SOLVED. Children's story about a girl going through trials and ends up in some kind of hospital/prison but turns out it was all a test, ends with her busting out of prison and ending up in the woods where it was all some big experiment! [s]

[Shannon]

I read this book all the way back in elementary school (2004) and it was mostly about this girl, I think she had some friends and for whatever reason, they were being hunted down. They ended up in the woods more than once. Then she ended up getting snatched and placed in some kind of prison/hospital and everything seemed real hopeless, she talked to her friend in that prison.

I also remember something about stale bread and she somehow busted her way out, maybe it was a prison on the edge of a cliff, I can't remember if she jumped out of a window or not. But she was torn up about leaving her friend behind and she just wanted to get back to her town which wasn't that far from where she was.

She ended up in the woods, dirty and lonely and some mysterious guy said she passed some kind of test and that he was going to take her back to where she came from or was going to need her help for more experiments. The plot was very similar to the movie, The Forgotten, with Julianne Moore.

Any help on this would be great!

[Brittany]

Sounds similar to one of the Maximum Ride books maybe?
The Angel Experiment is one of them.

[Lisa]

Could this be Notes on the Hauter Experiment? Kids are in a lab-like boarding school setting but never see adults. Their homework comes back with notes in ... green? or brown? ink, not red. They (or the protagonist, who is a girl) gradually realize they're in an experiment, or that it's weird they have no memory. As I recall more of the story, it gibes less and less with your recollection, but it's possible. Bernice Grohskopf, 1974.

[Shannon]

It's not the maximum ride books.

[Sara]

At first I thought this was The Testing, but no. Let me know if you figure it out! This book sounds cool.

[Ket]

This description is also sparking something in my memory from around the same time. Was there a bridge involved somehow, maybe jumping from it? Was there a secondary male protagonist, maybe love interest, who was escaping with her? Were the woods ever set on fire? If this jogs your memory at all, then we might be after the same book. I'll do some digging.

[Kris]

Could it be the same book that's discussed here? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Unfortunately, no one solved the mystery but it might trigger a memory.

Did the children have special abilities?
Are they young children or teens?
What's the location/country?

[Diana]

Could it be Notes on the Hauter Experiment: A Journey Through the Inner World of Evelyn B. Chestnut?

[Shannon]

its not notes on the hauteur experiment. I vaguely remember a bridge. She did have love interest with her. And I think the woods were set on fire!!

They are young children, not teens. I can't remember if she had a younger sibling or not, but that seems to come up when I'm thinking of it. I think it was set in the past, open country, maybe Europe. I don't remember special powers

[Etta.n]

This sounds like Among the Betrayed ??

[Shannon]

I officially love you Etta.n..I think that's exactly what I've been looking for. I'll need to do a little more research but I'll be damned if that's not it.

thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I have been searching for this forever!! too long in fact. I thought I'd never find it!!