Runaway Ralph is the second book in the trilogy of Ralph S. Mouse stories by Beverly Cleary. Cleary wrote over 40 books for children and won numerous awards, including the Newbery medal for three different books. Originally published in 1970, Runaway Ralph won the Nene Award from the Hawaii Library Association in 1972. In 1988, a two-part miniseries of the book aired on ABC, earning Emmy nominations. Runaway Ralph features Ralph S. Mouse, the protagonist of the other two Mouse and the Motorcycle books, as he sets out for adventure to the Happy Acres Summer Camp on his mouse-sized motorcycle. In his adventures, he meets a camp guard dog, a dangerous cat, and a grumpy hamster, who all add to his growing understanding of the world. The anthropomorphic talking animals underscore the limited fantasy nature of all three novels. During his stay at the camp, he learns about empathy, independence, and the risks of adventure while developing a friendship with Garf—a young boy who struggles to fit in with the other kids.

This guide references the 2006 HarperTrophy paperback edition.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in the Mountain View Inn, where Ralph S. Mouse waits for evening so he can race his motorcycle through all the nooks and crannies of the hotel. When Garfield R. Jernigan (Garf) comes in with his parents, Ralph learns that the music he hears every day is the bugle from a nearby summer camp. While riding his mouse-sized motorcycle through the hotel bar and lobby, his Uncle Lester and his mother intervene and insist he give his younger siblings and cousins a turn on the motorcycle. Ralph gets more and more frustrated with his parental figures’ rules. At the end of the night, when the camp bugle plays the wake-up tune, Ralph decides to run away to the summer camp.

The next night, Ralph prepares to leave, explaining to Matt, the older bellboy at the hotel, that he needs his independence. Matt empathizes with Ralph and says he would love to ride a motorcycle, too. However, Matt refuses to help Ralph off the hotel steps. Matt points out that independence means doing things on your own. Ralph is, again, frustrated by the older generation but figures out a way down. He rides his motorcycle on the highway all the way to Happy Acres Camp. At the camp entrance, he meets Sam, the camp guard dog, who won’t let him enter. He hides from Sam in a gopher hole and sneaks into the camp later. Ralph naps in a bamboo patch, waking to find he’s under attack by the camp tomcat, Catso, as an object lesson for a litter of kittens. Ralph is rescued when Garf captures him in his butterfly net, and Aunt Jill, the head counselor, gives Garf a cage in the craft shop for Ralph.

Ralph stays in the cage in the craft shop for several days. He is popular with the other campers, and everyone wants to feed him and examine him, which irritates Garf. Garf wants to avoid the other kids, so he only comes to feed Ralph and clean his cage when the craft shop is empty—breaking a camp rule that no one is to be alone in the craft shop. When Aunt Jill discovers this, she talks to Garf, who reveals that he craves independence and alone time. She gives him alternatives to breaking the rules and helps him make a sign designating Ralph as belonging only to Garf. During this time, Ralph struggles to trust Garf. Initially, he believes Garf is the right kind of boy to hear him speak and really understand him, but Garf’s tendency to sing disturbing camp songs causes Ralph to question Garf’s trustworthiness. He keeps aloof while getting to know a new resident of the craft shop: Chum, the grumpy hamster who comes with his owner to camp every year. Chum introduces Ralph to cynicism and acts as a foil to Ralph because Chum has fully acclimated to living in a cage and depending on humans while Ralph still craves independence. In addition to the loss of freedom, Ralph discovers that life in a cage isn’t as safe as he originally thought when Catso makes his way through a hole in the craft shop’s screen door.

Catso toys with Ralph but is distracted by the watch left next to Ralph’s cage by a camper. Catso takes the watch, which Ralph sees him drop in a patch of bamboo. Garf is the prime suspect for the other campers as the only person known to have broken the rules and spent time in the craft shop alone. Garf, as Chum predicts, avoids the craft shop after that to escape further suspicion. As Ralph gets hungrier and dirtier without Garf to care for him, he sees Garf playing with the motorcycle in the bamboo patch and decides in desperation to escape. The next time Catso gets into the craft shop, Ralph faces his fear and goads Catso into knocking the cage to the floor. It breaks and Ralph escapes, hiding in the wall boards until Catso gives up and leaves. When the havoc is discovered, everyone believes Catso has eaten Ralph. When Garf is tasked with fixing the screen door, Ralph trusts his intuition and talks to Garf.

Garf is happy that Ralph is alive and shocked to discover Ralph can talk to him. As they get to know each other a bit better, Ralph suggests a trade: Ralph will bring the watch back to its owner if Garf returns Ralph’s motorcycle. Garf questions the possibility of Ralph’s plan but eventually agrees to it. Ralph spends the night hefting the watch from the bamboo patch toward the girls’ lodge. In the morning, the girls lay their sleeping bags outside to air out, and Ralph sees his opportunity; unfortunately, Catso does, too. Ralph is rescued by Sam, who has accepted that Ralph is now a resident of the camp and, therefore, under his protection. Sam carries the watch the rest of the way, and Ralph hides it in the sleeping bag. He curls up inside the bag’s filling and goes to sleep.

When he wakes, he’s discovered by the girls in the lodge as they lie down for an afternoon rest. He’s captured again, but in the process, the girls discover the watch, clearing Garf’s name. Aunt Jill suggests the mouse be given to Garf to replace the one Catso ate and as an apology for unfairly accusing him of theft. Ralph is delivered safely to Garf who gives him back his motorcycle and brings him back home to the hotel when camp ends.