Girl, Stolen
By: April Henry
Sixteen year old Cheyenne Wilder is very sick with pneumonia. She convinces her step-mother to let her stay in the car while she goes into the pharmacy to fill her prescription for antibiotics. Suddenly a young man jumps into the Escalade and drives off, not realizing that someone is in the back seat. Cheyenne is not only very sick, she is also blind. The carjacker, Griffin, is a high school dropout who is taking the car back to his family’s “chop shop” where they steal cars and sell the parts. Griffin is horrified to realize that he has kidnapped someone and wants to release her but knows what will happen to him if he goes back home to his violent family without scoring a vehicle. Unfortunately, his family discovers that Cheyenne’s father is the president of Nike and they decide to lock Cheyenne up hold her for ransom. How can Cheyenne protect herself and escape when she can’t see where she is? Griffin is nice to her and wants to protect her from his violent family but he has to make sure that his father doesn’t know that he is being kind to her. This book is told in alternating points of view between Cheyenne and Griffin. Griffin isn’t a bad teen but he is a victim of his violent upbringing. Cheyenne is a strong character and because she is blind she must focus on her other sense to help her. Can she really trust Griffin or is it just a case of Stockholm syndrome, where the hostages begins to identify and sometimes defend their captors? When Cheyenne takes matters into her own hands and tries to escape into the woods behind the house, this book races to a thrilling climax. Readers won’t want to put it down. (Grades 7-up)
Review By: Jan Bridges