Wake Up Missing - Hardcover

Messner, Kate

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802723144 ISBN 13: 9780802723147

Publisher: Walker Childrens, 2013

Synopsis

Meet Quentin, a middle school football star from Chicago...
Sarah, an Upstate New York girls' hockey team stand-out...
Ben, a horse lover from the Pacific Northwest...
And Cat, an artistic bird watcher from California.

The four have nothing in common except for the head injuries that land them in an elite brain-science center in the Florida Everglades. It's known as the best in the world, but as days pass, the kids begin to suspect that they are subjects in an experiment that goes far beyond treating concussions....and threatens their very identities. They'll have to overcome their injuries - and their differences - to escape, or risk losing themselves forever.


"Kate Messner combines a fascinating concept with page-turning suspense. . . . Reading this book is like a wild roller-coaster ride through the Florida swamps."

- Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of The Missing and the Shadow Children series

About this title

About the Author

KATE MESSNER is a former middle-school English teacher and the author of E. B.
White Read Aloud Award-winner The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., Sugar and Ice, Eye of the Storm,a 2013 NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book, Capture the Flag, the Marty McGuire chapter book series, and two picture books, Seamonster's First Day and Over and Under the Snow. She lives on Lake Champlain with her husband and two kids. When she's not reading or writing, she loves hiking, kayaking, biking, and watching thunderstorms over the lake.

www.katemessner.com
@KateMessner

Reviews

Following a traumatic head injury, 12-year-old Cat knows what it’s like to be missing pieces of yourself. Then she’s accepted at I-CAN, a “miracle” treatment center for neurological disorders in the Florida Everglades. Things seem strange right away: the small number of patients (only six), the isolated island facility, the prohibition against cell phones, and the absences and personality changes of those undergoing Phase Three. After overhearing a sinister conversation, Cat and the others do some judicious (though implausibly easy) snooping, where they learn that the miracle cure is a ruse. Instead, the children are to be implanted with the DNA of dead scientific paragons such as Oppenheimer and Edison as part of a modern-day Manhattan Project. Their escape through alligator-infested swamps ahead of hired thugs is suspenseful though ultimately reassuring, as the enemies are punished and the children are saved. An author’s note explains the real science used as a basis for this thriller, which will get kids talking about the role DNA plays in our identities. A smart, safe scare. Grades 5-8. --Krista Hutley

Edition details

• Publisher: Walker Childrens
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802723144
• ISBN 13: 9780802723147
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272