Domestic Abuse in the plot of Peg Kehret's book, Abduction

Abduction by Peg Kehret is about a six year old named Matt Sholten who is abducted by his dad Denny. His mom and sister Bonnie do everything in their power to get him back. They had to involve  the cops, because Mrs. Sholten suspects it's not someone she knows. In the real world this situation is normally someone related to the family or that has contact with the family. Domestic Abuse is a big issue in this book. Denny is the one in power over Mrs. Sholten. I am inferring that maybe he abused her when they were married. Because of Mrs.Sholten and Denny's previous marriage, the kid's lives were at risk. Denny rose above Mrs.Sholten even more when he had the kids under his arms.

Denny had serious behavior issues, he was out of control and everyone was scared of him, because they didn't know what he was capable of. While Denny had Matt and Bonnie, he was in power because of the fact he had a gun. At one point Bonnie turns the tables. She told him if he doesn't let them go she will tell his cousins as soon as they got to their house. Bonnie made him shut down and start to lose confidence and power. A lot of times in this type of situation in real life, kids may never have the power because they feel they have to listen to what the adult says. Sometimes the victim has chances to become the one in power, if only they had the courage to say something.

Throughout the whole book Bonnie was trying to give the people around her signs that she needed help. They didn't listen. The girl at the ticket both understood what Bonnie was saying, but didn't do anything about it. The lady at the restaurant could have gathered up the clues. All the clues she needed were sitting there right in front of her, she just needed to put the pieces together.

In ABC News program, What Would You Do?  people at the park had just walked by when they saw the girl being bullied. Some of them didn't have the courage to stand up and get involved. What if they were in that situation? Wouldn't they want someone to step in and say something? If Bonnie or Matt would have gotten shot, how would the bystanders have felt? They would have realized if only they would have said something when they had the chance, they could have made a difference. All of them would have to live with the guilt the rest of their lives, just like the guilt Joel had to deal with when Tony died in the book,On My Honor, by Marion Dane Bauer.

Domestic abuse occurs a lot. Depending on the source, between 600,000 and 6,000,000 , women are victims of domestic violence each year. More and more it seem like it is okay,and it is not. In this book Matt was majorly affected. He had always wanted to meet his dad and his dad used that against him.  Matt is never going to want to see his dad again. Denny wasn't very stable, he was always gambling and did not have the self confidence he needed to make good choices about his family.

Check out The Christi Aan Center in Oshkosh to see further details about domestic violence.

Hailey H.