The Girl in the Window

by Wilma Yeo

When Leedie Ann Alcott disappeared, it turned the town of Meander upside down. Nothing like that had ever happened before. And no one knows whether she got lost--or was kidnapped. But after a year, things start to return to normal--almost.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Mystery Thriller

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

A native of Kansas City, is a free lance journalist, a creative writing teacher, and a children's book author. Her poems, stories, and articles have appeared in a number of national magazines.

Reviews

[Trevor Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I found most interesting about The Girl in the Window was the sudden shift in plot direction. I went into it expecting it to be a story of a young girl trying to uncover the truth about her friend's disappearance, but it soon turned into something else. But despite the bizarre nature of the shift, it felt natural and the story that followed it was very compelling. It was a very nice deviation from what could've been a generic, cliched mystery.

Plot Synopsis: The small town of Meander was hit hard by the disappearance of Leedie Ann Alcott. Kiley Mulligan was hit especially hard, given that she lived near the Alcott plantation and had befriended the young girl before she vanished. After a long search, the townspeople were finally forced to abandon the child as lost. But then, a year later, Kiley sees Leedie Ann in her bedroom window-but nobody, including Kiley's father, will believe the missing girl has really returned. Undeterred, Kiley sets out to prove that something is amiss at the Alcott plantation-and sets in motion a series of events that stirs up a lot of drama-that just might bring the truth to the surface.

Even before the shift occurs, the plot was well-written and kept me interested in what would happen next. Kiley's plans for uncovering what was going on at the Alcott house were well-orchestrated and ingenious for someone her age. The dialogue is a bit outdated, but that could be attributed to the time period the story is set in (which appears to be in the mid-to-late 1940s). Otherwise, the writing was good for a children's book.

As for characters, Kiley was a very mature, resourceful girl who was very easy to like and root for. Sure, her plans backfired and caused a lot of trouble, but it was clear she didn't intend for that to happen and just wanted to find out where her missing friend was. Once her actions cause serious trouble, she feels real remorse that is perfectly captured. As for side characters, they're all pretty likable and no one is completely unlikable. Kiley's father, at times, is hardheaded and gets mad at his daughter's actions without letting her explain, but he has genuine reason to be upset given the problems she unintentionally caused and does make up for it in the end. And there's one other character I'd like to get into that I'll have to discuss along with the plot shift:

Pesha, the gypsy who started living with Mrs. Alcott after Leedie Ann disappeared, was by far the best character in the book. She starts out being a pretty big suspect in Leedie Ann's potential kidnapping, even to Kiley, but once she starts hiding out in the slave chambers by Kiley's house, she starts to develop into a sympathetic character. Her back story reveals that she survived the Holocaust while the rest of her mother died, leaving her emotionally damaged and unable to let go of the pain. The sympathetic side of her is only further shown when she's arrested and taken to court, where she's badgered by the attorney while clearly in no shape to testify on her own behalf. Thankfully, Kiley finally confesses to writing the note, exonerating her.

When it came close to the end, I was worried that Leedie Ann's disappearance would be left unsolved due to the revelation that Kiley had only see a full-scale doll in her bedroom window, not Leedie Ann. But after Kiley's confession, she finds a car with the clothespin doll she had given Leedie Ann that she had when she went missing. The car turns out to belong to Leedie Ann's father, who came to see Pesha's trial. Under ordinary circumstances, this wouldn't be a shocking twist, but since most of the story had focused around Pesha and her situation, I didn't really give the issue of who might've taken Leedie Ann much thought. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but it worked for me. The ending was very heartwarming, especially the part where Kiley states that she's confident that Pesha will return someday.

There were a few minor problems, though. The side plot involving Kiley's crumbling relationship with her best friend Sara never really felt like it was a major problem, even though it was treated as one. It never really felt like their friendship was in any real danger from my perspective. And while it's a bit of a nitpick, but the tagline on the cover of the book hints at the possibility of there being something supernatural going on, but ghosts are never brought up or Kiley never believes that the supernatural could be involved in what she saw. And the cover makes it look like a horror story when it's more of a drama than anything. But those are both mild problems that don't detract from the book at all.

