Hidden

Frost, Helen. Hidden. Frances Foster Books, 2011. Tr. $16.99 , ISBN 978-0-374-38221-6.

What’s it about?

Two girls, Darra and Wren, meet at a summer camp and remember what happened six years ago, when Darra’s father stole a gold minivan without knowing Wren was in the backseat. The girls swallow these secrets and avoid each other—until they are paired together in a lifesaving class.

Find out more:

When Wren was eight, she was kidnapped by Darra’s father when he stole her family’s gold minivan.  It wasn’t an intentional kidnapping—in fact, Darra’s father West didn’t even know she’d been in the van. Darra discovers Wren, terrified, hiding in the boat. Darra leaves her food and water, and helps her remain hidden. Wren manages to escape through a cat door, and Darra’s father is shortly after arrested. The two girls re-unite at a summer camp six years later, unwilling to talk about the first time they met.  Their hopes of getting through camp without interacting are dashed when they are paired together for a lifesaving exercise. Wren has flashbacks of the kidnapping and nearly drowns Darra. After this, the girls are able to face each other and talk about what happened. Wren hears Darra’s anger at losing her father to incarceration, and Darra hears how terrified Wren was during her ordeal.

 Hidden is a beautifully written, quick-paced novel in verse with a compelling plot: crime victim facing the daughter of the man who victimized her. This story is not all about Wren’s perspective, however, it is told in the alternating voices of Wren and Darra. Wren’s voice forms short stanzas of free verse, and Darra’s is more stream-of-consciousness, forming very long stanzas of very long lines. Frost states that she invented this form for this book. There is a hardness to Darra’s voice, a toughness that softens a bit after she and Wren become friends.  By the end of Hidden, both girls recognize they were both victims, and don’t blame each other for what happened.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse

Subjects: Poetry, Kidnapping, Summer Camps, Friendship, Crime Victims, Forgiveness

Reading level: 4^th grade

Interest level: Grades 6-10

Read-alikes:

Chaltas’ Because I am Furniture

Sones’ Stop Pretending

Sones’ What My Mother Doesn’t Know

Wayland’s Girl Coming in for a Landing