40 Fun Facts About Girl, Stolen

In Girl, Stolen, Cheyenne's father is president of which real company, making her worth a ransom?

Nike is the company Cheyenne's father runs. The moment the car thieves find that out, they stop talking about letting her go and start working out a ransom demand.

Which illness is Cheyenne already fighting when she is accidentally kidnapped in Girl, Stolen?

Pneumonia saps Cheyenne's strength from the first page. She still turns the illness to her advantage, using it to win Griffin's sympathy.

Why does Griffin not notice Cheyenne when he steals the car in Girl, Stolen?

She is under a blanket, lying down sick on the back seat. The real teenager whose story inspired the book first thought a friend was playing a trick on her.

What must Cheyenne do to get away from Griffin's father at the climax of Girl, Stolen?

She has to drive a car, creeping a short way with the doors locked. April Henry gave the road a gravel surface so Cheyenne could tell it from pavement by sound.

Which famous author helped Girl, Stolen writer April Henry get a story published at age twelve?

Roald Dahl liked her tale of a frog named Herman so much that he read it to an editor over lunch. The editor then asked to print it in a children's magazine.

What is the name of Griffin's violent father, who decides to hold Cheyenne for ransom in Girl, Stolen?

Roy slaps his son for bringing a witness home. He changes his mind about the mistake once he learns how wealthy the girl's family is.

What is the name of Cheyenne's guide dog, who is not with her when she is kidnapped in Girl, Stolen?

Phantom came to Cheyenne when she turned sixteen. She is convinced the whole ordeal would never have happened if he had been beside her in the car.

What argument does Cheyenne use when she begs Griffin to release her early in Girl, Stolen?

She cannot identify him because she is blind, she pleads. The irony is that her sharpened hearing, smell and touch are quietly collecting evidence the whole time.

In Girl, Stolen, Griffin's father disguises his voice and tricks Cheyenne by pretending to be what?

A police officer is who he claims to be, even faking a call to say that she has been found. Cheyenne, exhausted after hours in the woods, runs straight to him.

April Henry got the idea for Girl, Stolen from which source about a real blind teenager's ordeal?

A local news report caught her attention one evening in 2005. Fittingly, Henry grew up in southern Oregon as the daughter of a television newscaster.

Outside what kind of business is Cheyenne waiting in the car when it is stolen in Girl, Stolen?

A pharmacy in a shopping center is the scene of the theft. Cheyenne's antibiotics are being collected inside, so she is carried off without the medicine she badly needs.

Who has just left Cheyenne alone in the car when Griffin steals it in Girl, Stolen?

Her stepmother, Danielle, is driving that day and leaves the keys behind. Cheyenne adores her father but has a strained relationship with Danielle.

What is the name of the half-pit bull guard dog kept on a chain at Griffin's home in Girl, Stolen?

Duke sounds ferocious, but he has been shaped by rough treatment rather than born mean. By the last chapter Griffin admits he feels a little like the dog himself.

What does Cheyenne use to knock Griffin unconscious before she flees the house in Girl, Stolen?

A wrench is the heavy tool she finds, and she has to swing it twice. She cries afterward, terrified that she has killed the one captor who was kind to her.

What was Griffin hoping to steal from parked cars before he took a whole car instead in Girl, Stolen?

Christmas packages were his target until he spotted keys hanging in an expensive SUV. He panics on finding a passenger, mostly out of fear of his father's temper.

Why are the keys left in the ignition while Cheyenne waits alone in the car in Girl, Stolen?

To run the heater if she got cold, a kindness that backfires. The detail comes from the real case, where a mother left her keys so her daughter could stay warm.

What does Cheyenne find beside her seat and turn on Griffin's father late in Girl, Stolen?

A gun is what her hand lands on while she feels around for a way to summon help. She fires when he grabs for it, then orders him out of the car.

Which way out does Cheyenne try in her first escape attempt from the house in Girl, Stolen?

A bathroom window is her way out, sensed through a change in the air. Griffin kicks the door in and soon finds her hiding in the tub.

Which April Henry novel is the sequel to Girl, Stolen, reuniting Cheyenne and Griffin before a trial?

Count All Her Bones picks up six months later, as both teenagers prepare to testify. Their plan to meet goes wrong and Cheyenne is captured a second time.

Which luxury SUV does Griffin steal with Cheyenne asleep in the back in Girl, Stolen?

