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Vet Volunteers #8
Trapped
Someone's been setting animal traps in the nature preserve behind Brenna's house. She and her older brother, Sage, are furious - not only is that illegal, it's hurting and killing defenseless animals where they should be safe. They both want to do something, but Brenna's worried that Sage may have some really extreme plans in mind. Can she rein him in?
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
17 people are currently reading
331 people want to read
About the author
Laurie Halse Anderson
100 books17.4k followersUPDATE! Rebellion 1776 is out! The New York Times wrote, "Filled with immersive detail, expert delineations of complex characters, and both harsh and loving reality, Rebellion 1776 provides young readers with a true experience of a historic moment in time that resonates with today's world." Huzzah!
Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author of many award-winning books including the groundbreaking, modern classic Speak, a National Book Award finalist which has sold over 3.5 million copies and been translated into 35 languages.
In 2023, Anderson was named the Laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, long considered to be the de facto 'Nobel Prize for Children's Literature.'
A passionate spokesperson for the need to combat censorship, she has been honored for her battles for intellectual freedom by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives near Philadelphia. Go Birds!
Follow Laurie on Bluesky at @halseanderson.bsky.social, Instagram at halseanderson, and Facebook at lauriehalseanderson, or by visiting her website, madwomanintheforest.com.
Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author of many award-winning books including the groundbreaking, modern classic Speak, a National Book Award finalist which has sold over 3.5 million copies and been translated into 35 languages.
In 2023, Anderson was named the Laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, long considered to be the de facto 'Nobel Prize for Children's Literature.'
A passionate spokesperson for the need to combat censorship, she has been honored for her battles for intellectual freedom by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives near Philadelphia. Go Birds!
Follow Laurie on Bluesky at @halseanderson.bsky.social, Instagram at halseanderson, and Facebook at lauriehalseanderson, or by visiting her website, madwomanintheforest.com.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 10, 2021
I love these books. This one deals with animals rights activists and trapping. I love that these books emphasize that there’s always two sides to every story. And the writing is beautiful.
September 22, 2015
Trapped is the best book I’ve encountered so far in the Vet Volunteers collection. Geared toward middle school-aged readers, the series focuses on a group of animal-rescuing girls and their veterinarian mentor, Dr. Mac. As I’ve stated previously, I have a mixed reaction to these books, as they tend to focus on rescuing only cute or endangered animals, while ignoring the plight of those used for food and fiber. Trapped is a welcome departure from this tradition, and comes closest to reconciling compassion for all.
The story begins when the book’s heroine, Brenna, discovers a stray dog caught in a leghold trap in the woods near her home. After securing the dog’s rescue, Brenna and a friend decide to confront the trapper, who turns out to be a teenager not much older than themselves.
Brenna’s first encounter with animal rights is not a very positive one. Her seventeen-year-old brother, Sage, makes an angry scene at the breakfast table after learning that the waffles the family’s eating contain eggs. Sage announces he is vegan, which is explained in the book as
Vegans are sort of like ultra-vegetarians. They don’t eat meat or any other animal products, like milk or eggs or cheese. Vegans don’t wear leather, and some of them won’t even eat honey because they believe it’s unfair to the bees to steal what they’ve created.
Unfortunately, Sage is a vegan of the “angry and obsessed” (the book’s words) variety. His increasing involvement with a (fictional) radical activist group and his nonstop talk about “direct action” has the family concerned. Nevertheless, the family decides to take the less-extreme action of eating vegan along with Sage:
“It’s easier to cook one thing for everyone,” [Mom] says. If Sage wants to be a vegan, we can all try that for a while. I looked up some information on how to make sure well get enough protein, and it seems easy enough. There are a lot of good vegan recipes.”
I wanted to stand up and cheer for that! Mom admits she’s not ready to give up dairy yet. Fair enough. Unfortunately, she goes on to say that dairy is “important food” for the family’s youngest child, “since he’s still growing.” (Ack!)
