Showing posts with label babysitters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label babysitters. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

What would you do if you were kidnapped?

Kehret, Peg (2008). Stolen Children. Grades 5-8.

Fourteen-year-old Amy is hired at the last minute by Mrs. Edgerton to babysit her three-year-old daughter Kendra. Watching Kendra should have been an easy job, but things quickly take a turn for the worse. When Amy goes to wake Kendra up from her nap she finds that Kendra is gone! Amy frantically searches for her inside and outside the house. Then a horrible thought hits her, what if she was kidnapped? Before Amy has time to call the police, the kidnapper finds her and she is forced to go with him. Both girls are taken to a cabin in the woods where the kidnappers plan on keeping them while they await a ransom from the Edgerton family. But Amy doesn't plan to sit back and wait to be released. She comes up with a plan to send clues to her family and friend in the videos the kidnappers make. Will the clues help them locate Amy and Kendra? She can only try and hope that they do.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Falling Bibles from the Sky?...

Horvath, Polly (2008). My One Hundred Adventures. Grades 4-7.

Twelve-year-old Jane Fielding lives year-round in a small, coastal town in Massachusetts with her poet mother and three siblings. She wishes for one hundred adventures this summer, but instead gets fourteen. These include going up in a hijacked hot-air balloon, delivering bibles with the local pastor, visiting a fortune teller, babysitting for the five Gourd children, and meeting several of her mother's past boyfriends, one of which may even be her father. Although Jane does not reach one hundred adventures, the adventures she does experience range from funny to poignant and they allow her to better understand herself. Jane is a very observant and intelligent character. Horvath's other characters add humor, are memorable, and will appeal to many readers.