Book Review: Girl, Stolen by April Henry

Title:  Girl, Stolen

Author:  April Henry
Publisher:  Henry Holt & Co.
Genre: YA/suspense
Hardcover: 224 pages

ISBN: 0805090053

Summary from Goodreads: 
Sixteen year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of a car while her mom fills her prescription at the pharmacy. Before Cheyenne realizes what's happening, their car is being stolen--with her inside! Griffin hadn’t meant to kidnap Cheyenne, all he needed to do was steal a car for the others. But once Griffin's dad finds out that Cheyenne’s father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes—now there’s a reason to keep her. What Griffin doesn’t know is that Cheyenne is not only sick with pneumonia, she is blind. How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare, and if she does, at what price? 

• Overall rating: 8/10

To buy this book: IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

Add this book to your: Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

April Henry's Girl, Stolen is a suspenseful thriller about sixteen year old Cheyenne, a blind girl with pneumonia who is inadvertently kidnapped by a carjacker while her stepmother is in the pharmacy picking up her prescription.  When Griffin, the teenage carjacker, discovers Cheyenne in the back of the SUV, he wants to let her go but decides to consult with his father first.  Unfortunately for Cheyenne, when Griffin's father finds out that her family is extremely wealthy, he decides to hold her for ransom.  But will he really let her go if the ransom is paid?  Will Griffin stand by and let his mistake turn into murder?  Can Cheyenne escape and find help on her own?

What I Liked:

-     My favorite aspect of this book was how brave and resourceful Cheyenne was and how thoroughly her  blindness was integrated into the story.  Her blindness was presented in a believable and enlightening way, and I liked that she was so smart and capable.
-     Despite Griffin's criminal history, he was easy to sympathize with because he found himself in a difficult position - torn between his compassionate impulses and his abusive father's demands.
-     This book is a page-turner!  The carjacking/kidnapping happens on the very first page, and the pace doesn't let up until the very last page.  So although this book is fairly short, it is intense from start to finish.
-     The setting has a gritty realism that I liked.  From the sink filled with dirty dishes to the hot dogs and ramen Griffin prepared for Cheyenne, the two main characters and their environment felt realistic.  It didn't ever feel like a sugar-coated fictional world.

What I Liked Less:

-     Aside from Griffin, the bad guys were stock villains who didn't seem to have any ethical concerns about  kidnapping, rape, murder, or theft.  I found them fairly generic and easy to hate.  In a book with so few characters, I wanted every one of them to be compelling and conflicted.
-     The last couple of chapters resolved the story a little too quickly for my taste.

Girl, Stolen is a suspenseful book about a blind girl who is kidnapped and held for ransom.  The author, April Henry, has written several more suspenseful thrillers for teens and adults, including Shock Point, Torched, Learning to Fly, the Claire Montrose mysteries, and the Triple Threat novels (which she co-writes with Lis Wiehl).  If you would like to learn more about Girl, Stolen or April Henry's other books, visit her website, blog, or twitter.

You can read the first chapter of Girl, Stolen here or see April Henry read the first chapter here.

Awesome Book Event! Wordstock!

We spent Sunday at the Wordstock Festival in Portland, and it was tons of fun!  There were several fantastic author panels and lots of cool activities for children.  Our kids had a great time creating books of their own, and I had an awesome time attending YA panels and visiting with a few authors after their presentations.  We can't wait to attend Wordstock again next year!  :-)

YA panel recaps (including a few photos & several videos):

Becca Fitzpatrick and L.K. Madigan

L.K. Madigan discussed both of her novels, Flash Burnout and The Mermaid's Mirror, and read an excerpt from each of them.  She also shared some excellent writing advice, talked about her own writing process, and even passed around a short story she wrote (and illustrated) about mermaids when she was in elementary school.  I adore L.K., and it was wonderful to catch up with her again.  VIDEO #1:  In which she talks about her writing process & VIDEO #2: In which she reads the prologue of The Mermaid's Mirror.

