Radley’s parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.
Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley’s plane lands in New Hampshire, she’s been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren’t there.
Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn’t have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . .
Illustrated with 50 of her own haunting and beautiful photographs, this is a vision of a future America that only Karen Hesse could write: real, gripping, and deeply personal.
Safekeeping
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Browse the best books of the summer including popular series, classics, and editors' picks in our Teen Summer Reading Store. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up-Radley Parker-Hughes has been volunteering in an orphanage in Haiti after the recent earthquake, but she returns home to a country in the grip of an even more chaotic situation. The American Political Party has assumed power, the president has been assassinated, and martial law prevails. Soldiers with guns at the airport, travel paper requirements-is this really the New Hampshire she left just a few months ago? And where are her parents, who are usually so prompt picking her up at the airport? Radley decides to get home any way she can, even though she will have to cross states lines, strictly forbidden by the new government. When she arrives, her parents are nowhere to be found, but the police are. She decides to leave, hiding in the woods at night, making her way to Canada, assuming that's where her parents went. One day she encounters an obviously ill young woman who is also trying to escape. The two form an uneasy alliance and, along with Celia's dog, Jerry Lee, they slip across the border. An abandoned shack becomes home, and through the kindness of strangers, they survive and become close. Once the chaos in the U.S. subsides, Radley makes her way back home, only to find that things will never be the same. A journey back to Canada can't soothe her pain, but a return to Haiti does. And so her story comes full circle. The prose is exquisite, almost poetic. The simple beauty of the narrative and lovely black-and-white photographs actually intensify the sense of confusion and disorder, giving readers a chilling feeling of reality. They see, through the use of flashbacks interspersed in the story line, how Radley grows from a confused, scared teen into a confident young woman, able to handle her own life. A masterfully written powerhouse of a book.-Diana Pierce, Leander High School, TXα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review
"The realistic treatment of the experiences of ordinary people in suddenly harsh circumstances makes for an absorbing character study, and the tale is suffused with an understated sadness and a vivid sense of place."--BCCB "Mature high school students will especially appreciate this book, perhaps as they embark on the next step in their journey of life." -- VOYA
"Hesse offers some of her best in lavish descriptions of nature and mood…”--Kirkus
"Hesse (Brooklyn Bridge) beautifully captures the changing landscape of a journey…”--Publishers Weekly
"A masterfully written powerhouse of a book."--School Library Journal, starred
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This book was not what I was expecting. The premise is that the United States has gone crazy after an extremist party has come to power and the president has been assassinated, leaving one girl to set out on her own in a search for her parents and safety. This led me to expect more action and more politics, explaining how we got from our current world to the broken world of the future. Neither of those things was really present, though. Radley doesn't have a lot of encounters with the looters and vigilantes who are roaming the country, and the course of events leading up to the current state of affairs is never fully explained. We don't learn any details about how the American People's Party gained power in a political system that doesn't exactly favour third parties, for example.
None of that turned out to matter, though. What this book mainly is, is a quietly introspective look at the things that we value. And it works very well. Radley reflects on how her parents gave her everything she needed, and wishes deeply that she had shown more appreciation. She wonders how she can make a contribution to society. And she cautiously develops new relationships in a dangerous and unfamiliar world. Looking at the themes that are developed, and how Hesse manages to do it in a way that doesn't feel heavy-handed, I can understand why she's won a Newbery medal for her previous work.
This book also includes an element that I personally always love: setting up a home in an isolated place with minimal supplies, and developing it from a basic shelter where one struggles to survive to a comfortable place that really is a home. It reminds me of stories about homesteading, and the Boxcar Children, and people shipwrecked on desert islands. Again, the survival element is done quietly, without a lot of intense struggle, but I found it very satisfying all the same. This is a powerful book in its understated way.
None of that turned out to matter, though. What this book mainly is, is a quietly introspective look at the things that we value. And it works very well. Radley reflects on how her parents gave her everything she needed, and wishes deeply that she had shown more appreciation. She wonders how she can make a contribution to society. And she cautiously develops new relationships in a dangerous and unfamiliar world. Looking at the themes that are developed, and how Hesse manages to do it in a way that doesn't feel heavy-handed, I can understand why she's won a Newbery medal for her previous work.
This book also includes an element that I personally always love: setting up a home in an isolated place with minimal supplies, and developing it from a basic shelter where one struggles to survive to a comfortable place that really is a home. It reminds me of stories about homesteading, and the Boxcar Children, and people shipwrecked on desert islands. Again, the survival element is done quietly, without a lot of intense struggle, but I found it very satisfying all the same. This is a powerful book in its understated way.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By M. Knapp
Format:Hardcover
Radley, a rather immature 17, returns without notice from Haiti, trying to get home in the midst of a massive shutdown of phone, internet and safe travel in the US. The details are left unexplained, but a radical political group has put restrictive laws in place, forcing Radley to sneak around after dark, and walk for several days, from the airport to her house. Which, upon arrival, is deserted, with no note from her parents. Canada, another several days trek, seems the safest bet, and so she packs what she can carry and heads out on foot. Along the way she meets up with Celia, a girl her own age, also working her way north. What didn't work for me: Radley seems far too ditzy in the beginning (phone not charged, no money in hand)to kick into survival mode. A lady leaving gifts also seems like a cop out. Photos, while lovely, sometimes seems unrelated to story. The Haiti storyline seems strictly additional. What did work: The photos are lovely, and make the book a relatively quick read. Radley is likeable and seems to grow as she moves from mostly caring about herself to caring about others. I've liked several of Karen Hesse's other books, most notably Out of the Dust. I look forward to trying another of her books.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By K. Sowa
Format:Hardcover
3.5 Stars
Safekeeping is set in present day after the US government has become unstable and a new, military government takes over. The news we see every day about unstable governments in third world countries is suddenly the US and that eerie sense of the familiar really sets the tone for the whole story. Radley comes back from charity work in Haiti to find that things back home has deteriorated at a rapid rate. The story, told in small chunks of narrative, knits together a story of one teen girl who might have been just a tad spoiled and follows her journey back to her parents. The "what if" aspect f this book was very gripping and a little on the scary side, quite frankly. The entire first half of the book is Radley alone which drags it down just a bit, but the story gains some depth when Radley meets up with emotionally damaged refugee named Celia who provides some perspective to Radley's story.
