TRAPPED

Matt counts the days until he turns 16 and can escape his abusive foster parents.

The gold nugget Matt finds in the Yukon River valley could be his ticket to independence—if he can just keep it hidden. For years, brutal Dan Cork and his indifferent, alcoholic wife have fostered boys and worked them hard. One boy disappeared and was never found. (Matt has his suspicions as to why). Forced to do the Corks’ housework and more, Matt especially hates being made to trap, shoot, and skin animals for their pelts. When fellow feeling prevents him from killing a beaver with a broken leg that’s caught in a trap, Matt frees it instead, pretty sure it will survive. Watching the beaver slide into the river, he spots a baseball-sized chunk of gold. Experience has taught him that if Dan, who keeps close tabs on him, knows Matt has something he wants, he’ll take it. Matt doesn’t have much time to hide the gold; he’s supposed to meet Dan soon. Vicious but clever, Dan has trained Matt to think like a trapped animal: to anticipate what he will do and craft a strategy to defeat him. Now Matt has just moments to carry out a plan. The taut and gripping plot more than compensates for occasionally repetitive syntax. Characters present White by default.

From the first sentence, this compact, suspenseful title pulls reluctant readers in and never lets go.