Books with author Willo Davis Roberts

A young girl and her neighbor are kidnapped during a burglary gone awry in this hair-raising and fast-paced thriller from three-time Edgar Award–winning author Willo Davis Roberts.Sixth-grader Kaci Drummond longs for excitement and to be noticed just as her sister Jodie is for dancing, or her brother Jeff is for playing the piano. Shortly after her family moves to a new house, Kaci returns home in the middle of the school day and stumbles upon a burglary. The robbers kidnap her, and when a nosy neighbor suspects that something is wrong and tries to help, they take her as well. Kaci quickly discovers that the elderly woman not only has some good ideas, but also helps them both keep up their courage. Can the two hostages band together to escape their captors?

Fourteen-year-old Nikki Simons has lost her mother to cancer. Her older sister, Bonnie, will soon be off on an exciting trip before heading to college, leaving Nikki to cope with things at home, including her little brother, Sam. Nikki still grieves for her mother, knows she will desperately miss Bonnie, and feels inadequate to fill in for them at home. And then their father makes a shattering announcement: He is going to marry Crystal, a woman he met through work who is only slightly older than his daughters. Not long after the peculiar wedding (none of Crystal's family or friends attended), Nikki learns that in place of a European trip the family had planned before her mother's death, they will be spending part of the summer in the village of Trinidad, in northern California, where Crystal has inherited a house on the beach. Nikki decides that going to the beach is preferable to having no vacation at all. But soon she's troubled by more than just Dad's hasty marriage to a woman who doesn't make much of an attempt to relate to his children. Other things about Nikki's new stepmother remain unexplained: Why is she reluctant to return to the house where she spent some time as a child? And after Dad is called back to Seattle on an emergency, what awful secret causes Crystal to have nightmares that waken Nikki out of a sound sleep? How is Nikki, by herself, expected to cope with things that baffle and frighten her? Then Nikki meets Julian Gyasi, an intriguing boy known as Spook who lives in a house on the cliff nearby. Why are there mysterious lights in the tower windows over there, and who is the man who frightens Nikki by watching her from the top of the cliff? As the days pass, Crystal's behavior becomes even stranger and Dad is still not there to help Nikki deal with either her stepmother or the increasingly mysterious situation at the Gyasi house.

Her name was Amanda Jane Keeling, but from the time she was two, everyone called her Rebel. Rebel's first word was "No!" And it was downhill from there. As a toddler she resisted strained spinach and potty training. At five she refused to go to kindergarten. Now, at fourteen, she has toned down her rebellious streak somewhat, but whenever faced with a challenge, she still feels the need to confront it head on, despite the opinions or advice of others. When Rebel and her friend Moses -- the only boy she's ever met who can match her in both wit and height -- witness some strange goings-on, instead of going straight to the police, they decide to investigate the matters themselves. A bizarre robbery, an open door in the middle of the night, muddy footprints...all these clues lead Rebel and Moses to more questions than answers. But still they won't go for help. Little do they know the danger that waits them....