April Henry - Girl, Stolen

April says, “ Girl, Stolen was inspired by a story I saw on the local news. A blind girl had gone out to dinner with her parents. They wanted to do some Christmas shopping, and the girl stayed behind. Just like in Girl, Stolen , the mom left the keys in the car and someone stole it. In real life the girl was in the car for only a couple of miles. When she let the driver know she was there, he let her out. I watched her story that night and immediately thought, ‘What if?’

“I read a lot of autobiographies by people who were born blind or went blind, and I interviewed people who were blind, including a girl who was mainstreamed at a high school. I also talked to an eye doctor about head injuries and blindness. And I went to a Guide Dog School for the Blind and spent a day there. Toward the end, they put a blindfold on me and then gave me a dog and a harness and told me to put the latter on the former. That was difficult because I had never seen a harness up close and you have to pull on them to get them to fit snugly. I was worried I might hurt the dog, but I finally got it on. I was very proud of myself — until I tried to pat the dog on the head and realized I had harnessed up the back end!”

Visit April online at www.aprilhenrymysteries.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.

First published in Great Britain 2012 by Walker Books Ltd

87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ

Published by arrangement with Henry Holt and Company LLC

The right of April Henry to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-4063-3975-8 (ePub)

www.walker.co.uk