You'll Root for Robert Hartley

With so much trash out there for young readers to pick up it was so refreshing to read MY

ELUSIVE DREAM. There isn’t any doubt that Fred Good’s book was written with the young and

adventurous in mind. After all, the story is told through the eyes of Robert Hartley, a teenage boy

who becomes a man. For this reason MY ELUSIVE DREAM will have a special appeal to boys, ten

to nineteen years of age. However, I’m a woman in my early forties and I couldn’t put the book

down. So, if you love a great adventure novel, it really doesn’t matter how old you are. There’s

something pure, simple and completely endearing about this tale.

   Let me explain.

   As billed, “MY ELUSIVE DREAM is a Depression-era story of tragedy and triumph...” Robert

Hartley is a farm boy from Lincoln County, Arkansas. Just as Robert is coming into his own as a

hard working, fun loving teen, the Great Depression hits Lincoln County and the family farm is

lost to creditors. The Hartleys, like so many other small farm families of the time, are forced to

move to the big city; they move to Chicago to live with relatives. The plan, of course, is to

recover financially and then move back to Arkansas. Unfortunately, in Chicago, Mr. Hartley is

killed and young Robert is forced to grow up fast. Robert comes face to face with responsibilities

that today’s teens can hardly imagine. Yet, these responsibilities only seem to steel Robert’s

determination to make a success of himself and to save his family.

   It is at this point that Robert starts down the path of life’s essential questions. What is success?

What are my talents? What is love? How do I fit in? Can I preserve my values and still be a

success?

   It is at this point that you too will begin to root for Robert.

   Without any money to invest in his own education or betterment, Robert sets out to do the best

he can do in whatever he does and to give his all in even the most menial tasks. This attitude

opens doors for Robert and soon enough he sets out on a wide-open adventure, filled with

action and rife with moral dilemmas.

   In the end, Robert is able to overcome class prejudice, reclaim the family farm in Lincoln County,

retain his core values and come to understand the difference between boyish infatuation and true

love.

   Anyone that reads Fred Good’s story will be encouraged to never give up on their dreams.

       Carolina Summers Book Reviews, June 30, 2008.