RAYMOND'S RUN
Toni Bambara ||| Created by Julie Neagle
Raymond's Run Summary
Raymond's Run is about a girl named Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, or Squeaky, as people call her, who loves to run. Every day she goes out with her brother and runs, practices her breathing, and occasionally has to ward off bullies that call her brother names like "Big Head". Everyone calls her "The Swiftest Thing In The Neighboorhood" because she is the fastest. After being confronted by Gretchen and her two sidekicks, Rosie and Mary Louise, she gets ready for the race. The warning shot goes off, and Squeaky is on her feet. After a close win by Squeaky, she sees her brother running and climbing the fence to come and congradulate her. Maybe he would make a fine runner one day....
Runners:
About The Author
Toni Cade Bambara
1939–1995
Creativity and Concern
Raised in urban neighborhoods of New York
and New Jersey in the 1940s and 1950s, Toni
Cade spent much time daydreaming and
exploring her world. Her mother encouraged
her to do so. In the dedication of her awardwinning novel The Salt Eaters, Bambara
thanks her “mama . . . who in 1948, having
come upon me daydreaming in the middle of
the kitchen floor, mopped around me.” One
day, while looking through an old trunk, Toni
found her great-grandmother’s sketchbook.
The name inscribed there was “Bambara.”
Impressed with her ancestor’s creative drive,
she decided to add that name to her own