November 7, 2014 The life of the fourteen year-old Amy seems like a tragic sequel of events. First, her dad dies in a car accident and she feels culpable because it was after he postponed his work to lecture her for an ignorant mistake she made. “No one ever blamed Amy for the accident because nobody else knew” (Kehret 12). Amy, convinced to make up for her mistakes, and wanting to ascertain her father that she is a responsible young woman; she gets a job to support her mother. Later on, while she was babysitting a wealthy family’s baby, two men kidnap her with the baby. These two greedy men are keeping them hostage in hopes of getting a ransom after envying the parents with videos of them. Amy faces the struggle of surviving with the pitiful men while besieged to keep the child calm. To add to that, it is fascinating to see how she leaves clues, in each video to save herself, in a very ingenious manner. In conclusion, seeing how she processes to retain her dad’s last wish to help her in life was very interesting to observe throughout the book. Independency is a pinnacle element in this novel, as it is established in various key events of the story. The novel stresses the importance of making the right choices as it ascendances great outcomes in life. “The kidnapper might hurt Kendra. If we don’t do what he says” (Kehret 26). As Amy grows to understand that she is the only one to count on to escape from the kidnappers, she decides to take things in hands and act. For instance, she leaves coded messages in the videos taken for ransom, to indicate where she is and to help herself out of the situation. Furthermore, she also exhibits her will to become independent as she looks for a job and works as a babysitter in her free time to pay for her food. This is an outstanding way to display the free rein that her life took because instead of wasting time, Amy does her best to support her single mom throughout her sorrow. Therefore, it is obvious for the readers to see the importance of independency to Amy, benefiting her by developing her character into a mature and responsible young woman. The way the book is written brings to readers questions as mysterious things happen along the way. The style and tone Kehret uses in the text offers a constant burst of detailed information making the readers spurt with emotions. “They took Kendra and ran, how far could they get before they were caught” (Kehret 101). The way she writes might seem simple, but is efficient and isn’t cluttered with superfluous words, which is the main reason “Stolen Children” is a pleasant read. The approach the author used to describe Amy might lead readers to relate to her making her familiar as a striking character. Consequently, the different approaches Peg Kehret uses to precisely describe events result in a nice flow of continuous adventure. The character I most identify is basically the main character Amy. The reason why I think she relates to me is because how we can automatically react to something. For example, she was indeed frightened and confused what was happening when her and Kendra were held hostage by two kidnappers. By the way, this is not spoil alert because it really says it all in the title, Stolen Children, so of course kidnapping had to be involved. If something would happen to me unexpectedly, I would automatically have something to say or atleast my facial expression would say it all. This basically can relate to almost everybody , especially if it’s criminal related. Another example would be the different ways Amy tries to escape. This shows how she is open minded. When you are looking to different ways to benefit yourself, you are also capable of being open to new ideas. If this book were a movie, I would definitely watch it. The reason why I say this is because there is so much tension just from reading the book itself. I could already imagine the different ideas/techniques Amy came up with to attempt her and Kendra’s escape. I am not going to say what they are because then it would almost summarize the book. I want to get you guys interested in reading it to find out the attempts. Throughout the book, I could imagine myself in their places as the victim. It would make me stop and think, what would I do to escape the kidnappers and not getting hurt at the same time? These pictures in my head would make me think there was already a movie created. The most important message I believe was how we should always cherish every moment we have. I say this because the whole reason why Amy started this babysitting job was because of her lack of responsibility that led to an argument. That certain argument led to a huge impact on Amy. In my opinion, the babysitting job was not the responsibility part. I think that taking care of Kendra and making sure that she is safe while they are held hostage is called responsibility. this made me realize how the little things we can complain about can affect us later on. therefor, we should live for every moment we got.
Do You like book Stolen Children (2008)?
Love this book!!! Scared me to babysit though
—Erika
