Dangerous Deception

Great book!!!

I can't count high enough to specify how many books Peg Kehret has written for children, but it's a big, big number. Over 50. Given that fact, you might expect her stories or characters to become repetitive, but that never happens. Each tale stands on its own merits, full of entertainment and suspense, with original characters and plots, and delivering life lessons to childhood readers without being didactic or sappy. Within just a few pages of DANGEROUS DECEPTION, I knew I was into a Peg Kehret book: a well-meaning and determined young protagonist with excellently-drawn supporting characters; a plot that involves helping people and/or animals in need, but with complexities that force the protag to make tough decisions, not all of which are the best ones she could have made. Dialogue is fresh and natural - you can hear both kids and grownups talking. Most of the kids in twelve-year-old Emmy Rushford's class approach their community service projects as something to get done, and get on with their lives, but Emmy becomes hooked by a letter from a young girl whose family is in desperate need of food. Before she's done, she's jeopardized her mother's job and put her own life in danger. But resourceful Emmy manages to feed the family, save the life of a cat in need, and help do justice to a ring of nasty electronics thieves. I would never have survived the situations Emmy works her way through. Peg Kehret's bad guy would have killed me, and if he didn't, my parents would have. Keep the stories coming, Peg.

Purchased this to my daughter and she likes it,interesting story

I just finished reading Peg Kehret's newest middle-grade reader and was in awe of how current and deftly written it is. I love that Emmy saw a need (hunger) and did everything she could to fulfill the need. Emmy was also very resourceful in using the Internet, local transportation and getting her classmates to help out. Yet she was also vulnerable and rode in a car with a teenage boy who texted while he drove. She also was deceptive to her mother which came back to bite her in the end. The book should be well received by young readers as it touches on so many topics that are current to them. Another book well done, Peg.

Peg Kehret rarely disappoints. In this novel, she gives us a believable modern situation (a family in need) and a good little mystery that pops up when Emmy, the main character, tries to solve the problem and encounters a burglary ring. Unfortunately, I have several issues with this book. The first is minor--Emmy almost seems too good to be true; even her lies to her mother are for a good cause and not her own self-interest. More important, Emmy's behavior when the man she refers to as No Help follows her home on the bus was not at all believable. An 11-year-old is old enough to know to go to the bus driver if another passenger is threatening her, and NOT to walk to her own home when she is being followed by someone who clearly is up to no good. She had a chance to tell the police and her mother about No Help and decided not to, thinking the man would simply "forget" about her. That naivete might fit a six-year-old, but no modern tween. I believe the author chose to write the story this way because kids don't want to read about adult intervention, and if Emmy had told the police about No Help, that might have ended the book right there. However, the way in which Ms. Kehret chose to continue her story made me feel manipulated. Most important--Emmy gets into No Help's truck, fearing he has a gun and will harm her if she doesn't. Law enforcement professionals do not advise this, ever, even if a weapon is suspected. They instead tell children and adults alike that if you get in a vehicle and are driven away by a criminal, your chances of survival are limited at best. They advise screaming, running, fighting, etc., and taking your chances that the bad guy will fire at you, will hit you, will hurt you (much better odds in your favor than allowing him to take you to a controlled environment). Emmy ultimately escaped, but I fear that in real life, her story would have had a less happy ending. I hate the lesson for young people that they can get in a truck with a criminal and expect to come out okay. This time Ms. Kehret did disappoint.

I chose this from the library because the author wrote "Cages", one of my favorites. It was not as well-written, possibly because it was for a younger audience. Kehret did not flavor with details like she usually does, and the characters did not seem very well developed. It kept my attention enough to finish, but not read again.

Disappointing. Not well written. How could this author publish so many novels while better writers cannot get published?