Hidden

Hidden
by Helen Frost

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. (description from Amazon.com)

This book was interesting. It's told in poetry format, in alternating "chapters" between the two girls perspectives. I found it pretty easy to read and I also thought that the poems gave the author the opportunity to make the reader feel as if they were seeing into each girl's innermost thoughts.

I thought the plot was interesting. I loved the idea of the accidental kidnapping and subsequent escape. I liked thinking about how the two girls would interact years later. I thought the author could have done a little bit of a better job with the girls interactions at camp, though. Some of their interactions felt a little forced and the ending felt somewhat rushed. I would have enjoyed if the book had been a little longer and more fleshed out...

To be honest, I felt a little silly when I read the author's note and realized that I had totally missed a facet of the poems in the book. Then I realized I'm not sure that anyone would have thought to read just the last word in each long line of one girl's poems to make an additional statement... it was only something that the author and someone who read the note first would have picked up on. Interesting when you went back, though.