In the meantime, the Vet Volunteers have a frightened dog to look after, who is convalescing at the clinic after his encounter with the leghold trap. The kids do internet research on the trapping issue, discovering some unflattering facts about the trapping and fur industries, as well as the debate over banning particular types of traps. While the girls research the issues, Sage has more extreme plans in mind. Brenna discovers a list of radical websites advocating illegal action, as well as a nearly-complete “man trap” in Sage’s room. (Oh, come on.) However, Brenna finds herself increasingly sympathetic to the proposed target of the man trap—the teenage trapper named Billy. As it turns out, Billy’s deceased father taught him to trap, and he now only does it to earn some extra income for his financially-struggling family.
Brenna’s making some headway in her efforts to encourage Billy to reconsider his actions, when Sage spots his enemy and starts throwing punches. In the melee, Sage accidentally strikes his sister, which immediately causes him to regret his previous “by any means necessary” approach to activism. Sage says:
“I think I’ve gotten a little carried away with all this animal rights stuff. Not that I’ll stop going to meetings or anything”...”I still believe in all the goals. And I’m still going to be a vegan. But I have to admit that you proved there’s more than one way to make change happen.”
Sage throws away his “man trap,” and Billy agrees to do carpentry work with Brenna’s father in lieu of trapping animals for money. The stray dog who escaped the trap is adopted. Although there is no word on whether Brenna and her parents intend to continue eating a vegan diet, she vows:
And now that I understand why some people trap, I think I’ll have a better chance of convincing them not to. (And believe me, I do intend to work hard to ban trapping in this country.) Even Sage now realizes that by understanding another person’s point of view, it’s easier to work together for change.
All in all, good stuff. I was so happy to see that for Sage, renouncing violence doesn’t mean renouncing animal rights. Being a peaceful, reasoned activist is the best path to change—and I was thrilled to see the author recognize this.
The last few pages include a section headed “Animal Rights 101,” which gives a few tips on living a more humane life by avoiding fur and animal-tested cosmetics, adopting and spay/neutering pets, and volunteering at a shelter. I would have liked to have seen diet mentioned, but the fact that positive information like this even makes it into highly mainstream books is a sign itself of progress.
The story begins when the book’s heroine, Brenna, discovers a stray dog caught in a leghold trap in the woods near her home. After securing the dog’s rescue, Brenna and a friend decide to confront the trapper, who turns out to be a teenager not much older than themselves.
Brenna’s first encounter with animal rights is not a very positive one. Her seventeen-year-old brother, Sage, makes an angry scene at the breakfast table after learning that the waffles the family’s eating contain eggs. Sage announces he is vegan, which is explained in the book as
Vegans are sort of like ultra-vegetarians. They don’t eat meat or any other animal products, like milk or eggs or cheese. Vegans don’t wear leather, and some of them won’t even eat honey because they believe it’s unfair to the bees to steal what they’ve created.
Unfortunately, Sage is a vegan of the “angry and obsessed” (the book’s words) variety. His increasing involvement with a (fictional) radical activist group and his nonstop talk about “direct action” has the family concerned. Nevertheless, the family decides to take the less-extreme action of eating vegan along with Sage:
“It’s easier to cook one thing for everyone,” [Mom] says. If Sage wants to be a vegan, we can all try that for a while. I looked up some information on how to make sure well get enough protein, and it seems easy enough. There are a lot of good vegan recipes.”
I wanted to stand up and cheer for that! Mom admits she’s not ready to give up dairy yet. Fair enough. Unfortunately, she goes on to say that dairy is “important food” for the family’s youngest child, “since he’s still growing.” (Ack!)
In the meantime, the Vet Volunteers have a frightened dog to look after, who is convalescing at the clinic after his encounter with the leghold trap. The kids do internet research on the trapping issue, discovering some unflattering facts about the trapping and fur industries, as well as the debate over banning particular types of traps. While the girls research the issues, Sage has more extreme plans in mind. Brenna discovers a list of radical websites advocating illegal action, as well as a nearly-complete “man trap” in Sage’s room. (Oh, come on.) However, Brenna finds herself increasingly sympathetic to the proposed target of the man trap—the teenage trapper named Billy. As it turns out, Billy’s deceased father taught him to trap, and he now only does it to earn some extra income for his financially-struggling family.
