School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Sixth-grader Emmy never meant to get involved in something dangerous; she just wanted to fulfill her classroom community service requirement and help provide food for a hungry family, all without getting into trouble with her mom. But when the family disappears and she tries to rescue their cat, she stumbles on a suspicious neighbor who seems to be hiding stolen goods. Emmy's good intentions eventually get her kidnapped, but thankfully she has caring adults in her life who are able to rescue her in time. There may be one lesson too many stuffed into the plot-don't text and drive, don't lie to your parents, healthy food makes you feel better than junk food-but readers who are invested in likable Emmy's fate may not mind.-Laurie Slagenwhite Walters, Brighton District Library, Brighton, MI (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In Kehret's neatly plotted suspense story, Emmy Rushford, a valiant sixth-grade girl, stumbles onto a burglar's lair while helping a youngster get food for herself and her hungry family. Tenderhearted Emmy, whose mother is a judge for a local department store's essay contest, stumbles across an entry from Sophie, a fifth-grade girl whose family is temporarily too poor to buy food. Emmy decides to make Sophie's family her school community-service project, even though her mother has explicitly told her that the contest entries are confidential and that she could lose her job if it's discovered that she has disclosed any information. To protect her mother, who, like Emmy, is not given much in the way of character complexity, Emmy makes an understandable kid's judgment: She decides not to tell her mother what she's up to. After a series of plausible plot twists, the situation spins out of control, and Emmy finds herself matching wits with a nasty thief, one who isn't above a spot of kidnapping. How Emmy keeps her wits and uses her smarts as the situation escalates is the main pleasure in this suspenseful yet not too scary page-turner for middle-grade readers. Some oddball classmates add touches of humor, though a lightly sketched subplot about Emmy's weight loss seems to belong in another tale entirely. A diverting, fast-paced thriller aimed at girls. (Mystery. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Try as she may, Emmy can't let go when her conscience pulls her deeply into a good-deed saga. Through a neediest families effort her mother's company is running, she learns of a girl, Sophie, whose family lacks food. For a school service project, Emmy and friends gather donations and get them delivered anonymously. The trouble begins when Emmy continues the donations at some risk to herself and without her parents or school knowing. Sophie's family goes missing; there's an evil neighbor fencing stolen goods in the family's apartment building; and Emmy's friend's brother has a bad car accident during one of his food runs to Sophie's apartment. Readers will enjoy the suspense of the search for Sophie, the dealings with the fencer, and plotting how it all may turn out. And they will marvel at Emmy's tenaciousness and erstwhile charm, while wondering, too, just how much a young teen can and should risk to do the right thing.--O'Malley, Anne Copyright 2014 Booklist
