From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
This book is on my Newbery short list! The premise is believeable and riviting. Wren and Darra alternate telling their stories. The beginning is a flashback where Wren sets up the crime. When she was 8 years old, her mother ran into a convenience store and left Wren in the car with the keys so that she could play the radio. She hears one gun shot and, frightened, hides under a blanket in the rear of the car. A man, reeking of cigarette smoke, jumps into the car and drives off, unaware that Wren
...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Wren is waiting in the backseat of the car, while her Mom runs into the gas station. The next thing she hears is a gunshot, and a guy gets in her car, and drives a way, but doesn’t notice Wren. When the captor goes inside the house, Wren hides in his boat, and hears what is going on inside between him (West), his wife Stacey, and his daughter Darra. West spray paints the car, and Stacey and Darra drive it to a mall parking lot, but Wren misses her chance to get out. She can’t get in the house an
...more
Hidden drew me in on its first page due to its interesting premise: Eight year-old Wren hides in the backseat as Darra's father steals her mother's minivan after attempting to hold up a gas station, sparking a media-driven manhunt for Wren as she hides from sight in Darra's family's garage. When the girls meet at summer camp years later, it dredges up long-suppressed memories of this pivotal time in their lives. Frost has chosen two different poetic formats for the girls' voices -- free verse fo
...more
Was hooked by the end of the first page.
A story from two perspectives and two different styles of poetry. I think this would be a great introduction to novels in verse for a tween audience and might be a good gateway to Ellen Hopkins' books, though this book is much less harrowing. The story is intriguing and the first part is definitely tense when you don't know how Wren will escape from the garage. I felt some of the poems seemed forced and the story definitely could have been longer. There are some points where the poems skim when
...more
Truly a powerful book. Two girls whose lives intersect at two different times with significant results. Wren's POV is written in verse and Darra's in a special form of verse. Requires two read throughs.
...more
Loved this one!
Sep 25, 2011
Nate Balcom
marked it as to-read
Jan 17, 2012
Teresa Garrett
marked it as to-read
Apr 14, 2012
Cori Grady
marked it as to-read
Jun 13, 2012
Shawn
marked it as to-read
Jun 28, 2013
Beth
marked it as middle-grade-to-read
Jul 04, 2013
Lisa Nocita
marked it as to-read
Apr 06, 2015
Carol Coutts
marked it as to-read
Jun 03, 2015
Linda
marked it as to-read
