Missing

March 15, 2011
After several years of rootlessness following her mother's death, Thea and her Dad start to find a home for themselves when he takes a job renovating an old guest ranch in the Canadian Cariboo. Thea likes the ranch owner, who plans to breed Quarter horses, and she makes friends with a boy her age, Van, who lives across the lake. She's not sure what to do about Renegade, the neglected horse that came with the property—horses belong to the life she had when her mother was alive. When a guest shows up to stay at the ranch, Thea slowly starts to connect her to the mysterious death of a little girl that occurred over 50 years ago. Citra's writing is solid, and Thea is strong and appealing, but the story feels split. The mystery takes up most of the pages, but the horses seem to take up most of the emotion, and the two sides don't blend. Parts of the horse story don't make sense. Why would Renegade still be on property left empty for three years? Why do the adults, all professional horsemen, leave him entirely alone? Thea's Dad's character is inconsistently developed and muddled, and it's not clear why Thea is supposed to be angrier with her mother than with him. Even with all that, it's not bad overall, but still—better to tell only one story and do it well. (Mystery. 8-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2011

Gr 6-8-After her mother dies in a horseback-riding accident, Thea's father moves them from town to town in an effort not only to escape the thought of her death but of her infidelity, too. The eighth-grader misses her old friends and finds it difficult to make new ones. A lucky break occurs when her dad lands a job fixing up a rundown guest ranch. But something is not quite right here. Not only does Thea discover a neglected, abused, and mistrustful horse in the barn, but she also finds records that a four-year-old girl disappeared many years ago under mysterious and sinister circumstances. Through developing a trusting and loving relationship with the horse, Renegade, she is able to unravel unspoken issues about her parents. When Thea meets Van, a classmate, she finds an ally in tracking down clues as to what really happened to Livia. Citra's writing style tends toward being overly straightforward, but the story is fast moving and compelling enough once the mystery of Livia's disappearance commences. The concurrent story line of Thea's maturing relationships with those around her add another layer of interest.-Diane McCabe, Loyola Village Elementary School, Los Angeles

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2011
Grades 7-10 A lot is missing from teen heroine Theas life: her mother; her father, who is present but absent in so many ways; and any semblance of a settled life. For the past four years, Thea and her father have packed up and left one British Columbia Cariboo town after another. The intersection of Theas mysterious past with a cold-case mystery she stumbles upon in her latest stay deep in the Cariboo wilderness is compellingly told in Theas first-person narrative. This device heightens both mysteries, as Thea drops hints and comes to grips with her mothers disappearance from her life and with the disappearance of a young girl in the 1950s. Holding the story together is Theas care for an abused horse at the ranch where her father now works. The theme of finding yourself by letting yourself care for another is subtly and richly conveyed. Citra has written several books for the Orca Young Readers series; fans who are now older should flock to this gripping novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)