Brenna’s making some headway in her efforts to encourage Billy to reconsider his actions, when Sage spots his enemy and starts throwing punches. In the melee, Sage accidentally strikes his sister, which immediately causes him to regret his previous “by any means necessary” approach to activism. Sage says:
“I think I’ve gotten a little carried away with all this animal rights stuff. Not that I’ll stop going to meetings or anything”...”I still believe in all the goals. And I’m still going to be a vegan. But I have to admit that you proved there’s more than one way to make change happen.”
Sage throws away his “man trap,” and Billy agrees to do carpentry work with Brenna’s father in lieu of trapping animals for money. The stray dog who escaped the trap is adopted. Although there is no word on whether Brenna and her parents intend to continue eating a vegan diet, she vows:
And now that I understand why some people trap, I think I’ll have a better chance of convincing them not to. (And believe me, I do intend to work hard to ban trapping in this country.) Even Sage now realizes that by understanding another person’s point of view, it’s easier to work together for change.
All in all, good stuff. I was so happy to see that for Sage, renouncing violence doesn’t mean renouncing animal rights. Being a peaceful, reasoned activist is the best path to change—and I was thrilled to see the author recognize this.
The last few pages include a section headed “Animal Rights 101,” which gives a few tips on living a more humane life by avoiding fur and animal-tested cosmetics, adopting and spay/neutering pets, and volunteering at a shelter. I would have liked to have seen diet mentioned, but the fact that positive information like this even makes it into highly mainstream books is a sign itself of progress.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2016
This book was a great book. It taught me a lot about different animals and how people hunt them for different reasons other than just wanting to.
February 3, 2024
Brenna’s parents are wildlife rehabilitators. One day, Brenna goes into the woods behind their house to find tasty tidbits for some of the hurt creatures in the family’s critter barn. Near the creek, Brenna hears whimpering and finds a dog caught in a trap. After the dog is safe at Dr. Mac’s place, Maggie joins Brenna on a stakeout near the trap where Chico was caught. A young man comes to check the trap, and Brenna confronts him. He angrily claims that it’s his family tradition to set trap in the woods. Both girls run when they see the gun in his belt. Brenna calls the game warden, but nothing really happens. Then, she decides to go to the trapper’s house. What happens next helps to change many minds.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
January 22, 2016
"Vet Volunteers Trpped" was written by Laurie Halse Andreson. This book is about Brenna, her friends and familly saving a wild animal that was trapped in the forest. There are some difficulties in the book between Brenna's brother and the guy who trapped the poor animal in the forest. Only Brenna's brother is mad at him. Brenna also asks her friends and Dr. Mac (Vet) to help her to recover the animal that was trapped in the forest.
March 14, 2010
Someone’s been setting animal traps in the nature preserve behind Brenna’s house. She and her older brother, Sage, are furious—not only is that illegal, it’s hurting and killing defenseless animals where they should be safe. They both want to do something, but Brenna’s worried that Sage may have some really extreme plans in mind. Can she rein him in?
May 26, 2014
Good elementary-aged kid's book for animal lovers. Nice story about hurt animals and restoring a sibling relationship, and a strong message of animal protection/rights. Erin really enjoyed it, she'd probably give it 4 stars. I liked it enough, but it was a pretty simplistic storyline, which is fine for this age group.
June 15, 2010
A girl is deeply distraght over the animal traps that someone keeps putting on her familys land. Her brother experiences rage as he threatens to go after those who are doing this. This book is cute and definetely for a young audience. It's a great book for animal lovers!
March 19, 2009
i really love these books! i would recommend it to anybody who is an animal lover!
October 14, 2010
not as good as the first ones, but I still liked it!
December 6, 2010
I love this book it teaches people why or why not to trap and it was very interesting.
February 7, 2011
It was sad and very amazing of how Billy was trapping animals for a living because his father is dead and he needs money to support his family.
October 23, 2012
This was a good book
December 5, 2012
Not bad. Very educational, but a little dramatic. But good for animal lovers, definitely!
November 26, 2015
7,5 / 10
March 8, 2015
Good if you love animals, but definitely meant for a very yound audience.
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February 19, 2019trapped by Laurie Halse Anderson is a super good book. its about a girl which people have been putting traps behind her house. her and her brother want to do something in order for people to stop putting traps. she is scared that her brother might be doing something bad to stop whats happening. this book has 144 pgs and its fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews