These Things Hidden
Gudenkauf, Heather
ISBN-13 978-0778328797
ISBN-10 0778328791
Publisher: Mira, 2011
Genre: Adult Crossover Fiction
Reading Level: 9th and up
Interest Age: 10th and up
Reader's Annotation:
Four different women, none of whom know anything about each other are all connected by one boy. Joshua is only five, but has impacted each of their lives without knowing it.
Plot Summary:
Allison is the first character we meet. She is released from prison after five years for a horrible crime. The nature of the crime is a mystery to the reader, but it is so horrible that her family has virtually erased her from their lives. She went to prison at 17. Before, she was the all star athlete and student. She was the girl everyone wanted to be. Now, everyone avoids her.
Allison's sister Brynn is the only other person who knows what really happened the night of Allison's crime. She has had to live the last five years as the girl whose sister is in jail and has no intention of making peace with Allison. She feels as though no one knows how to talk with her and she has been dealing with the aftermath for too long.
Chram has come from a rough childhood. She has grown up and learned to live her life on her own, but still relies on an elderly man she cares for. He is her guidance and when he is gone, she decides to get a job in the local bookstore she visits often.
Claire decided to adopt after she struggled for years to have a child. She adopted Joshua and he has become her whole world. There is nothing she would not do to protect him.
These four women are all connected by one night and one child, but nothing is revealed all at once. The plot is a series of secrets being let out one at a time to keep the reader interested the whole way through.
Critical Evaluation:
This book is a compelling story of how one decision can change many different lives. The writing is easy to read and flows nicely. The main characters are well developed and the reader feels as though they are involved with their lives in the slightest. What can be hard is the reader does not know the events of the horrid night until the end of the book. Because of this, many things do not make sense until the end of the book. If one put this book down and picked it up a week later, they may be lost because of the scattered way things are revealed. Although this can be difficult, it makes the book seem realistic. Life does not reveal itself in a nice perfect way, and neither does this book. Something I would have liked to know more about is Allison's family. They are very minor characters, but they helped shape the person she is and the reader would understand her more if her family was explained more.
About the Author:
Heather Gudenkauf has written three books: The Weight of Silence, These Things Hidden, and One Breath Away. Her first two books are New York Times and USA Today's best sellers. Her books have heavy subject matters, but are written in a way the reader cannot put it down. She lives in Iowa with her husband and children working as a writer and Title 1 Reading Coordinator. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education.
Gudenkauf was born in Wagner, South Dakota. She is the youngest of six children. After moving twice as a young child, Heather's family settled in Iowa where she grew up. Gudenkauf has a severe hearing impairment she was born with causing her to have a hearing aid. As a child, she utilized this loss of hearing to immerse herself into the world of books. She spent hours reading in a toy chest. She would be transported to another world where she did not have problems.
http://heathergudenkauf.com/AboutHeather.html
Curriculum Ties:
N/A
Allison is the first character we meet. She is released from prison after five years for a horrible crime. The nature of the crime is a mystery to the reader, but it is so horrible that her family has virtually erased her from their lives. She went to prison at 17. Before, she was the all star athlete and student. She was the girl everyone wanted to be. Now, everyone avoids her.
Allison's sister Brynn is the only other person who knows what really happened the night of Allison's crime. She has had to live the last five years as the girl whose sister is in jail and has no intention of making peace with Allison. She feels as though no one knows how to talk with her and she has been dealing with the aftermath for too long.
Chram has come from a rough childhood. She has grown up and learned to live her life on her own, but still relies on an elderly man she cares for. He is her guidance and when he is gone, she decides to get a job in the local bookstore she visits often.
Claire decided to adopt after she struggled for years to have a child. She adopted Joshua and he has become her whole world. There is nothing she would not do to protect him.
These four women are all connected by one night and one child, but nothing is revealed all at once. The plot is a series of secrets being let out one at a time to keep the reader interested the whole way through.
Critical Evaluation:
This book is a compelling story of how one decision can change many different lives. The writing is easy to read and flows nicely. The main characters are well developed and the reader feels as though they are involved with their lives in the slightest. What can be hard is the reader does not know the events of the horrid night until the end of the book. Because of this, many things do not make sense until the end of the book. If one put this book down and picked it up a week later, they may be lost because of the scattered way things are revealed. Although this can be difficult, it makes the book seem realistic. Life does not reveal itself in a nice perfect way, and neither does this book. Something I would have liked to know more about is Allison's family. They are very minor characters, but they helped shape the person she is and the reader would understand her more if her family was explained more.
About the Author:
Heather Gudenkauf has written three books: The Weight of Silence, These Things Hidden, and One Breath Away. Her first two books are New York Times and USA Today's best sellers. Her books have heavy subject matters, but are written in a way the reader cannot put it down. She lives in Iowa with her husband and children working as a writer and Title 1 Reading Coordinator. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education.
Gudenkauf was born in Wagner, South Dakota. She is the youngest of six children. After moving twice as a young child, Heather's family settled in Iowa where she grew up. Gudenkauf has a severe hearing impairment she was born with causing her to have a hearing aid. As a child, she utilized this loss of hearing to immerse herself into the world of books. She spent hours reading in a toy chest. She would be transported to another world where she did not have problems.
http://heathergudenkauf.com/AboutHeather.html
Curriculum Ties:
N/A
Book Talking:
If this was a movie, what would the theme song be?
Challenging Issues:
If this book were to be challenged, I would go through the selection process with the challenger as well as explain the rationale for the book. There are many good qualities in this book that could be reason to have it in a collection.
Why Read this Book:
I chose to add this book to the collection because it deals with teen pregnancy and what happens when one's whole world is turned upside down. Four women were affected from one decision and this innocent little boy is in the middle of it. Many could relate to feeling like one decision snowballed into something much bigger. This book brings reality to light in a different way.
If this was a movie, what would the theme song be?
Challenging Issues:
If this book were to be challenged, I would go through the selection process with the challenger as well as explain the rationale for the book. There are many good qualities in this book that could be reason to have it in a collection.
Why Read this Book:
I chose to add this book to the collection because it deals with teen pregnancy and what happens when one's whole world is turned upside down. Four women were affected from one decision and this innocent little boy is in the middle of it. Many could relate to feeling like one decision snowballed into something much bigger. This book brings reality to light in a different way.
No comments:
Post a Comment