A 16-year-old boy roams the streets of 1986 Rome while his mother works as an antique book restorer in Brian Selznick\u2019s \u201cRun Away With Me\u201d (Scholastic 2025).<\/p>\n
First, the boy sees a shadow, then a voice, then a beautiful Italian boy who looks like the statues of angels all over Rome.<\/p>\n
As is true of all Selznick\u2019s stories (for example, 2007\u2019s \u201cThe Invention of Hugo Cabret,\u201d which was made into the 2011 movie \u201cHugo\u201d), they exist in a state of dreaminess.<\/p>\n
The first 100 pages of this one are his magnificent hatch drawings of Rome\u2019s architecture, statuary and the boys.<\/p>\n
For quite a while, I wondered if the Italian boy was an imagined character.<\/p>\n
The Italian boy names <\/p>\n
our character Danny, and Danny names his friend Angelo. We do not discover their real names until the end of the book.<\/p>\n
Angelo knows the city and tells stories of its vast history as they visit the places we\u2019ve seen in the drawings.<\/p>\n
Clearly, they\u2019re falling in love, and this is one of the most beautiful books about new love that I\u2019ve ever read.<\/p>\n
All the time, the reader is falling in love with Rome.<\/p>\n
One of the many intriguing facts is learning that there\u2019s an underground river that feeds all the fountains of Rome.<\/p>\n
Danny knows his time in Rome is limited, and he\u2019s counting the days.<\/p>\n
Angelo tells stories of the mythical founders of Roe, twin brothers Romulus and Remus, who were raised by wolves.<\/p>\n
There are stories about Dante and his helper who sculpted the elephant on the top of an obelisk, which the boys are drawn to.<\/p>\n
A wonderful passage hints at the lonely itinerant life Danny shares with his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she and I had come <\/p>\n
to Rome, a map had appeared, which led me through a crack in the world into another universe, and even though there was a time limit to the invisible passport I\u2019d been issued, I was happy. The one thing I was unable to imagine was bringing these two dimensions together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each of the stories that Angelo tells and that the two boys explore lead back to the mystery of his mother\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Each story arrives at the situation of two men in love with each other and how they navigate society\u2019s restrictions on them.<\/p>\n
One story from a century ago tells of two men who pose as brothers so that they can live together undetected as gay men.<\/p>\n
Even in 1986, when this story is set, it was much more difficult for two men to love each other openly.<\/p>\n
The conclusion of the book is told by Selznick\u2019s beautiful illustrations.<\/p>\n
If that doesn\u2019t lure you to read this book, the end notes are outrageously intriguing.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll wish you could have been in Rome when the author was writing this book.<\/p>\n
Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of the award-winning<\/p>\n
\u2018Josephine,\u2019 \u2018Loving vs. Virginia\u2019 and \u2018Struttin\u2019 With Some Barbecue,\u2019 among others. She teaches community classes at Parkland<\/p>\n
College. Find out more at tales<\/p>\n