Prisoners at the Kitchen Table

by Barbara Holland

Two friends, one confident and the other timid, find their positions reversed when they must plot to escape kidnappers.

122 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 1979

About the author

Barbara Murray Holland was an American author who wrote in defense of such modern-day vices as cursing, drinking, eating fatty food and smoking cigarettes, as well as a memoir of her time spent growing up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good story about two kids who are kidnapped. It is a good way for children to understand just how simple it is someone to kidnap a child. It also gives them a simple description of the way kidnapped children are treated. There is one curse word used on page 71, it is at the bottom of the page, and says, "This place is making me crazy, and you with that d.... TV all day!" It is easy to black out with a sharpie if you want your child to read the book, but do not wish to expose them to that language.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite book of childhood. I must have read it 10 times between the ages of 6-10. And then I read it again last year! It was still good! I had a morbid fascination with kidnapping as a child, and this one targeted that well. it's suspenseful with good character development, but it works out OK in the end! So it's not at all a traumatizing or overly scary read for kids.

[LaCresha · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book. I read this in elementary school. I love this book!

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of childhood...read this aloud to my sister numerous time when we were much younger than we are now. Memorable.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of story packed into this short book. This is a good book for middle grade children to read to understand danger from strangers, no matter what they tell you. Josh and Polly, neighbors, are kidnapped by a couple who tell Polly that they are her Aunt Verna and Uncle Bill. Even though Polly is positive she has no relatives by those names, the children still get into the car and are take hundreds of miles away. Polly, whose father has money, is the prime target, but Josh was there so he was taken too. The children are taken to a tumble down house far into the country where all Verna does is smoke cigarettes and watch TV. They aren't mistreated but the week they spend with their captors isn't pleasant either. Finally, after Josh sees his mother crying on TV, when neither family can come up with the ransom money, he comes up with a plan to escape.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago to my 4th graders to show them how easy it would be to be kidnapped.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember our class reading this when I was in the 3rd or 4 the grade I think. It's a book I vaguely remembered. Great story about strangers pretending to be someone you know to kidnap you.

[Sherida · Rating 5 out of 5]

I great book to read aloud!