Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Disappeared by Gloria Whelan - OPTIONAL


Whelan, Gloria The Disappeared, 133 p. Dial (Penguin), 2008.

Violence: PG-13.

MS - OPTIONAL

1970's Argentina was a scary place - one where a person could disappear in the middle of the night, dragged off by the military, never to be seen again. Silvia's brother Eduardo is one such person - dragged away because he got too deeply involved with radical protestors. Silvia thinks that she may have found a way to free Eduardo, but it involves putting herself in danger too.

Gloria Whelan usually writes beautiful books. Homeless Bird is still one of my all time favorites. This, however, is not. The odd way that the story is told is very stilted and choppy and off-putting. I have a hard time imaging that the two main characters are educated teens. Too bad, because the material is fascinating.

Cindy, Library-Teacher

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