So this is definitely not a book I would normally have read. I read it for work and it's the last of the must reads for work for a little while. I had to read this as part of my job as a teen librarian but I definitely think it skews younger.

Matt lives with his mom and his sister Bonnie. Bonnie meets him everyday right after school and they take the bus home together. Until one day Matt isn't there. The tale that follows is sad and scary but packed with a lot of important information.

None of the charaters is very deep in this book. Everyone is there to tell their part of the story. The story is an important one. It's important to see how Matt was tricked and how many people saw something and didn't really realize what was going on. There is also a good description of the Amber Alert process and what goes into looking for a missing child.

This book is most definitely a cautionary tale for younger kids. There is a lot of good information here and I think that it's a good reminder to adults that children can't always take care of themselves and that even the strongest precautions sometimes aren't enough. It's also a good reminder to children to always be aware of what's going on, to ask for help and to never go with strangers. ( )

So this is definitely not a book I would normally have read. I read it for work and it's the last of the must reads for work for a little while. I had to read this as part of my job as a teen librarian but I definitely think it skews younger.

Matt lives with his mom and his sister Bonnie. Bonnie meets him everyday right after school and they take the bus home together. Until one day Matt isn't there. The tale that follows is sad and scary but packed with a lot of important information.

None of the charaters is very deep in this book. Everyone is there to tell their part of the story. The story is an important one. It's important to see how Matt was tricked and how many people saw something and didn't really realize what was going on. There is also a good description of the Amber Alert process and what goes into looking for a missing child.

This book is most definitely a cautionary tale for younger kids. There is a lot of good information here and I think that it's a good reminder to adults that children can't always take care of themselves and that even the strongest precautions sometimes aren't enough. It's also a good reminder to children to always be aware of what's going on, to ask for help and to never go with strangers. ( )

So this is definitely not a book I would normally have read. I read it for work and it's the last of the must reads for work for a little while. I had to read this as part of my job as a teen librarian but I definitely think it skews younger.

Matt lives with his mom and his sister Bonnie. Bonnie meets him everyday right after school and they take the bus home together. Until one day Matt isn't there. The tale that follows is sad and scary but packed with a lot of important information.

None of the charaters is very deep in this book. Everyone is there to tell their part of the story. The story is an important one. It's important to see how Matt was tricked and how many people saw something and didn't really realize what was going on. There is also a good description of the Amber Alert process and what goes into looking for a missing child.

This book is most definitely a cautionary tale for younger kids. There is a lot of good information here and I think that it's a good reminder to adults that children can't always take care of themselves and that even the strongest precautions sometimes aren't enough. It's also a good reminder to children to always be aware of what's going on, to ask for help and to never go with strangers. ( )

So this is definitely not a book I would normally have read. I read it for work and it's the last of the must reads for work for a little while. I had to read this as part of my job as a teen librarian but I definitely think it skews younger.

Matt lives with his mom and his sister Bonnie. Bonnie meets him everyday right after school and they take the bus home together. Until one day Matt isn't there. The tale that follows is sad and scary but packed with a lot of important information.

None of the charaters is very deep in this book. Everyone is there to tell their part of the story. The story is an important one. It's important to see how Matt was tricked and how many people saw something and didn't really realize what was going on. There is also a good description of the Amber Alert process and what goes into looking for a missing child.

This book is most definitely a cautionary tale for younger kids. There is a lot of good information here and I think that it's a good reminder to adults that children can't always take care of themselves and that even the strongest precautions sometimes aren't enough. It's also a good reminder to children to always be aware of what's going on, to ask for help and to never go with strangers. ( )

I haven't had time to read much lately--busy, busy, busy, you know. I have a to-read pile that I definitely need a ladder to begin to tackle, and this was nowhere on my list. It was a "free book" thanks to the books my kids ordered through me from Scholastic. It seems like the okay book that will be borrowed and lost, but at least it was free: the kind of book I don't have to lock up and sign out with deadlines. I never read the back of books, and I was curious if this was about a child abduction or aliens! I opened up to the first page.....and 3 hours later, I'm done with the book.

I had no time for this at all, and it wasn't great literature, that's for sure. Predictable plot, easy reading, yet sucked in my 7th grade self immediately. This is for the girls who love "A Child Called It", books about girls who run away and become prostitutes before learning that their mother was right all along, and any other book about scary, better-her-than-me books that aren't realistic enough to give us nightmares, but plausible enough to give awareness. Just the other day, for example, I read in the paper a story about a girl who supposedly ran away from home, was offered a place to stay by a guy who then beat her and forced her into prostitution. I was thinking, "Didn't she know that would happen? Didn't she read "Can Steffie Come Out to Play?" That cheesy book taught me at a young age, before I could watch R-rated movies, that if I run away, I'll be forced into prostitution, but it didn't go into enough detail to disturb me indefinitely. Those books are perfect for middle school girls who want to experience and learn from danger vicariously.

This book is all of that--a boy gets abducted and you are amazed at how truly easy it was to accomplish...you can see it really happen...you can get into the mind of the abductor and think, "Totally, that's how it must be! I'll be sure to look out for that next time." Of course, it's totally simple and tame--no child rape, a relatively quick and unrealistic rescue,but gives you enough suspense, horror, and possible reality to at least make you think.

I absolutely recommend this to the reluctant or struggling middle school reader, mostly girls but not exclusively. I'd ask the student, when he or she is finished reading, in what ways did the average citizen fail the children? What is this book showing about civic responsibility? The best part was the message to adults: many people didn't want to get involved when the abducted children tried desperately to get help out in public. Even though this is cheesy juvenile fiction, it was still a good reminder to keep our eyes open and RESPOND and interact with kids who are not ours and to take them seriously.

I don't recommend this to adults, unless you're an ELA teacher of grades 5-8 and want to pre-read for the kids, but this is a terrific title to get more kids reading. Kehret, keep publishing--you have found your niche. Well done! ( )