Overall, The Girl in the Window was a much better read than I initially thought. The plot took an interesting turn, the characters were likable, the ending resolved everything that needed to be resolved, and the story told a great message against prejudicing people. I recommend this book to children between the ages of 9-13.

Pros: The inventive plot, the likable characters, and the great resolution and message.
Cons: The mishandled subplot and the misleading cover.

[Rants and Bants · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover, title, and whole premise of this book was very misleading =/ They make it sound like it's going to be a ghost story when really it's just a real life mystery. There's nothing supernatural at all. Which would be fine if it ended up being a really good mystery, but the ending was just so rushed and abrupt. There was literally only a few pages for it, no resolution whatsoever. Many loose ends...and it was kind of half-assed too. Like, she just literally ran out, saw the doll in the car, and BOOM there's our answer??? And would the kidnapped girl's father really be that dumb???

Probably the MOST disappointing thing was that we don't know what happened to Pesha, who was arguably the best character in here. WTF it was literally all about her for a while, then suddenly everyone just forgets about her, and there's like a paragraph at the end saying no one knows where she is? More disappearances, eh. it would've been nice to see these townspeople at least look and feel really shittyand guilty for how they'd treated her. With the mob mentality this town had, EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the entire town owes her a collective apology. Right now. And not JUST for accusing her, but for their blatant racism. Seriously the amount of bigotry and prejudice towards "Gypsies" in this town was disturbing. What was most disturbing was that it came from GROWN-UPS. It was one thing that it came from kids, like those two bratty little boys in the library who needed to get socked in the face, because of course these kids have shit-for-brains parents who ingrain those ways of thinking into them, but...when the LIBRARIAN started talking about Gypsies, it was without question despicable. That just further ingrains these things into peoples' heads, as librarians are people kids are supposed to look up to, and they're supposed to know how to research and not be ignorant and KNOW STUFF. Holy cow, I'd hate to go to THAT library. If the librarian of all people is that unintelligent, there's no telling how far down the whole town is heading.

I guess Kylie was okay. At first she was annoying, but then she at least grew and got better and actually got learn firsthand just how wrong she was about Gypsies. I felt like we really didn't get much characterization for her father though. He just seemed sort of 'there', without any real emotion or impact, even when he yelled at her.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as a kid. Not totally sure i'd let my kids read it when they are 8 like I did, but a good introduction to mysteries and scary things for youngsters. Definitely get's your blood pumping!

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if I like this one as much as other stories, but because nearly all of the book is spent chasing a red herring, with the last seven pages wrapping up the story only because the "usual" suspect(s) in such a case did in fact do it, which makes me wonder how the police didn't investigate sooner. (Or, they did, but didn't think to try EVERY angle?)

Also, the Romani woman is called almost exclusively by the pejorative for her people, which is uncomfortable to read.

The writing is fine, though I'm also frustrated at how CLUMSY the main character (Kiley) is, nervous or not, and how often her dad pulls out the first-and-middle name treatment even for non-serious actions. At the same time, I'm not sure how I would change anything. I guess it's more I don't like reading about the kidnapping of a small child than any particular fault of the story (other than the pejoratives, which aren't even corrected by the "good guys").

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I bought this book because the cover seemed creepy, and I didn't realize it was about a kidnapping. That said, unexpectedly quick and not a bad book to fly through in less than an hour. Unfortunately, a very easily solved mystery, but it's made up for by some real depth of feeling to our main character, which I loved. I just wish the same could be said for most of the adults in the book.

[Sara Mazariegos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't want to rate this low, because this is a kids book, but it irked me how Pesha was treated. I doubt that plot would fly today. I also expected it to be way spookier. Actually, you know what, I'm docking another star for that. 😆

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main character is so troublesome and doesn't even get in trouble for it. I remember her being a frustrating character as a kid and I'm even more flummoxed by the lack of responsibility and consequences for her actions as an adult reader.