Becca Fitzpatrick discussed both of her book covers and shared behind-the-scenes photos of the Hush, Hush and Crescendo cover shoots.  She talked about her writing process and shared some details about her path to publication.  I didn't realize she had originally written Hush, Hush as a stand-alone novel and not as the first in a series.  She also shared a bit about the challenges she encountered in writing Crescendo, which included deleting around 400 pages and changing the villain.  VIDEO #1:  The evolution of the Hush, Hush cover from concept to completion & VIDEO #2:  A behind-the-scenes look at the Crescendo cover.

April Henry talked about Girl, Stolen, mentioned the series of novels she co-writes with Lis Wiehl, and shared a lot of fun details about the types of research she has done for her books.  It was fascinating to hear about some of the news stories that have inspired her work and to hear about the types of research she did to prepare for Girl Stolen, which is about a blind girl who is inadvertently kidnapped by a carjacker.  After hearing about the wide variety of research she has done over the years (including attending Writer's Police Academy and learning how to place a harness on a guide dog while blindfolded), I asked her if there are any stories she'd like to write just to give her a reason to do a particular type of research.  She responded that writing a story inspired by the Natalee Holloway case might give her the opportunity to spend some time in Aruba.  VIDEO:  In which April reads the first  chapter of Girl, Stolen.

I missed author/illustrator Nancy Coffelt's presentation about Listen, but I enjoyed talking with her after the panel and I am excited to check out her picture books and to read the YA novel she is working on right now.  She is currently writing and illustrating a YA novel about an artistic teenage girl who takes a road trip across the country with her best friend after inheriting a car from a man who lived in the nursing home where she has been working.  When the girl finds the elderly man's sketchbook/journal from the 1930's in the car, she decides to recreate his sketchbook by following his path across the country and creating her own drawings inspired by his work.  Isn't that a great premise?  It sounds like a challenging story to write and illustrate since Nancy is writing in two very different voices and sketching from two very different perspectives.  I look forward to reading it.

Joëlle Anthony and Cecil Castellucci

Joëlle Anthony discussed her debut novel, Restoring Harmony, and read two excerpts from the book.  Joëlle used to live in Portland and part of Restoring Harmony is set in the Portland area, so it was interesting to hear about the way familiar landmarks played a roll in the book.  She also shared a bit about how music and the idea of living a self-sufficient, sustainable lifestyle influenced the story.  And she spoke briefly about her upcoming YA project, The Right & The Real, which is about a teenage girl whose father throws her out of the house when she refuses to join the cult he has gotten involved with.  When her father ends up in trouble, it is up to her to rescue him.  VIDEO:  In which Joëlle reads an excerpt from Restoring Harmony.

Cecil Castellucci read her lovely picture book, Grandma's Gloves, and shared a chapter from her new YA novel, Rose Sees Red.  She talked about the inspiration behind Grandma's Gloves and discussed her collaborative experiences writing the Plain Jane graphic novels. Our kids enjoyed her panel, and she was very kind about fielding their questions after her presentation.  When we stopped by Cecil and Joelle's table to have our books signed after the panel, they were both very sweet about letting our six year old read the little book she had just written to them, and Cecil told us about two short stories she has coming up in YA anthologies soon.  The first is a vampire story in Teeth: Vampire Tales (which is due out in April 2011) and the second is a post-apocalyptic story which will be part of an upcoming dystopian anthology.  Can't wait to read those!  VIDEO:  In which Cecil reads a chapter of Rose Sees Red.

Carson Ellis illustrated Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead, Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society, and Florence Heide's Dillweed's Revenge.  She read Dillweed's Revenge and discussed that book's interesting history.  Florence Parry Heide apparently wrote the book many years ago and Edward Gorey provided illustrations for it, but when her publisher asked that the ending be made less grim, Edward Gorey refused to have his illustrations attached to the book if the dark ending was altered.  So the book didn't make it to press.  Around thirty years later, Carson was given the opportunity to illustrate the story in its original form (macabre ending and all).  I think fans of Roald Dahl, Edward Gorey, or Lemony Snicket will enjoy this  picture book about a maltreated little boy who wishes several people dead and is pleased when his wishes come true.

We are excited to share a bit of the Wordstock fun with one of our readers, so we'll be giving away a copy of the YA anthology Kiss Me Deadly (signed by Becca Fitzpatrick) during our Gratitude Giveaway next month.  Be sure to keep an eye out for that giveaway which will run from November 17th-27th.  :-)