Take Off

Andrew Dewar was a graduate of the journalism program at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, and on the staff of the North York Public Library.

Jimmy is fourteen and Dan is two years older, but they’re good friends despite the age difference. Both come from broken homes. When things become intolerable for Jimmy and he decides to run away, Dan goes with him to make sure he doesn’t fall into the worst of the hazards facing him. Paul Kropp has written a whole series of books on topics of this sort — drug abuse, car theft, gangs — and, to judge by this book, he has a good deal of common sense and insight into the minds of the teenagers who get in trouble.

His approach in Take Off is both sensible and very readable. Dan narrates the story, punctuating the events with recollections of his earlier experience of running away on his own, and thus filling the story with good, sensible advice in an unobtrusive way. A young adult reading this book would sympathize very easily with either Jimmy or Dan (who are well-constructed, believable characters), and would pick up Kropp’s good advice about running away (or rather, staying at home and sorting things out) without feeling preached at.

My only complaint with the book is the fact that it belongs with Kropp’s other books in Series Canada. Surely there must be a more appropriate title for the series — one that doesn’t imply that Canada is a hotbed of teen unrest. But this does not detract from the content of the books, and Take Off is certainly a valuable addition.