I don't think I'd ever heard of Phyllis La Farge before picking up Joanna Runs Away, but when I saw that it had been illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman - one of my all-time favorite picture-book artists - I decided to give it a try. The story of a lonely young girl whose single mom is always away at work, it follows Joanna as she gradually becomes fixated on Costanza, the horse who pulls the vegetable wagon through her Brooklyn neighborhood. Dreaming of the life she and Costanza could lead together, far away in the green countryside, Joanna finds herself unexpectedly running away...

Although this early-reader chapter-book from 1973 has a somewhat dated feel, I did like the diversity of characters, and the author's sensitive appreciation of the fact that children sometimes transgress almost by accident, without thinking things through. But the real appeal here, for me anyway, was Hyman's two-tone artwork, done in pencil and ink. Her fans will recognize the style instantly, right down to the lettering of the chapter-names, and will appreciate this book for that reason. ( )