1.6 KiB
Title: Prisoners at the Kitchen Table
Author: Barbara Holland
Started Reading: 2021-05-20
Finished Reading: 2021-05-24
This was a Weekly Reader book I remember reading in grade-school. I found the PDF online and started thumbing through it. Before long I was actually reading it again. I'm sure it wouldn't have held my interest if I had discovered it recently, but having read it over 30 years ago, it was filled with nostalgia.
I remember identifying with Josh, the more level-headed, high-anxiety, character. I'm sure that the fact that of the two main characters, a boy and a girl, I identified with Josh because he was a boy my age. Polly was brash and loud and spoiled by her parents. She spent the entire book complaining about not getting her way and giving up when the situation got too intense. Josh was a careful thinker, too easily cowed by adults and what was "accepted as correct behavior". He was also less well-off than Polly and seemed to respect his possessions more because of it.
Apart from the moral of the story a Weekly Reader book was trying to teach, 30 years or more has put more perspective on the story. While the lesson in the book is timeless (independence, courage and the ability to stand up for oneself) the sad fact is that in reality, both of those kids would have been sexually abused and possibly murdered once the ransom was not paid.
A neat little buttoned up ending befitting a Weekly Reader.
Nevertheless I found a couple more Weekly Readers online and may just read them as well.
Tags: booknotes