which Brocket is at home - to evade the authority patrol men and their dogs who would put Ren in a Surplus Children Unit and possibly do something worse to Lil. Eventually they discover someone else is tracking them, after the baby, that they name Found, though they have help from the old woman who raised Brocket, and Hilary, another boy, educated and well equipped, who is researching the area to complete a book that his deceased father had intended to write.

Despite the well described privations and filth, there are positive aspects to the children's experiences, because Ren develops confidence and competence, and the two boys face personal demons, but it does have a fairly pessimistic ending where they will not stay together because Ren and the baby will go to the woman who was originally supposed to give Ren a home, and Brocket's foster mother dies because of something Lil does.

Note: this book was later republished under the title 'Found'. show less

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