Ree Augustine

Hangabout: Far From Home, Middle Grade Fiction

Some of Ree's earliest memories are with a book in her hand, and today, she still loves to read stories of all kinds, from children’s poetry to adult suspense novels. Before her love of reading turned into a love of writing, she took many turns in her life, some of which were an accountant, a retail clerk, and a volunteer worker for abused women. When she and her husband started their family, she became a stay-at-home mom to two boys. It was then, in a few solitary moments, she put a pencil in her hand and discovered a love of writing. Now, she spends her mornings in Eastern, PA creating stories of her own with her writing partner by her side, a sleepy greyhound. Quiet things inspire her: a word, a child’s desire, a tug in her heart. Afternoons and evenings are for family, friends, and lots of daydreaming.

Hangabout: Far From Home

​Hangabout, a puppy whose body has just grown into his long teardrop ears, searches for his Keeper, who unbeknownst to Hangabout has abandoned him in the countryside.

Thinking his Keeper has come under harm, Hangabout prepares to find his way back home. Bean, a know-it-all street cat, tries to talk him out of it. Hangabout loves his new friend, Bean, but is determined to return to his Keeper. In the end, Bean joins Hangabout, under the pretense
that she is returning to her Keeper too, when in fact Bean is homeless and has no one. Hangabout naively presses on, even though he is traveling to a lie and traveling with a lie.

After being attacked by rats, and a fox, and a farmer with a BB gun, Hangabout, along with Bean, finally makes his way back home, only to find the house is empty. Hangabout now realizes his Keeper has abandoned him. Hangabout still believes there is good in the world, and he sets
out to find a Keeper for himself and Bean. But when Bean seems to have died, Hangabout lowers his standards and decides to live with a Scavenger who wants nothing to do with him.
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If Hangabout does not stick to his belief that there is good in the world, he will never find the Keeper who is waiting for him.