Stolen - Hardcover

Vande Velde, Vivian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761455159 ISBN 13: 9780761455158

Publisher: Two Lions, 2008

Synopsis

The same day that the villagers of Thornstowe finally hunt down a witch with a reputation for stealing children, a 12-year-old appears in the woods with no memory of her past. Is there a connection between Isabelle, the girl who doesn’t know who she is, and the girl the witch stole six years earlier? One of the few things Isabelle remembers is a chant that keeps running through her head:
 
Old as dirt,
dirty as dirt.
Ugly as sin,
mean as sin.

Don’t let the old witch catch you!
 
Could Isabelle have been stolen by the old witch of the woods, or has she lost her memory as the result of an accident? And what about the baby the witch stole right before the villagers attacked? Did either the witch or the baby survive the fire the villagers set?
 
"Isabelle heard no sound beyond the faintest shivering of leaves in a gentle breeze. No sound of pursuit. But surely something was wrong, or she would know who and where she was. So she resumed running. But it wasn’t as effortless as before. Her worry weighed her down as she tried to list the things she knew—and found the list of things she didn't know longer by far."

About this title

About the Author:

Vivian Vande Velde's books have won many awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Never Trust a Dead Man. She is also the author of Ghost of a Hanged Man. She lives in Rochester, New York.

Review:

The amnesiac girl who wandered out of the woods isn't certain at all that she is Isabelle, a child stolen by a witch six years earlier. She isn't certain that she isn't either, though, and she allows herself to be taken in by the family that she assumes might be hers, while she tries to recapture any memories of her life. In the meantime, the hunt is on for the witch, who has taken a new infant. Isabelle's eventual discoveries about her hidden past will change the course not only of her own life but that of the taken baby, the town that welcomed her back, and the evil oldest child of her presumed family, Honey, who is convinced she knows Isabelle is not who she seems. This trim novel contains a dizzying but well-crafted array of plot twists and surprises, with almost no one in the novel actually being who they first appear to be and seemingly inevitable outcomes foiled repeatedly. Vande Velde constructs a general and timeless setting that accommodates this mystery elegantly, allowing readers to focus on the motivations of the intriguing characters themselves rather than their environment. In addition, the clever but relatively helpless Isabelle, struggling to regain a semblance of identity and meaning, is an unforgettable protagonist. Thoughtful readers will appreciate the subtlety of the sophisticated story, and the effective mystery and almost poetic flow of the language make this book stellar readaloud material as well. --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2008

Vande Velde combines her trademark spookiness with some of the motifs of fairy tales--witches, magic, stolen children--to explore themes of jealousy and villainy. A young girl of about 12, who can remember nothing of her name or her home, is rescued from the forest. She is soon taken up by a mother who calls her Isabelle and who insists that she is the daughter who disappeared years ago. The same woman's month-old baby was taken by a witch just a day before Isabelle is found, and the connection between the events is cleverly plotted and revealed. The indeterminate, rustic setting of forests, small villages and pre-industrial technology, along with the sturdy and odd, old-fashioned names, add to the folktale quality of the narrative. Questions of identity and the nature of evil run throughout the introspective narrative as the girl struggles to understand herself and her relationship with the world--even as the selfsame narrative twists and turns its way to a satisfyingly devious conclusion. A quick read; taut and superbly suspenseful. --Kirkus Reviews, October 2008

Vande Velde creates a new twist on a fairy tale complete with evil sisters and filled with suspense, danger, and a longing for home. -- VOYA, December 2008

Like the witch, Vande Velde weaves a spell around her readers with this well-written tale. -- School Library Journal, November 2008

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. --Booklist, July 2008

About this edition

• Publisher: Two Lions
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0761455159
• ISBN 13: 9780761455158
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160