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Hostage
"I always thought I'd be ready for an adventure, if one ever came along. I didn't know how stupid that was until it happened."
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
28 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
Willo Davis Roberts
122 books136 followersWillo Davis Roberts was an American writer chiefly known for her mystery novels for children and young adults. She won Edgar Allan Poe awards in 1989, 1995, and 1997 for best juvenile and best young adult mysteries. Her books included The View from the Cherry Tree, Twisted Summer, Don't Hurt Laurie, Megan's Island, Baby-sitting is a Dangerous Job, Hostage, The Girl with Silver Eyes, The One Left Behind and Scared Stiff.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
September 4, 2017
*More of a 2.5*
This was okay. It took me a lot longer than it should have to get through this really short book. It was mostly boring to me and I felt like the writing wasn't very realistic. It didn't really feel like I was reading from a middle schooler's perspective. I think this book was just too young for me. Maybe older elementary school/ younger middle school students will like this one a lot better than I did.
This was okay. It took me a lot longer than it should have to get through this really short book. It was mostly boring to me and I felt like the writing wasn't very realistic. It didn't really feel like I was reading from a middle schooler's perspective. I think this book was just too young for me. Maybe older elementary school/ younger middle school students will like this one a lot better than I did.
May 14, 2008
Perhaps I would have really enjoyed this book when if I had read it when I was younger, because according to the back it's meant for ages 8-12...and I'm not surprised. I found it lying on the radiator in the back of the classroom and picked it up, seeing as I didn't have anything else to read during advisory. The story is about a middle schooler named Kaci, whose family moves to a new suburban development. As Kaci goes home from school in the middle of the day to get her asthma medication, she encounters burglars in her home, who take her hostage. The rest of the book centers around her ordeal with them. This is marked a mystery book, but there really isn't any mystery present at all. There were also several issues I had with the book (why would some burglars kidnap a girl for risk of being caught stealing a couple of tvs?), but from what I recall kids books aren't all that logical. I'd recommend this book to younger children.
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July 21, 2021I have been looking for this book for years ever since I read it as a preteen.
I remembered bits and pieces, how intense it was, how the MC had such ingenuity when panic was an appropriate response. For a while I thought I had dreamed it! But it’s real! I’ve found it! This book started my love for thrillers.
Would love to re-read and see how it holds up.
I remembered bits and pieces, how intense it was, how the MC had such ingenuity when panic was an appropriate response. For a while I thought I had dreamed it! But it’s real! I’ve found it! This book started my love for thrillers.
Would love to re-read and see how it holds up.
January 30, 2008
I LOVED this book! definitly recomended!
August 1, 2009
If you like thrilling adventures with twists then you outa read this book!
March 14, 2022
Read aloud as a family. My kids love the intensity of the story and it spurred lots of conversation.
September 23, 2025
Okay book. Found it in the Lending Library and was intrigued by the simple cover and minimal description.
The narration was really annoying and unrealistic. Kaci's narration is overly-detailed and nothing interesting happens until about a third of the way into the book. There is a lot of boring build up for a book so short. The title of the book really works against it, in my opinion, because you know what is going to happen, but it takes so dang long to get there.
For a middle-schooler, Kaci sure thinks a lot like a grown up, one who is overly concerned with insurance? When people are in her house, stealing her stuff, all she can think about is whether the new TV is covered under their old insurance or if her dad had to open a new policy. What?! What are you doing?! Don't just stand there! Go hide in the closet! Quit worrying about insurance claims, you weird adult-child!
When I was in middle school, I could definitely not care less about insurance. So, for me, Kaci was hard to relate to and seemed more grown up than I am now.
Story-wise the book was alright. It goes pretty much the way you would expect with lots of awkward narration along the way. May have been more enjoyable if I had read it when I was younger, but reading it now was just eye rolls and mentally berating Kaci's idiotic decisions.
For more reviews, check out my blog : Craft-Cycle
The narration was really annoying and unrealistic. Kaci's narration is overly-detailed and nothing interesting happens until about a third of the way into the book. There is a lot of boring build up for a book so short. The title of the book really works against it, in my opinion, because you know what is going to happen, but it takes so dang long to get there.
For a middle-schooler, Kaci sure thinks a lot like a grown up, one who is overly concerned with insurance? When people are in her house, stealing her stuff, all she can think about is whether the new TV is covered under their old insurance or if her dad had to open a new policy. What?! What are you doing?! Don't just stand there! Go hide in the closet! Quit worrying about insurance claims, you weird adult-child!
