Girl, Stolen

The novel Girl, Stolen is a realistic fiction novel by April Henry.  This novel will keep you on the edge of your seat, packed with thrilling action in each chapter.  The very first chapter is sure to hook in any reluctant reader! Relatively shorter than other novels, Girl, Stolen is just over 200 pages, so it is a fairly quick read.  The action moves fast and chapters are 5-8 pages each, so the reader moves quickly through the book.  While written from a first person point of view, the chapters alternate narrators, jumping between Cheyenne and Griffin, allowing the reader to hear from 2 very unique perspectives: the kidnapped and the kidnapper.  April Henry writes many other novels that thrill readers, so if readers who are a fan of Girl, Stolen can easily find another interesting read by this author!  

Cheyenne is a teenage girl who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Sick and sleepy, Cheyenne is laying down in the back of the family's Escalade drifting in and out of sleep while her stepmother quickly runs into the pharmacy to pick up her perscription before heading home.  Cheyenne hears someone jump in the car and start the engine and quickly realizes it is not her stepmom, Danielle, but instead, a thief looking to steal their SUV.  Too risky to let her out of the car, the kidnapper continues out of town until there is less traffic and more secluded areas to think.  He pulls the car over, panicked at the unexpected visitor in the car, only to discover that Cheyenne is blind.  Unsure of what to do, the kidnapper, Griffin, decides to drive the car on home to his father.  Cheyenne quickly learns stealing cars is not new for Griffin or his father and they run a business from their home of stealing cars and selling them for their parts.  But Cheyenne was NOT part of the plan and everyone is panicked - until they turn on the radio to hear a news report of Cheyenne's disappearance and find out who Cheyenne REALLY is: the daughter of a very wealthy well-known business.  This quickly changes things and the men suddenly see a ransom for Cheyenne as their chance to get rich quick. How could Cheyenne possibly make it out of this situation alive?

Girl, Stolen is a great read for both boys and girls, despite the narrator being female.  It is packed with action and the varying viewpoints allow the reader to see some events and incidents twice, but from different sides.  This novel is also great for readers who need a quick start, not an exposition that drags on for several chapters. The first chapter (3 pages) will have almost any reader hooked!  Through the course of the novel Cheyenne also shares her experience as someone living with a handicap, which I always love in any novel.  Learning how other people - people different from ourselves - live each day is a truly valuable experience.  She shares her struggles of living without sight and how she lives her life differently to overcome her setbacks in the efforts to live as normal a life as possible.  However, I do feel this novel is best suited for middle and high school readers for several reasons.  First, there is language that is not suited for an elementary child.  There is also violence in the book, which is to be expected in a book that begins with a car theft and kidnapping.  Finally, through the chapters Cheyenne narrates she shares her fears with the reader - all of them.  She shares fears of making it out alive, but also fears any female might have when being held captive by three men, especially a female without sight.