When Wren Abbott and Darra Monson are eight years old, Darra's father steals a minivan. He doesn't know that Wren is hiding in the back. The hours and days that follow change the lives of both girls. Darra is left with a question that only Wren can answer.Wren has questions, too.
Years later, in a chance encounter at camp, the girls face each other for the first time. They can finally learn the truth―that is, if they're willing to reveal to each other the stories that they've hidden for so long. Told from alternating viewpoints, this novel-in-poems reveals the complexities of memory and the strength of a friendship that can overcome pain.
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This verse novel is essentially broken up into three main portions. Part 1 introduces the reader to 8 year old Wren on the day she was accidentally kidnapped. How does one get accidentally kidnapped you might ask? Well, what happened was Wren's mom pulled up to a convenience store / gas station type place with Wren in the back of the car. Shortly after Wren's mom goes in... the sound of gunshots. A man comes running out of the store, immediately jumps into the car Wren is in to use as a getaway car. A fearful Wren is hunkered down, hiding in the back so the guy doesn't see her. The guy takes the car back to his house, hiding it in his garage. No one knowing her whereabouts, Wren stays days in this garage trying to figure out how to get back out without being seen. Darra, the man's daughter starts to suspect someone is in the garage, so she leaves little meals for Wren until the day Wren does find a way free. Shortly after Wren's return to her family, Darra's father is rounded up & sent to prison and Darra grows up to blame Wren for the family breaking apart.
Part 2 looks at the same events but more from Darra's point of view. Darra is also 8 years old at the time of the crime. Part 2 also gives a little insight into Darra's family -- what life was like in happier times and what happened shortly before her father decided to commit this crime.
Part 3 brings the girls together again years later (now teens) through an unexpected reunion at a Michigan summer camp. Initially Darra makes her bitterness toward Wren clearly known. But a swimming program forces them to work together as a team, slowly causing them to learn to trust each other again and eventually work toward forgiveness on both sides.
Sounds like a lot of story, right? Impressive that this story is only 142 pages! I just flew through these pages, needing to know how everything was resolved. There were some seriously touching, sometimes painful, truthful moments. But those moments offer up some inspiring scenes of forgiveness. I also liked the cute little trick Frost works in -- the last word in the longest lines of verse in Darra's voice are, according to Frost, "meant to give insight" into Darra's backstory. I didn't see it as backstory so much as just a summary of the story in general but still thought it was a cool feature in the story. It reminded of a similar technique Marcus Sedgwick uses in She Is Not Invisible. The book also includes a prompt for readers if they want to learn how to form their own poems with a secret message worked in.
Good times! I'll definitely be checking out more of Frost's verse novels.
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