When I was in middle school, I could definitely not care less about insurance. So, for me, Kaci was hard to relate to and seemed more grown up than I am now.
Story-wise the book was alright. It goes pretty much the way you would expect with lots of awkward narration along the way. May have been more enjoyable if I had read it when I was younger, but reading it now was just eye rolls and mentally berating Kaci's idiotic decisions.
For more reviews, check out my blog : Craft-Cycle
April 24, 2018
WARNING SPOILER
Taken
Hostage is about a girl who goes to her house in the middle the school day to get her allergy medicine, but little did she know someone was at her house ready to get kidnapped. I would suggest this book to everyone. Once you start reading it, you can’t stop. Once you get to the end of each chapter,, it leaves you at a cliff hanger. The book keeps you on the edge of your seat. The book is a little sad, because a kid was kidnapped and tied up on a chair witch hurt her wrist.Missing Sentence She had a backpack that was bright red. She looked inside and there was a phone but she figured out that the backpack wasn’t hers it was her sisters there backpacks had looked the same and they were in such a rush in the morning they grabbed the wrong backpacks.
Kidnapped
It show a realistic hostage situation. Feels like your actually there in the situation. Has characters that are very easy to relate to. Has very real situations. The book is very descriptive and has a lot of describing words. She said in the book “I was in the house with someone who doesn’t have the right to be there.”
Thinking ahead
Hostage has character named Kaci who can problem solve and is very smart. She took the air out of the kidnappers tire so they would have to blow it back up.in the text it states “She wrote writing on the walls so her family could know what the kidnappers van looked like.”
Realistic
You can feel the fear of the main character. It puts you in her shoes. The book is always Kaci’s point of view. Very realistic. It’s like you are the main character. It states in the text, “her back pack was bright red with a lot of pockets.”
Found
Hostage is a great book for everyone to read. It has a lot of action and realistic situations. It’s realistic. She thinks ahead. She is kidnapped
Taken
Hostage is about a girl who goes to her house in the middle the school day to get her allergy medicine, but little did she know someone was at her house ready to get kidnapped. I would suggest this book to everyone. Once you start reading it, you can’t stop. Once you get to the end of each chapter,, it leaves you at a cliff hanger. The book keeps you on the edge of your seat. The book is a little sad, because a kid was kidnapped and tied up on a chair witch hurt her wrist.Missing Sentence She had a backpack that was bright red. She looked inside and there was a phone but she figured out that the backpack wasn’t hers it was her sisters there backpacks had looked the same and they were in such a rush in the morning they grabbed the wrong backpacks.
Kidnapped
It show a realistic hostage situation. Feels like your actually there in the situation. Has characters that are very easy to relate to. Has very real situations. The book is very descriptive and has a lot of describing words. She said in the book “I was in the house with someone who doesn’t have the right to be there.”
Thinking ahead
Hostage has character named Kaci who can problem solve and is very smart. She took the air out of the kidnappers tire so they would have to blow it back up.in the text it states “She wrote writing on the walls so her family could know what the kidnappers van looked like.”
Realistic
You can feel the fear of the main character. It puts you in her shoes. The book is always Kaci’s point of view. Very realistic. It’s like you are the main character. It states in the text, “her back pack was bright red with a lot of pockets.”
Found
Hostage is a great book for everyone to read. It has a lot of action and realistic situations. It’s realistic. She thinks ahead. She is kidnapped
April 24, 2018
Someone Help!
Hostage by Willo Davis Roberts is about a girl that gets taken hostage, then finally gets help in a life threatening situation. This book is an amazing book, bringing twist and turns keeping you on the edge of your seat, bravery and definitely nerve-racking while reading. It was definitely cool to see how they problem solve and think of ways they do things. This author definitely keeps you thinking and mostly wondering what was going to happen next. It’s like this book is trying to put you in the eyes of the characters. I definitely recommend this book if you like action, suspense, and mysteries that need to be solved.
In this book there is definitely lots of twist & turns, too much to say. “I turned toward the stairs, hoping they’d all go outside at some time to load things, so I could run for the kitchen door into the backyard. The voice behind was unexpected…” Imagine how scary that is a deep man's voice behind you and grabbing you by the arm. This is what makes it super interesting to read about.