[Addie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mystery for youth without being too spooky.

[Christy Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Defiantly kept me guessing. I had suspected the ending and wasn't disappointed.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when I was a child, read it again as an adult. Wasn't really into it.

[Shanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite boring even for a young adult

[Malissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book from my mother in law and I was expecting it to be kind of like the Goosebumps by R.L. Stine but I was wrong. I love the series' name, Apple Chillers, it's really cute with a jack o'lantern apple as it's symbol. OK well back to the book, I liked this, especially for a kids book. There was mystery that kept me interested and the main character Kiley is a good strong character. And I am sure if I was 8 to 12 I probably would have liked this book even more :) It's well written for what it's meant to be and I would recommend it to mostly kids though unless you're like me and you just want a short, fun, and easy read sometimes. I am definitely going to let my daughter read it when she's old enough in about a year.

The story tells about the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Leedie the neighbor girl of Kiley. Kiley is sure she sees Leedie in her bedroom window while glancing up at the house and believes Leedie's mother and her gypsy friend Pesha are trying to cover something up.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Girl in the Window by Wilma Yeo was a throwback read. After reading a trio of thrillers, I decided to take on one from the juvenile genre. I remember this book from my childhood as one of those books that we all read and/or was in book orders regularly. I did not remember any of the plot. The premise is that Kiley's next door neighbor has disappeared. She is worried, and she takes it on herself to do some investigating. She is further confused when she thinks she sees missing Leedie Ann in the window aka THAT'S WHERE THE TITLE IS FROM. She suspects a gypsy who is connected to the family is involved, and she takes it on herself to investigate her as a suspect. Through this work, the gypsy is arrested. She turns out not to be the culprit, and additionally, Kiley learns more about the gypsy's past in a pretty intense way. This one took a turn towards the end that I was not expecting which really upped what the story was about.

[Doris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is part of a children's collection I started for when junior readers appear at my house. I picked it up - literally - to move it as part of a shelf rearranging, and flipped it open to read. I was instantly hooked in the story of a curious, head-strong and lonely little girl who misses the even littler girl she used to play with and tell stories to.

Leedie Ann disappeared one day after school, and although it has been a year, no one has heard any news. Kiley, our heroine, is convinced there is a bigger mystery in the child's house, and tries all kinds of tricks to prove her theory.

Interesting, funny and smoothly written, and a sure winner with the junior reader.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book in elementary school over and over, and loving it every time (I even still own it). It's about a teen girl who thinks she sees her neighbor girl, who was kidnapped a year before, in the girl's bedroom window. The teen girl insists that she saw the little girl, and begins searching for her.

Given that it's been 10-15 years since I last read this book, I'm a little sketchy on the details, but I do remember that I LOVED the book in elementary (and even middle) school. If you know a young girl who likes mysteries, suggest this book.

[Literacy Group]

The Girl in the Window is a mystery book written about a girl named Leedie Ann Alcott. Leedie is kidnapped and after a year of being missing, a mysterious shadow of a girl who looks just like Leedie is seen by her neighbor Kiley, in the window of a house. Kiley decides she wants to investigate this figure she had seen in the window and recruits her friend to help her find out what she has seen. They come to realize that the figure they had seen was a doll, but they do however, find out what has happened to Leedie.

Grades 3-5

[Tania Medina]

Kiley Mulligan lived on the Alcott's plantation. The Alcott family had only one daughter, Leedie Ann. Her parents separated and Leedie Ann stayed with her mom. Kiley had made a doll for Leedie Ann and started to spend a lot of time with her. One day Leedie Ann disappeared and a gypsy came into Mrs. Alcott's mansion. Kiley thought that she had seen Leedie Ann standing in the window. She began thinking that the gypsy had put a spell on Leedie Ann and her mom. Kiley wrote a letter to see if the gypsy would respond back, but it turned out to be a big mistake.

[Amanda J]

Recommended for ages: 9-12 A mystery for tweens about a missing neighbor girl.

[Michelle]

I loved this book when I was a kid. It is a mystery and I read it several times!