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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

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Cherries in Winter
by Suzan Colón


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Interviews
Peter Ackroyd
A short essay by Peter Ackroyd about his 2009 novel The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein
Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall, discusses her Booker shortlisted novel at the the London bookstore, Daunt Books (3 part video)
William Kamkwamba
A short video about William Kamkwamba, author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Louis Bayard
An essay by Louis Bayard about The Black Tower, an historical mystery set in the early 19th century
   Summary and Book Reviews

Taken: Summary and book reviews of Taken by Edward Bloor, plus links to an excerpt from Taken and a biography of Edward Bloor.

Taken Taken
by Edward Bloor
Hardcover: Oct 2007,
272 pages.
Paperback: 8 Dec 2009,
256 pages.

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Book Summary

By 2035 the rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and kidnapping has become a major growth industry in the United States. The children of privilege live in secure, gated communities and are escorted to and from school by armed guards.

But the security around Charity Meyers has broken down. On New Year's morning, she wakes and finds herself alone, strapped to a stretcher, in an ambulance that's not moving. She is amazingly calm - kids in her neighborhood have been well trained in kidnapping protocol. If this were a normal kidnapping, Charity would be fine. But as the hours of her imprisonment tick by, Charity realizes there is nothing normal about what's going on here. No training could prepare her for what her kidnappers really want . . . and worse, for who they turn out to be.

Book Reviews

BookBrowse - Jo Perry
Taken's vision of families where hired help do the parenting, and of a world where racial and economic injustice imprison both rich and poor is made vivid by the anger and brilliance that inform Bloor's most successful, moving and darkest novels—Tangerine and Crusader.
Full Review Members Only (members only, 890 words).


 Kirkus Reviews
Filled with unsubtle commentary about race and wealth, this still manages to be genuinely exciting although astute readers will see the twist early on. Charity's self-possession strains credibility, as does her quick turnaround at the novel's end, but this is competent near-future fiction.

 VOYA
The violence is not graphic, and there is little coarse language, making a good fit for middle school readers. But the effect for which Bloor seems to be striving - opening readers' eyes to the divisions in society - is muted by a heavy-handed tone.

 Booklist
This page-turner will grab readers at the outset, and its unexpected twist at the close will send them back through events to look for embedded clues.

 Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Deftly constructed, this is as riveting as it is thought-provoking.


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