Stolen [Hardcover]

Vivian Vande Velde (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

The old witch steals children, but did she steal Isabelle?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 5–8—A 12-year-old girl is running through the woods with no memory of who she is or why she is running. Her identity is up for speculation throughout the book: Is she a princess? An animal turned into a human? The missing daughter of a couple in the village? All of these possibilities seem to revolve around an old witch who escaped the village mob with a baby the same day the girl appeared in the woods. The woman and her husband are convinced that the girl is their missing Isabelle, taken from the village by the witch six years earlier, but their older daughter, Honey, is skeptical and even hostile in her reaction. As the tale unfolds, some even suspect that the youngster is actually a creation of the old hag who was sent for evil purposes, and Isabelle wonders whether she really wants to know the truth. This is a solid fantasy and mystery that builds in intrigue and suspense as more layers are added to the story. The protagonist's true identity comes as a fantastic surprise and will have readers looking back for clues even as they shudder at the chain of events that brought about her appearance in the woods that fateful day. Like the witch, Vande Velde weaves a spell around her readers with this well-written tale.—Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL
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From Booklist

The day the old witch’s cottage is burned by villagers, a child who doesn’t know her own identity appears at Avis and Browley’s door, and the couple takes her in. Convinced that she is Isabelle, a little girl that the witch had stolen six years before, Avis and Browley send word to Isabelle’s parents that their child is alive. Isabelle’s mother, Mady, is certain that the mysterious girl is her long-lost daughter. Father Frayne is hopeful, too, but bitter older sister Honey is skeptical. Surely this 12-year-old whom others claim to be Isabelle is an imposter! Twists and turns abound as Isabelle’s true identity is revealed and her life increasingly endangered. Vande Velde, noted for her well-crafted riffs on fairy tales, has written her darkest yet, a story of greed, jealousy, and insidious evil that will haunt the reader for some time to come. Grades 6-10. --Frances Bradburn

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 158 pages
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Childrens Books (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761455159
• ISBN-13: 978-0761455158
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great mystery, July 7, 2010

By 

small review - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stolen (Hardcover)

The story opens with a witch huddled in her home with a baby as an angry mob of villagers break down her door and set fire to her house. Why? Because she is a witch who has stolen one too many of the villagers' children. As the opening chapter ends, the witch casts two spells of unknown effect. The next chapter opens with a young girl running frantically through the woods near the witch's home with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She is taken in by a kind family, but the mystery of her identity and the witch's two spells haunt this story as it twists and turns through the past and present, and truth, lies, and misunderstandings.

Don't be deceived by the shortness of this book. Vivian Vande Velde is a master at writing short books while weaving characters and plots with unexpected depth. Stolen is no exception, and it keeps the reader guessing until the very end while tugging at both heartstrings and concepts of morality. Recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, January 12, 2010

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stolen (Hardcover)

A girl runs through the forest. As she runs, she realizes she has no memories prior to running. She remembers running, although not why she is running or from whom or where she is trying to go. Nor does she know her name.

As she starts to question her identity, dogs come after her. She dashes up a tree and stays there until she's rescued by their owners, who take her in and care for her. Her lost memories become fuel for gossip as they attempt to help her uncover her identity.

One couple believes she could be their daughter, who was kidnapped by a witch six years ago. They come and take her away to a new life filled with expectations and danger.

Readers are left to fill in the blanks and figure out the clues to discover the girl's real identity. The cover produces a spooky atmosphere that will make readers curious. Vande Velde creates a new twist on a fairy tale complete with evil sisters and filled with suspense, danger, and a longing for home.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice surprise, June 14, 2009

By 

Theoden Humphrey "Dusty" (Oregon, US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stolen (Hardcover)

"Stolen" is about a girl who wakes up running through the woods, being chased by dogs. She "wakes up" because she has no memory, none at all -- she remembers running through the woods, being chased by dogs. The dogs tree her, and even wound her, before she is rescued by their owner, who hears them barking wildly -- as excited as if they had tracked down quarry that had long eluded them. The man, a farmer named Browley, takes the girl home so his wife, Avis, can treat her wounds. There the girl meets their granddaughter, Ravyn, and her dog, Hercules Turnip -- and the only reason I included the family's names is so I could write that last one, it's so good. If I ever have a child, I will seriously consider Hercules Turnip Humphrey.

The family does not know the girl, but they take her in, hoping that her amnesia will be temporary and she will remember her name and where she came from, and why she was running through empty woods near a village where she does not live. Once word of the girl reaches town, there seems to be an answer: Mady and her husband Frayne had lost their daughter Isabelle six years before, when the witch who lived in the woods apparently stole her. Isabelle would be the same age as this girl is now, so Mady comes to see -- and is overjoyed to find that her daughter is returned at last!

Maybe. Despite Mady's assurances that this girl must be Isabelle, the woman's face and voice, the name Isabelle itself, and the reminiscences Mady showers on the girl, do not spark a single memory from her. But since Mady seems so sure, the girl goes home with her, hoping that seeing the farmhouse where she may have been raised will ring a bell.

That doesn't do it either. But the situation quickly raises suspicions once the girl meets Mady's oldest daughter, the spoiled and self-centered Honey, and Mady's aunt, the wealthy and cantankerous Isabelle -- for whom the girl, if she is indeed the stolen daughter, was named. But Mady coaches the girl before she meets the aunt, telling her fond memories of the missing Isabelle's childhood so the girl can react as if she remembers for herself. It becomes clear that Mady tried very hard to place her daughter to become Aunt Isabelle's heir, and despite differences in appearance and the continued lack of true memories, Mady is determined to put this girl right back in Isabelle's place.

And as it turns out, she succeeds, though not in a way she had ever imagined.

It's a nice little book, with an outstanding twist at the end. I expected a surprise, but never the actual solution to the mystery, which comes complete with several surprises. There is a tease in the first chapter of the book that led me down the wrong path, as the author intended, and that was very nicely resolved in the end. I didn't think there was enough comeuppance for the villains, but justice is served, nonetheless -- and how can you go wrong when there's a dog named Hercules Turnip? It was a fast but satisfying read.