Wow. This was an excellent book on the overlooked topic of family abduction. It is age appropriate (8 to 12 would probably be good) but realistic. It clearly shows the devastating consequences family abduction has on children. The two children in the story, Elsie and Tommy, are being hidden by their mother. They are not allowed to go to school or make any friends, or even talk to strangers at all, and Tommy is not getting the medical attention he needs. I think even adults would find this book useful and educational. Highly recommended! ( )

Despite the almost epidemic nature of the problem, parental kidnapping is not a theme that is seen often in literature, and non-fiction about the same issue is not much more prevalent. The two fiction books about the subject I know of (besides books that only briefly mention it and the rash of "heroic mother takes kids from evil ex-husband when the courts conspire against her" books of such stupidity I will not touch) are the book Taking Terri Mueller by Norma Fox Mazer and Twice Taken by Susan Beth Pfeifer. Both are good authors, but both books fail, the latter being the worse of the two. When my sister told me Clay was in fact a good book on the subject, I was reluctant, but willing to try it. To my surprise it was a wonderful book that is just what is needed.

The book begins when a new girl moves in next to Elsie's home. Elsie wants to make friends with her, but her mother has warned her not to make friends. She spends most of her time with her brother, Tommy, who's odd behavior is a concern to her. Her mother, however, seems to not notice he is different in any way. After an attempt to make friends with the girl, her mother finds out and they move. We learn through flashback sequences that the family has been on the run for four years. Her parents divorced and after the children's father recieved custody of them, their mother took them while they were in the care of a babysitter. Since then, they have not gone to school or been allowed friends and have lived lives as fugitives. But it is only when her brother becomes desperately ill and her mother still pretends nothing is wrong that Elsie knows she must do something.

The characters in the book are well rounded. The reader gets the sense of why the mother kidnapped her children while at the same time not condoning her actions. I also liked the realism of the children being yanked around and isolated - in the other two books mentioned the main character was allowed to live a basically normal life, which is laughably unrealistic. I would have liked to see a book that explored more of the issue, but since this is a book for the nine to twelve age child it is not really a complaint. If you need to understand abduction by a parent through the eyes of a child, this book is perfect.