Other editions of book The Runner

You can run from something, or toward something—but can you do both at the same time? Book four in the Newbery-winning cycle from Cynthia Voigt is repackaged with a fresh new look.Bullet Tillerman runs. He runs to escape the criticism of his harsh, unforgiving father. He runs to numb the pain of his mother’s inability to express her love. He is the star of the school track team, but he isn’t a team man and doesn’t want to be. Bullet runs for himself. So Bullet doesn’t understand why he’s been asked to train a new team member, and he’s not looking forward to the task. But in coaching Tamer Shipp, Bullet learns some things about himself—who he is, and who he can perhaps become.

It was the 1960s, the time of the Vietnam War. "Bullet" Tillerman, the school track star, had to decide if he would go to fight or stay on the family farm. Bullet's father, who had already driven Bullet's older brother and sister out of the house, made impossible demands on him. And his mother seemed to have lost the will to resist the old man. Meanwhile, at school, a black student joined the track team, forcing Bullet to question his own prejudices. But nothing would keep him from running. Nothing.

The fourth book in Cynthia Voigt’s acclaimed Tillerman Series, where 1960s Vietnam beckons Bullet Tillerman.Bullet Tillerman is a loner, with little interest in anyone or anything except running. But this is the 1960s, and with racial war at home and the Vietman War abroad, Bullet’s beliefs have to change.A sad, beautiful story about war, racism and tragedy, building on characters already loved and admired from the first book in the Tillerman series, Homecoming.