"Hidden" by Helen Frost

(R R Donnelley & Sons Company, Apr 2011, 142 pp., $16.99, ISBN:9780374382216, HC, YA Poetry)

In 2008 I did a book group with several teens. We read "Keisha's House", also by Helen Frost. It was meant to be an introduction to free verse poetry, a way to break teens from the idea that all poetry had to be laid out with mathematical and grammatical precision. While the poetry angle was accomplished, the story itself was deeply felt by all. A home for "lost" teens who need time away from their ordinary lives to accept their pasts and create new futures.

"Hidden" touched a similar chord with me. The premise concerns a young girl who is abducted when the car she is in is stolen. The captor, who is unaware of her presence in the back seat, drives her to his home and locks the car in the garage. After two days she is able to escape, leading the police to the captor's home and resulting in a six-year prison sentence. Fast forward six years and the captive, Wren, is attending summer camp. What will make this summer different from others before is that she has a new cabin-mate - a girl named Darra whose father mistakenly abducted a young girl named Wren six years earlier.

Though it sounds unbelievable, Frost is able to lay out the story in a plausible manner. I read the book cover to cover in one sitting, wanting to know how these girls would react, and whether they could make amends. Encompassing the story is the lake in which the girls swim. Water slows their movements, draws out wordless scenes that speak volumes, and acts as a metaphor for the cold of the garage, and finally a blanket of forgiveness.

I highly recommend this story for tween book groups. Great discussions can be had about how to react in a dangerous situation, how to help others in trouble, the sacrifice of family when relationships go sour, and the nature of forgiveness. Fantastic!