Essay on Stolen Children

Submitted By Michael-Abraham
Words: 984
Pages: 4

I was amazed by the characters Peg Kehert created in “Stolen Children”. They were full of depth, were realistic and the dialogue she used seem really believable. The plot was excellent and kept me turning the pages long into the night. All of us have a fear of being kidnapped. Which of us hasn’t heard our parents say, “Watch out for the boogeyman!” Amy and Kendra are kidnapped for ransom by the two villains, Smokey and Hugh, with the help of the family nanny, Darlene. The girls are taken to a cabin in the woods, where the kidnappers videotape them to use for their ransom demands. Amy leaves clues on the videotapes and hopes their parents and the police will figure them out! One of the main characters in this great book was the fourteen year old babysitter, Amy Nordlund. After her father died in a car accident, Amy felt as if she had let him down and tried her best to become a better babysitter. She took babysitting classes and tried to be the best babysitter she could be to Kendra. She takes care of her and entertains her, and still finds time to leave clues to the police on the videotape. She lost her father, just like Hugh, her kidnapper, but Hugh use his loss as an excuse to be a criminal. Amy takes the lessons she learned from her father and tries to make him proud every day. His advice helps her outwit the criminals in the end. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Dad, I love you!” (pg. 11) Amy wishes she had told her dad that instead of fighting with him and now tries to show him how much she really loved him by being a good and responsible person. Kendra is just a baby in the book and is part of a very wealthy family. Amy is asked to babysit her for one day and during that day, Kendra and Amy are kidnapped. Kendra is three years old, so doesn’t have a ton of dialogue, but we find out what kind of person Amy really is because of the way she treats Kendra. The story wouldn’t work well without her. Kendra has a stuffed toy named Tubby that she carries everywhere and she uses Tubby to describe her feelings. “Tubby want Choca Chip Cookie Dough,” says Kendra. (pg. 6) It’s her way of telling Amy that she wants something. Kendra is important because a lot of the clues that Amy gives to the police on the videotape are hidden in the games she is playing with Kendra. Smokey is one of the main criminals in the book. He is one of the kidnappers. He is a high school drop-out that has turned to a life of crime. He and his partner Hugh kidnap Kendra and Amy and hold them for ransom. He is the leader of the pair of kidnappers and is short-tempered and demanding. He isn’t very smart, but he is violent and scary. He is not afraid to point the gun at Amy or Kendra and eventually Amy figures out that he is never going to let them go. “Drop the phone, “ he said. “Now!”. (pg. 18). In that one sentence, we can see that Smokey is in charge, is angry and is demanding. As we learn later, he isn’t very smart and he eventually gets outwitted by Amy. Kendra and Amy are kidnapped but they are not helpless. Using the lessons she learned from her father about never giving up and trying to find good in a bad situation, Amy leaves word clues in the kidnappers’ own videos to help the police solve their case. She is able to keep the kidnappers calm, stall them for time, is smart enough to keep Kendra