Synopses & Reviews
When Wren Abbott and Darra Monson are eight years old, Darra's father steals a minivan. He doesn't know that Wren is hiding in the back. The hours and days that follow change the lives of both girls. Darra is left with a question that only Wren can answer. Wren has questions, too.
Years later, in a chance encounter at camp, the girls face each other for the first time. They can finally learn the truth—that is, if theyre willing to reveal to each other the stories that theyve hidden for so long. Told from alternating viewpoints, this novel-in-poems reveals the complexities of memory and the strength of a friendship that can overcome pain.
Review
An ALA Notable Childrens Book An IRA Teacher's Choice "Many teen readers will identify with Wren and Darra and how events that happened to us when we were younger help shape the person we become." —VOYA "Beginning with a horrific story of an accidental kidnapping, this poetic novel is impossible to put down. . . . A masterpiece!" —Shirley Mullin, Kids Ink Childrens Bookstore "Like Frosts Printz Honor Book, Keeshas House, this novel in verse stands out through its deliberate use of form to illuminate emotions and cleverly hide secrets in the text." —Booklist
About the Author
Helen Frost is the author of several books for young readers, including Diamond Willow, Crossing Stones, The Braid, and Keeshas House, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. Helen Frost was born in Brookings, South Dakota, the fifth of ten children. She recalls the summer her family moved from South Dakota to Oregon, traveling in a big trailer and camping in places like the Badlands and Yellowstone. Her father told the family stories before they went to sleep, and Helen would dream about their travels, her family, and their old house. "Thats how I became a writer," she says. "I didnt know it at the time, but all those things were accumulating somewhere inside me." As a child, she loved to travel, think, swim, sing, learn, canoe, write, argue, sew, play the piano, play softball, play with dolls, daydream, read, go fishing, and climb trees. Now when she sits down to write, her own experiences become the details of her stories. Helen has lived in South Dakota, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Scotland, Colorado, Alaska, California, and Indiana. She currently lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with her family.