Winner of the Moonbeam Children's Book Award (Young Adult Fiction Silver Medalist)
"An unflinching and absorbing thriller."
-School Library Journal
"Nothing is what it seems in this exciting young adult thriller by Alanna Peterson, who knows how to mix up a test tube full of mystery, adventure, and hard choices, set against the glorious mountains and forests of the Northwest. When We Vanished is the first in a quartet of books. Don't miss Number One!"
-Perri O'Shaughnessy, Author of the NYT Bestselling Nina Reilly Series
"I was completely engrossed as I gobbled down each chapter. When We Vanished is an entertaining, solid, and hopeful book."
-Gina Siciliano, Award-Winning Author of I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi
"When We Vanished is a big adventure about big food with big ideas, and enough twists to keep you turning pages until the very end. The first installment in the Call of the Crow Quartet bodes very well."
-Raj Patel, Author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
"The relationships and personalities that make up the characters' world drive this thriller into unexpected places."
-Butler Children's Literature Center
05/01/2020
Gr 9 Up—Peterson debuts with an eco-thriller, the first of a quartet focused on raising awareness about the dangers of processed and genetically modified foods. Andi Lin and her mother are doing everything they can to keep anyone from finding out that her father's new job is as a participant in a clinical food trial at Nutrexo. When Andi hears executives whispering about a dangerous research study, she worries it might be the same one her father is involved in, especially since she hasn't heard from him in over a week. After she asks her neighbor Cyrus Mirzapour to help, they wind up in over their heads: a nonviolent protest ends in a bombing and they are held captive alongside Cyrus's older brother Naveed and younger sister Roya. Trapped and desperate to discover the truth, Andi and Cyrus find themselves at the center of a conspiracy with consequences that are hard to imagine—and closer to home than either of them realize. In sharing these timely, important messages, Peterson highlights graphic scenes of animal cruelty and human torture when Naveed is sprayed with a noxious pesticide as part of the villain's continued experiments. While these scenes viscerally showcase the dangers of modifying foods, particularly the increased spread of antibiotic-resistant infections, the violence may outlast the message, no matter how worthy. VERDICT An unflinching and absorbing thriller suitable for readers comfortable with gore and grit.—Emma Carbone, Brooklyn P.L.