“Found: The Missing, Book 1” by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster
Children's Publishing, 9781416954170, $15.99, 320 pages, for ages 9 to 12)
Haddix’s latest novel launches a brand-new series with an irresistible hook:
one night, an airplane appears, unseen and from out of nowhere, at a busy
airport terminal. It carries three dozen babies and no crew. The plane bears
curious corporate markings, and the children’s origins are unknown. Once the
babies are removed from it, the plane disappears as remarkably as it had
appeared. Thirteen years later, two young friends begin digging into their
pasts, and the strange affair of the plane come out of the shadows and into
the light.
Jonah and Chip, good friends and close neighbors, each receive a strange
anonymous letter in the mail. It reads: “YOU ARE ONE OF THE MISSING.” Jonah
assumes it’s a prank, but Chip freaks out when it causes his parents to
admit that he, like Jonah, was adopted as a baby. Both boys start asking
questions, and those inquiries lead to an FBI agent who hints that the
government may be keeping their pasts secret for reasons of national
security.
More mysterious messages follow, and Chip and Jonah, along with Jonah’s
resourceful sister Katherine, make an incredible discovery that answers a
few questions while opening up many, many more. Haddix knows how to write a
true page-turner that will keep readers breathless and enthralled. Likewise,
she also knows how to create enjoyable characters who manage to be clever
and resourceful without ever becoming unbelievable. (My favorite early scene
comes when Jonah urges his bratty sister to memorize a secret file while he
distracts a watchful FBI agent. Far from slow, Katherine goes one better:
she gets cell phone pictures. Now, that’s moxie.)
“Found” is a rip-roaring good read, and Haddix’s new series “The Missing”
promises to show readers many more such enjoyable scenes while visiting
(here’s a hint!) many fascinating times and places. Grab this book for eager
and reluctant readers, and plan to see its sequel appear--no doubt
mysteriously and without warning--next spring.
Review by
Mark David Bradshaw, May 14, 2008
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