Missing by Sue Whiting
Walker Books Australia, 2018. ISBN 9781760650032
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. Themes: Crime, Adventure, Panama,
Bats, Missing persons. When Mackenzie is told to pack and be ready
to leave, she obeys her insistent father without demur, but once on
the plane for Panama, she wants to talk to her Gran, the one stable
thing in her life since her mother's disappearance five months ago.
Told in alternate chapters, one in the present day as Kenzie and her
father search for the woman in Panama, the other back in Sydney
months before as concern builds after Mum's non appearance at the
airport after photographing bats in South America.
Kenzie is about to go into secondary school, and her mother has
insisted she go to a private girls' school, to be less distracted by
the boys at the local state school. She is unhappy but with her
mother gone, wants to do as she had planned for her. Her first day
is unsettling, until she meets Billie. The two hit it off, partly
because Billie does not ask about her mother.
In South America, Kenzie and her Dad go to Bouquete, the last place
the woman was seen alive, and question again those who remembered
seeing her. When Dad lands in hospital it is up to Kenzie to find
out more information, and talking to a researcher in the town, finds
that her mother spoke to him the day after the police thought she
had disappeared. She gets on the bus, with Carlos from the hotel in
her wake.
This is an engrossing read about one girl's search for her mother.
Developed partly after Whiting read of the large numbers of missing
people in Australia each year, she honed in on how the teenager
would react and respond to such a crisis. She has succeeded, drawing
us into Kenzie's world as she tries to make sense of all the things
that happen around her, being buffeted from one thing to another.
Whiting very successfully exposes the vacuum into which Kenzie
falls, unable to trust anyone, scared and suspicious.
Australian author, Sue Whiting lives near Sydney and has won awards
for several of her books, including Platypus and A swim in the sea.
This story would make a good class text, a great read aloud as well
as a book to study.
Fran Knight