Hidden / Helen Frost / 148 pages

Eight year old Wren Abbott is accidentally kidnapped.  She was waiting in the car while her mother went into the gas station to get a soda and pay for the gas.  Wren hears a gunshot!   When someone gets in the car, she  knows it's not her mom because the person smells of cigarette smoke and has a deep gruff voice.  Has her mother been shot?  She hides under a blanket on the back floor.  The man drives off unaware of his human cargo.  When the man pulls their car into his garage, Wren hides in a boat in the garage.  West's wife, Stacey, hears about the kidnapping on TV.  They look for, but are unable to find, her.  Their Daughter, Darra, leaves food and water for Wren.  Fast forward six years and Wren and Darra are cabin mates at a UP summer camp.  Their recognition, communication, and reconciliation are heart-warming, realistic, and inspiring.  Written in poetic free verse and stylistic verse created solely for this book, Hidden won for Ms. Frost a generous fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts...well deserved!!