It is a shorter book at 160 pages, craftily written from two points of view. Each of the two girls tells her part of the story by using her own unique form of poetry, one in free verse, and a second in a poetry form invented by the author, Helen Frost (along with a special note about the writing styles at the end that reveals even more information for the reader).
From Helen Frost's website, the following is a synopsis of the story:
When Wren and Darra meet at age fourteen, they recognize each other instantly, though they’ve never actually met. It has been six years since something happened that affected each of them profoundly: Darra’s father stole a car and drove it home, not knowing that Wren was hiding in the back. Darra was the only one who guessed that Wren stayed hidden in their locked garage—how could she help Wren and still protect her father? |
I started reading this one before Spring Break, and the students were upset when I had to stop. I had to promise to continue reading it after the break.
If a student reads (or is read) as few as four of the Mark Twain Award nominees from the Missouri Association of School Librarians list, s/he may officially vote to help determine the 2014 recipient of the award. With this, my students are already one-fourth of the way to a vote and hopefully will want to read all 12 of the candidate novels.