While driving in the Italian countryside, eleven-year-old Jackie's father suddenly collapses at the wheel. Fear for her father's life quickly turns to terror when two Italian men kidnap her and drive to their remote home in the countryside.  Jackie soon discovers that her captors are actually a family, plagued by a mysterious secret. Award-winning novelist Donna Jo Napoli has created a haunting thriller that gives life to Jackie's utter desperation and determination to escape.
Donna Jo Napoli is both a linguist and a writer of children's and young adult fiction. Some of her work includes Treasury of Greek Mythology, Stones in Water, Treasury of Norse Mythology, and Daughter of Venice. She has five children and eight grandchildren. She dreams of moving to the woods and becoming a naturalist. She loves to garden, bake bread, dance, and make pottery. View titles by Donna Jo Napoli
  • WINNER
    Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
"Nightmarish scenes...a suspenseful reading experience." -School Library Journal

"Taut and suspenseful...the present-tense narration gives it a you-are-there immediacy."-The Horn Book

About

While driving in the Italian countryside, eleven-year-old Jackie's father suddenly collapses at the wheel. Fear for her father's life quickly turns to terror when two Italian men kidnap her and drive to their remote home in the countryside.  Jackie soon discovers that her captors are actually a family, plagued by a mysterious secret. Award-winning novelist Donna Jo Napoli has created a haunting thriller that gives life to Jackie's utter desperation and determination to escape.

Author

Donna Jo Napoli is both a linguist and a writer of children's and young adult fiction. Some of her work includes Treasury of Greek Mythology, Stones in Water, Treasury of Norse Mythology, and Daughter of Venice. She has five children and eight grandchildren. She dreams of moving to the woods and becoming a naturalist. She loves to garden, bake bread, dance, and make pottery. View titles by Donna Jo Napoli

Awards

  • WINNER
    Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year

Praise

"Nightmarish scenes...a suspenseful reading experience." -School Library Journal

"Taut and suspenseful...the present-tense narration gives it a you-are-there immediacy."-The Horn Book

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