Vanished

“She’s freaking me out”, Abby whispered. Jeri nodded. The headmistress patted her long coiled hair where it was pinned in back. “Our school van, driven by our art teacher, Mr. Reeves, was carrying six girls home from the Museum this afternoon… there’s no easy way to tell you. They’ve all disappeared.”

Book: Vanished (Faithgirlz! / Boarding School Mysteries) by Kristi Holl, Zondervan Publishers, 20011

Genre: Mystery

Target Audience: Girls 11-14

Subjects: Friendship, Obedience to authority, Crime

Summary: Jeri’s roommate has mysteriously vanished, a tragedy, but also an unfortunate opportunity. Jeri’s been wanting to be an investigative reporter and this is her chance to try. But her eagerness to help gets the school into more and more trouble. Soon the headmistress has banned Jeri from helping with the search at all. Jeri’s determination can’t be stopped though and she soon finds herself in a dangerous situation.

Notes: This is the first in a faithgirlz series called Boarding School Mysteries. It was previously published in 2008 under the title “Fading Tracks”. It is a series about young pre and early teen girls who attend a boarding school and find themselves caught up in mysteries. The lessons in this book are on trusting God even in difficult times – Jeri is experiencing a number of let downs in the beginning of the book, climaxing with the disappearance of her friend, and on being obedient to and respectful of authority. Every time Jeri took matters into her own hands, she got in trouble, sometimes others too, not just herself. She needed to learn to be respectful of the authority and follow their directions.

Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Psalm 62:8 - Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.