• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 18

It's 1923 and Leroy is on the run from a couple of abusive cousins. He stumbles into a traveling Chautauqua show, where it's easy to get lost in a crowd—but also easy to lose your heart. This funny and endearing novel by Governor General's Award-winning novelist Glen Huser will make an absorbing read for fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds, boys and girls alike.

From his earliest years, Glen Huser has loved to write and read and draw and paint. That’s when he wasn’t losing himself in the dark cocoon of a movie theatre or picking out old-time radio standards and Broadway musical hits on the piano. As a teacher and school librarian for a lengthy career in Edmonton, he worked his passions for art and literature into school projects such as Magpie, an in-house quarterly featuring writing and art from students. In his off hours, he wrote movie reviews for a local weekly, children’s book reviews for The Edmonton Journal, and got his small ink landscapes into galleries. As he worked on a degree in Education and then a Masters in English at the U of A, he had the good fortune to work under the tutelage of Rudy Wiebe, Margaret Atwood and W. O. Mitchell. For several years he was a sessional lecturer in children’s literature, information studies and creative writing at the U of A in Edmonton and UBC in Vancouver. His first novel Grace Lake was shortlisted for the 1992 W.H. Smith-Books in Canada First Novel Award. He has written several books for young adult readers including the Governor General’s Award-winner Stitches and the GG finalist Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen. Short stories have appeared in a number of literary magazines, most recently Plenitude and Waterloo University’s The New Quarterly. Glen’s current home is Vancouver where he continues to write as well as pursue interests in art and film studies.

Glen Huser's profile page

• Short-listed, Chocolate Lily Book Awards
• Short-listed, Hackmatack Award
• Short-listed, BC and Yukon Book Prizes - Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize
• Joint winner, CCBC Best Books for Kids and Teens
• Commended, Resource Links "The Year's Best"

"This first-person account by a good-hearted hero is the perfect guide through a charming and little-known piece of Americana. The style is plainsong poetry, and the story both evocative and heartrending. Highly recommended."

Historical Novel Society

"Huser's writing style is simple with a vocabulary that is interesting without being too challenging. This piece of historical fiction vividly captures 1920s America through the heartwarming story of a young man who has lost everything...I would definitely recommend this book to both middle school and high school aged teens."

Southwest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries (SWON)

"Readers will find the story of the Chautauqua entertaining."

School Library Journal

"Intrigue, romance and fun leaven this tale of a good-hearted runaway boy beginning to find his way in the world. This likable protagonist makes for a fine introduction to an era before movies and radio caused the Chautauqua to fade away."

Kirkus Reviews

The Runaway

Leroy “Doodlebug” Barnstable’s life has been “as steady as telephone poles along a highway” until his fifteenth year, when his parents’ car accident lands him under the guardianship of cousins who overwork, cheat and mistreat him. Leroy runs away, finding friendship, work and a hideout with actors, lecturers and musicians who travel a rural circuit offering a mix of entertainment and education known as a Chautauqua Show. Leroy parlays his doodling talent into a career and falls in love under the big top, but trouble threatens from a vengeful cousin, a rival for his sweetheart and a thug whose dealings with his sweetheart’s father are less than amicable.

A winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award, author Glen Huser has created a fast-paced, enjoyable story, the setting of which gives an organic history lesson about the Chautauqua Shows, a movement that spanned the 1880s to the 1920s. An author’s note and a few reference titles provide further reading on the Chautauqua. Huser has a flair for 1920s lingo and for painting minor characters with a few well-chosen observations. The generic title and uninspiring cover art (disappointing, considering that Leroy is a gifted doodler) are the only weaknesses, though serious ones, considering the way many readers choose books.

This slim novel could be enjoyed as a read-aloud in a classroom for ages 9-12 or as independent reading. A media studies class might investigate an assertion made in the novel that movies and radio (and other popular media) lose something compared with the immediateness and communal experience of the Chautauqua performance.

The Runaway

After Leroy’s parents die, he is left to live with his aunt and her two sons. Finding life with his abusive cousins unbearable, Leroy decides to run away. He stumbles into a travelling Chautauqua show (a travelling show that brought entertainment and culture to communities) where it’s easy to get lost in a crowd — but also easy to lose your heart.