In this book, there are are many acts of bravery that show kindness and how much intelligence it really takes. “I found the nail and prayed it wouldn’t be too big to fit into the valve in a way to release the air. … Air whooshed…” WWhat would happen if she got caught in the act of doing it,?, Oor just imagine how scary and brave you would have to do that.
This book is really nerve-racking in every way possible. This book keeps you thinking and wondering what will happen next. “I squinted and held out my pathetic little tube and squeezed as hard as i could. Right into that snarling face.” If she didn’t do that then would have been in the middle of gun fire being used as a human shield. Also, if she would grabbed something else, it would have been a whole different story.
I think you should read this book because with it all of these reasons. This book has twist & turns, acts of bravery and kindness, and it is definitely nerve-racking. All of these traits make an enjoyable book and make it fun to read. Overall Hostage is an amazing book.
Hostage by Willo Davis Roberts is about a girl that gets taken hostage, then finally gets help in a life threatening situation. This book is an amazing book, bringing twist and turns keeping you on the edge of your seat, bravery and definitely nerve-racking while reading. It was definitely cool to see how they problem solve and think of ways they do things. This author definitely keeps you thinking and mostly wondering what was going to happen next. It’s like this book is trying to put you in the eyes of the characters. I definitely recommend this book if you like action, suspense, and mysteries that need to be solved.
In this book there is definitely lots of twist & turns, too much to say. “I turned toward the stairs, hoping they’d all go outside at some time to load things, so I could run for the kitchen door into the backyard. The voice behind was unexpected…” Imagine how scary that is a deep man's voice behind you and grabbing you by the arm. This is what makes it super interesting to read about.
In this book, there are are many acts of bravery that show kindness and how much intelligence it really takes. “I found the nail and prayed it wouldn’t be too big to fit into the valve in a way to release the air. … Air whooshed…” WWhat would happen if she got caught in the act of doing it,?, Oor just imagine how scary and brave you would have to do that.
This book is really nerve-racking in every way possible. This book keeps you thinking and wondering what will happen next. “I squinted and held out my pathetic little tube and squeezed as hard as i could. Right into that snarling face.” If she didn’t do that then would have been in the middle of gun fire being used as a human shield. Also, if she would grabbed something else, it would have been a whole different story.
I think you should read this book because with it all of these reasons. This book has twist & turns, acts of bravery and kindness, and it is definitely nerve-racking. All of these traits make an enjoyable book and make it fun to read. Overall Hostage is an amazing book.
May 11, 2017
Hostage, by Willo Davis Roberts, is a novel about a young girl who went home one day in the middle of school and then got kidnapped by a bunch of robbers. This book tells about her journey with the robbers and all of the trials she goes through on the way. I enjoyed this book because I loved the thrill of it. I love all the mystery and suspense that the book has towards the end. I can not tell you how it ends clearly but it has a great ending and I liked it quite a lot. On the other hand, I also did not enjoy this book though, because the beginning dragged on for too long. For such a short read it has way too much detail for me in the beginning. Some of the minor details in the beginning did not seem necessary at the first, but then at the end it came together, and some were just not necessary to me at all. I felt like the book was 75% details and only 25% of the good and thrilling stuff. I think the life lesson in this book though was that no matter how hard things can get, take a deep breath, calm down, and try to think as clearly as you can. You can get yourself out of almost any situation if you can stop and think about it instead of panicking. You never know what your mind and body are capable of under pressure.
June 18, 2019
Quick read. Takes a long time to get to the action. Middle and end reads like a newspaper story. Choppy, not a lot of emotional details. The middle was a lot of repetition of the same emotions.
Shines a light on life before everyone was connected by cell phone...
Lots of details about parents and 3 of the 4 kids, but I couldn’t tell you anything about Wally. Weird. Why have this kid in story/family if not going to dive in to character at all. MC so concerned that she’s not remarkable, no talents, boring...but doesn’t talk about any change in status or how she feels at end...very abrupt ending.
What about neighbor that was so annoying? What was relationship at ending???
It felt like author got tired of telling the story.
I really liked this author when I was in grade school in 70s and 80s...this one is not a favorite.
Shines a light on life before everyone was connected by cell phone...
