Another absolutely beautiful book by Brian Selznick. The beauty in the way he combines two art forms to tell a beautiful love story. The ending is even more beautiful told in pictures.

I really enjoyed the romantic element that I was looking for from the description and enjoyed the overall feel of this book. The characters had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall concept, I thought Brian Selznick wrote this perfectly and was invested in what was happening.

I've been a longtime reader and fan of Brian Selznick's work ever since reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret almost two decades ago, so I was quite excited to see the announcement of his latest release, Run Away With Me. I also had the pleasure of seeing Selznick promote Run Away With Me at my local independent bookstore, where he talked about his inspiration and process, which also gave me an entirely new appreciation for his craft. As always, Selznick's illustrations are stunning. The illustrated spreads at the start of the book truly set the scene: a summer in Rome in the 1980s. And if ever there were a book that captures the feeling of young summer love, this is it. I loved the layers of love stories contained within this book, and most of all, I loved Danny and Angelo's love story. I did struggle a little bit when it came to keeping track of all the stories-within-the-story in this book, but I still greatly enjoyed this read.

Thank you to Scholastic and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

A mysterious first love during a summer abroad? Yes, please.

This beautifully told and gorgeously illustrated story by Selznick lives up to his other award-winning books like Hugo Cabaret.

Danny meets Angelo in Rome while wandering the streets alone. He's there while his mom works in antique book translation. Angelo is mysterious, telling Danny he's 2000 years old and taking him through the city telling histories. The boys fall in love while exploring connections between two sets of past lovers, all whose lives begin to intertwine. There's an underlying magical element to their story, with an end that leaves you wondering. All in all, a very sweet read.

I received this ARC from publisher @scholastic through @netgalley. The opinions are my own.

Run Away With Me was released on April 1, 2025 and is available at booksellers now.

I think maybe I just didn't give this book enough attention when I was listening to this, but it also definitely didn't grab my attention. It's a quiet book, and I found my mind wandering when going through the history of figures in Rome, and I didn't feel a lot of connection. The writing was good, and the illustrations are beautiful, as you probably expect from Selznick, but I think this was a case of nothing wrong with the book but not necessarily For Me.

Fell in love with this YA queer romance!

Author Brian Selznick will make you feel like you're walking the streets of Rome along with his two main characters! The two boys and their wild summer romance will pull you in and take you on a journey as they explore the ancient cities! The illustrations in the book just take you further into the story and will leave you with a huge smile on your face.

Run Away With Me was an endearing story about a budding romance between two unlikely characters. I enjoyed their journey of discovering their feelings for each other and the story within a story that justified their love for one another. However, I did find myself confused on what was real and what was lore as the stories progressed and intertwined. I did enjoy how the novel wraped up. Overall, the writing was whimsical and soft and I enjoyed my experience in Rome with these two boys.

Beautiful - the art and writing as always with the author mesh so well. This is not only a love letter to Rome but a meaningful coming of age/coming out story. Much needed in the current climate.

Thanks so much to Scholastic and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book! This was a sweet and emotional read.

In the summer of 1986, Danny is 16 years old. He and his mother are spending the summer in Rome, as she has a job at a museum. Left to his own devices, he wanders the streets, visiting the sights, and waiting for something to happen to him.

And then he meets Angelo. Angelo seems to be following him through Rome—but once he steps out of the shadows, he has a powerful impact on Danny’s life. Angelo has stories about so many of the places and things they see, each of which focuses on love stories between men throughout history. Against this backdrop, the two boys’ attraction to one another quickly turns to love.

Of course, their relationship has an end date, since Danny will have to go back to the U.S. with his mother at the end of the summer. This only serves to intensify their feelings for one another and the emotions related to Danny’s impending departure.

As much as this is a love story between two young men, Brian Selznick has also written a gorgeous love letter to Rome. I’ve never been but Italy is very high on my bucket list. Selznick’s prose made me feel immersed in the sights and sounds of the city.

Having grown up in the 1980s, I love books set during that time. It’s always interesting to read a love story that takes place before the immediate connections that mobile phones and email could provide. The added bonus is the beautiful illustrations that Selznick drew. This book really packed a punch.

Run Away with Me by Brian Selznick is a profoundly emotional YA romance that is beautifully created using lyrical language and a heady atmosphere created from the first page. It weaves words and illustrations to share a story of transformative love built over one summer in Rome.
The story intersects with both the present with Danny and Angelo but also delves into the history of Rome, intertwining stories of the Monda brothers, a sculptor Dante, and an elephant. Each story reveals the nature of love in a lyrical and beautiful fashion, adding layers to the story of Danny and Angelo. And the mystery of Angelo, his past and who he is builds the emotional weight of the romance between the pair. The ending is breathtaking. Even though this is a novel written for a young adult audience, any adult reading it will also fall in love with this profoundly emotional story of love and romance in Rome.
If you love stories that are lyrical and build a connectedness in the world of the novel, this book is for you, whether you are young or old. The romance and the emotional resonating story will leave you breathless.