I saw a lot of different themes running through this story. The first thing that struck me was Radley's development from a teen with the comfort that she will always have someone to rescue her into someone who must learn to rely on her own wits and resources. The second aspect of the story that I noticed was how fragile everything we have is in our lives. The government was fragile, the societal structure was fragile, lives were fragile but even with that realization, Radley and Celia discover that they are stronger and more resilient than they imagined. Where the strength of institutions failed, the desire of the individual to survive proved to be strongest of all. Despite their dire situation, they are still able to find kindness which gave a bleak situation a ray of hope that kept the story from becoming too downtrodden. Safekeepnig was a different kind of dystopian, for me. Radley was not going to overthrow the new government and save the day. Instead, she took the much more realistic journey towards rebuilding her life and discovering her own strength which was a story worth telling.
Safekeeping is set in present day after the US government has become unstable and a new, military government takes over. The news we see every day about unstable governments in third world countries is suddenly the US and that eerie sense of the familiar really sets the tone for the whole story. Radley comes back from charity work in Haiti to find that things back home has deteriorated at a rapid rate. The story, told in small chunks of narrative, knits together a story of one teen girl who might have been just a tad spoiled and follows her journey back to her parents. The "what if" aspect f this book was very gripping and a little on the scary side, quite frankly. The entire first half of the book is Radley alone which drags it down just a bit, but the story gains some depth when Radley meets up with emotionally damaged refugee named Celia who provides some perspective to Radley's story.
I saw a lot of different themes running through this story. The first thing that struck me was Radley's development from a teen with the comfort that she will always have someone to rescue her into someone who must learn to rely on her own wits and resources. The second aspect of the story that I noticed was how fragile everything we have is in our lives. The government was fragile, the societal structure was fragile, lives were fragile but even with that realization, Radley and Celia discover that they are stronger and more resilient than they imagined. Where the strength of institutions failed, the desire of the individual to survive proved to be strongest of all. Despite their dire situation, they are still able to find kindness which gave a bleak situation a ray of hope that kept the story from becoming too downtrodden. Safekeepnig was a different kind of dystopian, for me. Radley was not going to overthrow the new government and save the day. Instead, she took the much more realistic journey towards rebuilding her life and discovering her own strength which was a story worth telling.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A different kind of dystopia
I read "Safekeeping" not long after finishing the "Hunger Games" trilogy, and although both books are about America after a violent social breakdown, they're very different. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Silicon Valley Girl
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME
Im 10 and I loved this book I made you feel as if you were right there along with the characters Brovo Karen Hesse!
Published 1 month ago by Stephanie Morris
2.0 out of 5 stars
A bit of a letdown
In Safekeeping, Karen Hesse depicts the horrific world faced by seventeen year old Radley upon her return to America from volunteering in an orphanage in Haiti. Read more
Published 3 months ago by fishball
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely little book!
This book was very interesting. Radley spent the first part of the book so alone, you could almost feel her despondance. I was relieved once she met up with Celia and Jerry Lee. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lisa Gibson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable and Different
I enjoyed this story. The writing was very good,characters excellent, but what I think I enjoyed most were two things. Read more
Published 4 months ago by CindyHeacock
3.0 out of 5 stars
slightly less depressing, more feminine version of "The Road"
Review by Squeaky Books guest reviewer: River.
The quickest and most simplistic way I can sum this book up is to say that it's a slightly less depressing, more feminine... Read more
The quickest and most simplistic way I can sum this book up is to say that it's a slightly less depressing, more feminine... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Enna Isilee
3.0 out of 5 stars
All over the place
Unrealistic and too many distractions. Needed to be more focused. Interesting in some parts though. Story was disjointed. Its Okay only.
Published 5 months ago by joe
4.0 out of 5 stars
Coming of age in the shadow of dangerous times
The United States has been plunged into chaos. The American People's Party has seized power, the president assassinated, and the government is cracking down in response to... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Andrew W. Johns
4.0 out of 5 stars
Odd little book but engaging
This is a strange little book and I'm not really sure who the intended audience is supposed to be; adults? It's a bit young. Teens? Read more
Published 6 months ago by javajunki
2.0 out of 5 stars
Strangely Unamazing
Wow, I didn't like this book at all really. In my personal opinion this book is well below the reading level of the typical teenager (or should be, anyway). Read more
Published 6 months ago by LitWit
