Customer Reviews

Taking Terri Mueller (Avon Flare Book)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
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--Terri and her father have never stayed in the same place more than six months - after a while, they pack up and move somewhere else. Terri doesn't mind this life style, but after a while she begins to doubt that her mother, supposedly dead, ever actually died, and thinks her father kidnapped her from a divorce between them. Following this is a search for her mother, on which Terri uncovers some terrible secrets in her family's history. --This book is probably my favourite my Norma Fox Mazer; it is also her most realistic, in my opinion. --Marisa

I feel that the book "Taking Terri Mueller" was an excellent book and really gives you the feel of how life is after a divorce. If your parents were divorced and you haven't seen your mom or dad in at least 8 years, don't you ever stop to think what might have happened to them? In Terri's case, she should answer this question with a "yes." She was too young at the time to realize the fact that her very own loving father had kidnapped her from her mother. He lied to her and said her mother had died in a car crash when she really was alive and well. When Terri gets older, she realizes she doesn't own one picture of her mother, her father never talks about her, and she doesn't even have her own birth certificate! This is where the tension really starts to build up in the book because then she starts asking her dad questions. She does find out that her father did lie to her and that she needs to get in touch with her mother. She gets her mother's number and goes and visits her across the country. She had never beeen happier to know that she had both of her parents alive. Her only other conflict was the fact that she had to make the choice to live either with her mother or father. She picked her father for good reasons. This book brought tears to my eyes. I enjoyed it.

I had remembered this book from when I was younger and when I saw a copy for sale second-hand, I was curious to see how it held up over time. I only had a vague memory of the plot, just a sense that it had disturbed me when I read it.

Taking Terri Mueller is a book that deals with the very adult issue of custodial kidnapping. Terri finds that her life is strange compared to other children-- constantly moving, no real family. As she gets older, she is less inclined to accept the differences, and starts pushing her father to find out the real story of what had happened to her all those years ago...

Even as an adult, I found it a disturbing book. Mazer does a good job of capturing Terri's mixed loyalties and the difficult intricacies of her situation. My only real concern is the book's refusal to judge the actions of Terri's father. It almost seemed as though Mazer was encouraging us to tacitly accept that he had a fair point of view and that his rightness had not been completely eroded by his actions. I find that very difficult to accept. I realize, however, that her audience is young people who might find themselves in a similar situation and that her purpose is to reach them without judgement.

Recommended.

This book was a terrific read with many suspenseful moments within. It's about a young girl (Terri) who has always lived with her father and thinks her mother is not alive. However, they are always moving from one place to another. This makes Terri very suspicious about who her father really is. She believes that her father kidnapped her from her mother and is just not telling her where she is. Norma Fox Mazer writes the story well enough so that readers will actually be able to put themselves in Terri's place, especially with all of the decisions she has to make along the way. This book is definitely a book I would recommend to young adults. This is because the author really puts into perspective what it would be like to move all of the time and believe your father might have done something in the past that has affected you, is affecting you, and will affect you. This is overall an exciting and intriguing read that is great for a wide variety of people.

Terri and her father had such a wonderful relationship. They are really close and don't need anyone else but each other. But, then Terri finds out something terrible...that her father kidnapped her, and that her mother is alive, not dead like her father told her...I always know it's a good book when I cry at the end of it.(smile) Which I did do.

Throughout most of her life, Terri Mueller has lived alone with her father Phil, constantly moving, constantly readjusting to a new life in some other state. She never thought much of her father's restlessness, just counted herself lucky to have such a doting dad.

But by the time Terri becomes a teenager, she begins to find their vagabond life a little odd. Why can't they stay put like everyone else? And why don't they have an extended family, like her friend Shaundra? Terri does have an aunt, her father's sister Vivian; but Vivian only comes to visit once a year, and in the meantime, Terri can't write or call her...

One day, going to fetch Vivian's cigarettes from her purse, Terri spots a photograph of her aunt with two boys. Who are they? Why haven't Vivian or Phil ever mentioned them?

All her life, Terri's been told her mother Kathryn was killed in a car accident when she was only four years old. So why are both her father and aunt so evasive about her mother? Why aren't there any photographs?

Despite knowing that the truth could be more harmful than anything she's ever known, Terri begins to realize that a life of lies is just as horrible. Slowly, but insistently, she begins to demand the truth...who is she?

Although this book was written over 25 years old, it is in no way dated. Sadly, Terri's story could have happened to anyone, and still often does...

Taking teri nuller was a really good book.At first it was boring but then it got intresting int middle and the end.
This book was about a girl and her dad. They always moved around.Her dad told her that her mother was dead and she died in a car accident.When actually he took her from her mom because she was going to move to Italy and he thought that he would never see her again. When she first found out she was mad at him and wouldn't talk to him for a while.Then she went to live with her mom for Christmas and she wasn't going to go back with him but she decided to because she loved him and missed him.

Taking Terri Mueller has been the best mystery book I have ever read. I enjoyed it greatly, especially because I could not imagine if that happened to me, I don't know if I would have reacted the same way she did. The only person in her life that she loved and trusted ( her father) had kidnapped her and lied to her about her mother still being alive. It has a great twist to it and I find that is what makes this book appealing to teenager readers like myself. There are not many mystery book that I think teenagers enjoy, but I think they would this one.

Mazer's novel for young readers, "Taking Terri Mueller" is the most widely read children's book that deals with the subject of Parental Kidnapping. This is saying a lost, considering that there are around 100 children's books that touch on the subject.

The author succeeds in representing the ambiguity of parental kidnapping situations -- avoiding the good guy parent vs. bad guy parent stereotyping that is so common among wriers on this subjects, and among the "experts" on the social problem as well.

The reader is presented with a father who commits parental kidnapping and a mother who is a "left behind" parent. Yet it is revealed that the "bad" act of parental kidnapping by the father followed a planned "relocation" overseas (which is revealed to be unneccary) that would have destroyed child-father access.

The novel is well crafted with genuine literary merit and deserves to be regarded as a "classic" of its type.

The book Taking Terri Mueller by Norma Foz Mazer is about a thirteen year old girl who moves around a lot with her father. She and her father are very close, and they tell each other everything. That is why Terri does not question him when he tells her that her mother died in a car crash when Terri was four years old. The only relative that her father Phil ever talks about, and the only relative Terri knows, is Aunt Vivian. One day Terri hears hushed talk between Vivian and Phil, where Vivian is urging Phil to tell Terri the truth. Terri realizes that something is going on that she doesn't know about, so she decides to find out. When her father is not home, she prys open his secret metal box and finds some answers. I would definitely recommend this book because it is suspenseful and suprising. I never really knew what was coming next. Also, I am sure many people could relate to the characters in this book. It is interesting, and I would definitely call it a "hook book". I became very much involved in the characters thoughts and feelings, and I am sure any reader would. I would recommend this book for all age groups, because it does not have a certain type of subject for a certain type of people. Overall, this was an excellent book.