Recommended Ages: Gr. 4-7

Plot Summary: Ravani is woken up in the middle of the night by the ache of loneliness and just happens to look out the window as a group of kids arrive to the empty house across the street. There are 7 of them, variety of ages, but no parents. The next day, he isn't sure what he saw was real but when he sees a parasol in the house through the window, he knows it's true. In the forest near the house, he sees the kids trying to catch frogs unsuccessfully. As a gift, he catches one and leaves it in a jar on their front porch. The next day, Virginia talks to him. She's confident, not afraid to speak what's on her mind or call out Ravani for lying. Yet Ravani can tell that Virginia enjoys spending time with him. Neither of them have ever had a friend before, but Virginia insists that they are comrades not friends. Virginia thinks she might be able to trust Ravani with a huge secret. Will she tell him? Will Ravani ever be able to stand up to Donnie, a huge bully?

Setting: Slaughterville -- small town

Characters:
Ravani Foster -
Virginia Deering - confident and not afraid of Donnie, can identify when Ravani is lying and calls him out on it
Donnie - bully, repeats behavior shown to him by his dad
Sturgis Skinister - owner of Skinister Meats, loves alfredo sauce, the town judge
Tristan Deering - oldest boy
Colt Deering - talented at paperwork
Beth Deering - oldest girl
Annabel Deering -
Winnie Deering - perfect aim when throwing
Benjamin Deering -
The Hunter - always moves slowly and confidently, drives an ice cream truck with no ice cream
Madame Murdosa - runs the orphanage, hired The Hunter to find the children and bring them back
Fred - owns a restaurant in town, very dramatic as in an actor
Mr. Lee Chin - owns a bakery, bakes only loaves of bread just like his father
Hortense Wallenbach - the newspaper editor, bored with the news stories and enjoys twisting them to be more exciting, a storyteller

Recurring Themes: hiding, orphans, adventure, bullies, birdhouses, friendship, loneliness, lying, confidence, fitting in

Controversial Issues:
the working slaughterhouse "hissMOOthud" kills the cows, no description for how the killing happens but Ravani has to walk on the killing floor to deliver lunches to his dad a few times and there is blood and cow body parts

Personal Thoughts: This is not my genre of books. It was well-written, but I don't like suspense and that was the point of this book. It was too slow for me. But I did like Ravani and Virginia's honest friendship, I liked the moment when Ravani opened up to his dad, and I liked the happy ending. Overall, it was well-written, just not my cup of tea.

Genre: mystery because you don't know where the kids come from; action/adventure because The Hunter is after them, but only to capture them; realistic fiction because technically it's all possibly in real life; horror because of the suspense and the fact that the kids are being chased

Pacing: slow -- not much action although it was written in a suspenseful way, decent amount of description
Characters: Ravani and Virginia are well developed, most of the Deering children are not
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: ( )

I was so involved with the characters I could hardly put this book down. I also enjoyed much of the author's humor, and also trying to interpret so many of his metaphors. There were times when he was heavy handed with his moral positions, but maybe YA readers would appreciate that more than I did. He tied up the ending quite neatly, and I will probably read other books of his. ( )