Run Far, Run Fast is a book about a boy named Nick Lyons, who runs away from home, because his mom died and he doesn't want to go to a foster home. So he runs away from Chicago and meets a Knight of the Roads, whose name is Idaho.
Idaho helps Nick get around places across the country by train, and helps Nick earn money by getting jobs. One night, there's a fight in a boxcar, because they're riding with two other men and those men are trying to get their money. While Idaho is fighting to get the men away, Nick jumps off, out of the boxcar, and meets a girl trying to get her goat home.
Nick stays with her and her family for a while. The girl's name is Connie McCumber, and Nick helps her dad chop lumber to sell. But everyone thought Connie's dad stole some logs, and Nick had to go to court with Mr. McCumber, where the judge decides if Mr. McCumber really did steal the logs, but nobody could find out the truth, so they put him in a special jail. Then Nick is in more trouble, because people think that since there's no man around, he should go to a foster home. People think that just because he's a bum or a Knight of the Road, he might hurt someone.
Idaho was travelling by their town and he heard about a 12-year old and the trouble with Mr. McCumber and the logs. Idaho thought right away of Nick, so he went to the court. The judge decides that Nick should take care of Mrs. McCumber and Connie and he said in court that he'd come in check in with them every once in a while. In the end, Idaho leaves, and Nick has to make a tough decision about if he's going to travel with Idaho, or stay with the McCumbers.
I like how Nick has to make a decision, in this book, and he chooses the best way. Other people should read this book, because it tells about decisions that sometimes people have to make, and how sometimes life is hard and complicated, just like Nick's life, but there are solutions and choices.