What a tender book. As with Brian Selznick's other books, this one has beautiful illustrations that help you really see the city he's describing. This time, we are in Rome in the 1980s, but what's lovely about the book is that it feels timeless because the main characters spend the book talking Roman History and Art. And the love story between these two young men is just so sweet. Really the whole book is a love story: love for Rome and all its hidden streets and buildings, and young love between two young men who have to sneak around. Angelo and Dante are so caring with one another, and their conversations really show that care. They listen attentively, they show up for each other, they imagine worlds together. I think this book shows a great example of how to be in love. Selznick also perfectly captures the bittersweetness of a love that cannot last (you know from the very beginning that Dante is only in Rome briefly while his mom is working there). But you can tell from the beautiful memories that Dante and Angelo make that the love will last in their hearts forever. I highly recommend this book to people of all ages.

I really liked this sweet romance about two boys falling in love in Rome in the 1980s. I kind of think it was more a love story to Rome, where the author spent some time during the pandemic. (I myself was there in February 2020 and am going back next week, so I GET IT.) Selznick made some interesting choices by setting the book in the 1980s, making Angelo's story purposefully cryptic, putting an expiration date on Danny's time in Rome, etc. But overall, the stories tied together well and made me fall in love with both boys.

I normally have extremely limited patience for YA romances, but Brian Selznick can make anything better and his own storytelling ability made this a fantastic experience. The stories within the story, and how everything came together in the end, was just wonderful.

This beautifully illustrated, bittersweet exploration of first love is nicely done. The setting brings to mind Call Me By Your Name. Yet, while Call Me By Your Name (the movie since I couldn’t bring myself to read the book after watching) gave me the ick with the age difference and power dynamics, Selznick’s book is wholesome in comparison with both boys having a similar age and experience. The historical / mythological stories sometimes go on longer than I’d like, but contribute to the boys’ coming of age and discovering the joy and beauty of love between two men amidst the harsh news and prejudice during the AIDS epidemic. What shines most is two lonely boys finding each other and holding on to hope that maybe two men could live a happy, fulfilling life together.

Danny is spending his summer in Italy with his mother. He meets a mysterious stranger, Angelo. The two develop strong feelings for each other while exploring the city and its past.

This story moved very slowly and was boring. I wished for more images, perhaps that could have helped the story move more.

Run Away With Me (publication day April 1, 2025) is my first book by author Brian Selznick, though I understand that his The Invention of Hugo Cabret is beloved by many.

Set in 1986, 16-year old Danny is living in a small apartment at a museum in Rome with his mother, an expert in ancient book restoration. He is used to exploring on his own, as they have lived all over the United States and in other countries while his mother works on different projects.

He doesn’t know Italian, but he meets Angelo, who at first I thought was a magical person, like an angel, because he knows so much about Rome and its history, its stories. But he is a real boy, another 16-year old who lives across the street from the museum where Danny and his mother live. Angelo tells Danny stories of the obelisks, including the one that is built atop an elephant, and of the museum where his mother works. They spend time in the cemetery where the Romantic poet John Keats is buried.

They fall in love, which Danny knows is limited, as each chapter begins with how many days he has left in Rome. They make a secret hideout in a small room in the museum where they can be really alone. And they learn of the stories of other men in love, including one pair who ran away to a new city where they could live as brothers in public and live their truth in private.

It is so beautifully written and atmospheric, full of the wonders of young love and the magic of an ancient city. And Selznick’s pencil drawings of many of the landmarks in the story are beautiful and add a lot. It made me want to go back to Rome to see more!

And it was completely weight-neutral, no negative descriptions of fat people.

Thanks NetGalley for giving me access to this ARC. While I LOVED the description, it was really difficult for me to get into this book. The beginning was too obscure and mysterious to grab my attention, not to mention starting with NINETY PAGES of illustrations with almost no context. I was confused for most of the first half of the book. When the story became more grounded in reality around the halfway point, I became much more invested in Danny and Angelo as individuals and as a couple. I wish there was more substance and less mystery at the beginning because ultimately the story was interesting and satisfying. It was just a struggle to get there.

3.5 stars rounded up!

This is my first encounter with Brian Selznick, but I was so blown away by the combination of beautiful atmospheric artwork and cozy story and I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next. This is just a lovely, undemanding story of first love set to an adventure through mid-1980s Rome as two boys find each other and fall in love over the course of a summer. Along the way, they discover the queer love stories buried into the foundations of Rome in the people they meet, the tales they tell, and the architecture surrounding them.

It's obvious that Selznick has a deep love for the city, in both his descriptions of the boys' adventures and in his illustrations. It's the type of book that leaves you with an aching desire to see the places described within, and in some ways the story seems almost secondary to that beautiful atmosphere.

I wanted to love this book about two 16-year-old boys spending a summer together in Rome in 1986. However, most of the book describes Rome and its history. Although interesting, especially to someone who has been to Rome, the story often gets lost. I think this book might have a hard time finding its intended audience, but I would highly recommend it to any teen traveling to Rome.

Selznick weaves a tale of young summer of love for two teenage boys set in 1986 Rome along with his illustrations opening and closing the book. The atmospheric telling weave together their longing and budding relationship with two other queer stories of love and Italy. Thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic Press for an advanced copy for a honest review.