Living Dead Girl

Title: Little Dead Girl
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Published: Sept. 2008
ISBN: 1416960597
Page number: 170
Price: $17.99
Genre: realistic fiction
Reading Level: 6th grade
Awards: ALA/YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2009)
Plot Summary: Alice was kidnapped at ten years old when she was on a class field trip. Now, five years later Alice is living with her kidnapper Ray who abuses her sexual and physically. He starves her in a quest to keep her looking like a little girl. Alice is wasting away and feels that she has become a "living dead girl". She spends her days at home wasting away watching talk shows that feature abuse victims. No one around her notices her, they just assume that Ray is Alice's father and pay her no attention. Inside Alice is screaming for help but she fears that if she doesn't listen to Ray he will kill her parents. Now Alice is getting older and Ray wants a new little girl to take in and Alice sees this as her way out. But can Alice really escape Ray or is there no hope for Alice.
Review: The story itself is very bleak and at times a difficult read only because the story that is being told is so horrific that it can be disturbing. Elizabeth Scott has chosen a heavy topic for her book but she tells it with great skill. She shows how trapped and hopeless Alice is and that no one seems to notice her. Alice's story is tragic in that no one around her seems to care or notice the girl who is suffering terrible abuse at the hands of her kidnapper Ray. Alice's neighbors are willing to turn the other way and not try to find out what is going one. Alice herself feels that she is worthless and wishes she were dead so that she could finally be freed from her terrible life and her family would no longer be at risk. The book also points to how Alice feels that people want to blame the victims for their situation. She watches programs where people ask victims of abuse why they didn't speak up but for Alice she is afraid to speak up. The story ends with the reader feeling emotional drained but this is the stark reality of these abuse victims.
Reader's Annotation: Alice lost herself when she was kidnapped by Ray 5 years ago. To the outside world Alice is just Ray's strange and awkward daughter. But behind close doors Alice lives a nightmare of sexual and physical abuse. Now at 15 Alice has become a living dead girl just hoping that the promise of a new girl for Ray will bring about her freedom. But how much hope can a living dead girl have and is it too late for Alice?
Book Talk Ideas: The book is emotionally heavy and is not a book that would appeal to everyone. I think the book talk should focus on what happens in society in front of everyone's eyes but so many people fail to see it.
Issues: The story is very dark and features sexual abuse, physical and mental abuse and violence.
Main Themes: kidnapping, sexual abuse, survival, pedophilia, abuse 
Bibliotherapeutic usefulness: The story tells one that is a difficult read but it shows the horrific plight of a victim of sexual abuse. It also shows how no one seems to come to Alice's aid until it is too late. Society is often not comfortable with talking about these kind of situations but they unfortunately happen. It shows how society tends to blame the victim instead of asking why more people aren't paying attention to what is happening around them.
Read alikes: Stolen by Lucy Christopher and Now You See Her by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Author Website: http://www.elizabethwrites.com/
Professional Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Why this book was chosen: The story despite its dark and heavy topics is well written by Elizabeth Scott. It tells a story that is rarely told and really shows the struggle of Alice.