A Cadillac Escalade is the prize, and two of the gang come out of the barn to admire it. They are then sent back to fetch the Honda that Griffin left behind.

What does Cheyenne use to cut herself free before her night-time escape from the house in Girl, Stolen?

A shard of glass does it. She waits until two in the morning, when the men have left the house and Griffin is asleep, before she cuts herself loose.

What does Cheyenne first pick up in the yard to use as a makeshift cane in Girl, Stolen?

A car antenna is her first idea, since a place that handles so many cars must have some lying around. It proves rather short, so she later swaps it for a branch.

What does Cheyenne turn into a leash so the guard dog can lead her into the woods in Girl, Stolen?

Her belt becomes the leash once she has unchained him. The dog guides her for hours, then bolts after a small animal at dawn and leaves her alone.

What injury stops Griffin from going on with Cheyenne as they head for the road in Girl, Stolen?

A broken ankle, from stepping into a hole, leaves him unable to walk. He urges Cheyenne to go on alone, because reaching the road fast is the only hope for either of them.

Which smell tells Cheyenne that her supposed rescuer is really Griffin's father in Girl, Stolen?

Peppermint and tobacco give him away. April Henry asked blind people about distinctive smells while researching the book, then built that scent into the plot.

Where does Griffin go to live once his father is in custody at the end of Girl, Stolen?

With his aunt is where he lands, and two weeks after the rescue he rings Cheyenne from there. The book ends before she decides whether he may ring again.

What accident left Griffin with severe burn scars years before the events of Girl, Stolen?

A meth lab explosion burned him badly, at a time when his father made and sold the drug. Griffin grew up believing his mother walked out soon afterwards.

What does Griffin learn really happened to the mother he believed had walked out on him in Girl, Stolen?

She was murdered by his own father and buried behind the house. Griffin hears it from one of the gang while lying injured in the woods, and goes into shock.

What illegal business do Griffin's father and his two friends run from the barn in Girl, Stolen?

A chop shop is the family trade: stolen cars come in, get new identification numbers and are sold on. It is the reason Griffin was out thieving that day.

How does Cheyenne explain to Griffin that she finds the food on her plate in Girl, Stolen?

By clock positions: her father tells her which food sits at which number on the plate. At school she prefers to bring a lunch she made herself, so she never has to ask.

Which storytelling structure does April Henry use throughout Girl, Stolen to build suspense?

Two alternating viewpoints, the victim's and the car thief's, carry the book. Kirkus found much of the suspense in Griffin's divided loyalties.

In the real case behind Girl, Stolen, what did the thief do after finding a blind girl in the car?

He let her out unharmed after she asked him to. She then used her cane and her cellphone to get help, and the driver was never caught.

What does Griffin admit to Cheyenne he has been trying to do out of curiosity about her blindness in Girl, Stolen?

Eat with his eyes closed is his private experiment, an early sign that he sees her as a person rather than a problem. He admits it over the hot dog and Coke he has just given her.

Outside the United States, which country put Girl, Stolen on its national reading list for teenagers?

Ireland chose it through its National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. Children's Books Ireland also named the thriller one of the best books of 2012.

Which guide dog training principle becomes a model for Griffin's biggest decision in Girl, Stolen?

Intelligent disobedience means a service animal refuses a command that would put its owner in danger. Griffin makes the same choice when he turns against his father.

April Henry researched Girl, Stolen at a guide dog school in which oddly named Oregon town?

Boring is home to a Guide Dogs for the Blind campus. Blindfolded there, Henry proudly harnessed a dog, went to pat its head and found she had harnessed the wrong end.

Which blind professional proofread Girl, Stolen for April Henry and even caught some typos?

A radio host with a show about books, and firm views on how blind people are portrayed, had her computer read the whole manuscript aloud and flagged the errors.

Girl, Stolen won the Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, a prize named after which US state's official flower?

Maryland adopted the black-eyed Susan as its state flower and lent the name to its reading prize. Missouri and South Dakota also gave the thriller their teen reading awards.

Which professional helped April Henry come up with the twist at the end of Girl, Stolen?

A 911 supervisor helped her work it out, and Henry still refuses to say which twist it is. She has also trained with a sheriff's search and rescue team.

Which organization put Girl, Stolen on its 2011 list of the Best Fiction for Young Adults?

The American Library Association chose it through its young adult division, which also named the thriller a Quick Pick for reluctant readers.