Lots of details about parents and 3 of the 4 kids, but I couldn’t tell you anything about Wally. Weird. Why have this kid in story/family if not going to dive in to character at all. MC so concerned that she’s not remarkable, no talents, boring...but doesn’t talk about any change in status or how she feels at end...very abrupt ending.
What about neighbor that was so annoying? What was relationship at ending???
It felt like author got tired of telling the story.
I really liked this author when I was in grade school in 70s and 80s...this one is not a favorite.
October 4, 2018
I liked the book a lot it was about a girl who moves to a new house. One day she has to go home because she had allergies she goes home and see that there are big boxes in the living room she doesnt think much about it. She goes in her room and sees that her teddy bear isn't leaning on her lamp, so she goes in her sisters room to see if she took it no sigh she goes in her brothers room, no sigh but she dose noticed that her brothers things are gone, she goes to her mom and dads room to and sees that all there stuff is gone to. Then she hears someone come into her house it wasn't her mom she would have called her. It eneds up someone is robing her house. They find her hiding and take her.......... Read the book to find out if she makes it or they kill her.
March 27, 2021
I got this book in elementary school. I won a signed copy from the author when he came to visit my school. I think we read it in class as a read aloud, but couldn't remember details, so I read it again.
It took me forever to find this on Goodreads. So many other books called Hostage made it hard. Obviously it's not the most popular with how far down the list it was.
I feel this book is outdated a LOT! Based on how much cell phone technology has advanced, I kind of laughed at the plot. But I needed to keep in mind when it was written, and that helped. But the ending was kind of anticlimactic with the outdated tech in the book.
It took me forever to find this on Goodreads. So many other books called Hostage made it hard. Obviously it's not the most popular with how far down the list it was.
I feel this book is outdated a LOT! Based on how much cell phone technology has advanced, I kind of laughed at the plot. But I needed to keep in mind when it was written, and that helped. But the ending was kind of anticlimactic with the outdated tech in the book.
March 2, 2024
Rating more for the audience than how I felt about it. The character's intro of "I love scary stories but I never knew how I'd react if I ended up in one" was a cool hook. I just wish it would have come up more. It felt like a missed opportunity for Kaci to work her way out of it but instead most of the book just... happened to her.
The book did have some interesting suspense but it did take a while to really get going. Gave it a 3 for thinking it could be a good read for its age group.
The book did have some interesting suspense but it did take a while to really get going. Gave it a 3 for thinking it could be a good read for its age group.
October 4, 2017
The book Hostage was a book that you could never put down. Every thing was moving so quickly, but you knew you could keep up with the story, and the way Willo Davis Roberts made the story with such detail was very easy to know what was happening. I gave it four stars because this is one of a kind and this book has become one of my favorite thrillers of all time.
December 16, 2022
I remember a classmate loaning me this book back in fourth grade. I always remembered the line about the gold sequins: "Pretty, but worthless." Funny how random lines from books stay in your head. I just reread it and it's pretty good for a children's novel. Willo Davis Roberts is one of my favorite YA authors.
June 10, 2021
I couldn't even finish it. I gave it to my sister. It's geared towards a younger audience so I figured I could finish it in a couple hours. After a month of trying to push through it, I gave up and gave it to my sister
June 5, 2023
For me a 2.0 star, but for a reluctant chapter book reader it would be higher. Simple text structure and writing style with only a few higher level vocab words. The updated cover will camouflage the age of the book.
March 2, 2024
of course, I'd give a much higher rating if I was a kid. I read this to preview for my granddaughter. I found it quite enjoyable for a child ages 8-12 years old. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a "thriller" for a younger age group.
April 3, 2018
It is an awesome book I have been looking for it to read it is really good.
August 28, 2018
This was a very great mystery book you didn't want to put it down!!
October 3, 2018
predictable
Read
November 13, 2019it was getting good intel I think that it's not good for me I really love it but I don't like it so yeah.
January 25, 2021
Hard to put down excitement. Also a good lesson on things one should and shouldn't do in certain situations.
May 3, 2021
Was an average book I can't really remember it that well was really short book.
September 21, 2021
It was ok
February 5, 2022
I read this in 7th grade and I loved it!! It was so addicting. I couldn't put it down. When I saw the rating, I was thoroughly shocked because this was a favorite of mine throughout middle school.
March 29, 2022
this book gave me trauma
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2022
Loved it amazing ending great lesson at the end
March 1, 2023
It good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews