The Fugitive (Elizabeth Gail, 6)

Rating:
Summary: Elizabeth Gail: The Fugitive
Review: The name of this book is Elizabeth Gail: The Fugitive. It is book number 6 in the Elizabeth Gail series. The author is Hilda Stahl. Elizabeth, or Libby, is a foster child to the Johnson's. They would like to adopt her but her mom won't sign the adoption papers and her dad's dead. Chuck and Vera are Libby's foster parents. Chuck owns a store and they are both really nice. Libby's foster sister, Susan, is in the sixth grade which is the same grade as Libby. Ben, Kevin and Toby are Libby's foster brothers. Ben, who is 13, is the oldest of the kids. Toby is a foster child to the Johnson's just like Libby. Two other main characters are Clay Barett and Dorothy Pippin. Clay is a boy from Libby and Susan's grade that becomes Libby's partner on the 6th grade Activity Day. Nobody likes him because he always sniffs. Dorothy, or Pip, is a student at a detention home. She has run away and is hiding from the police on an island in the middle of Pontiac State Park. She just needs somebody to believe her story and to help her.

Most of this story takes place at Pontiac State Park, which is where Libby and Susan's sixth grade class is going for Activity Day. Two mean girls are plotting to canoe to an island at the park with Susan and then strand her there. Libby learns about the plot, but doesn't tell Susan because she is jealous of her. Libby thinks that Chuck, her foster dad, only loves Susan and doesn't love her. When Libby can't find Susan at the park, she realizes what has happened. She explains her situation to Clay and asks him to help her canoe to the island to rescue Susan. While on the island, Clay sees someone else. He refuses to leave until he finds out who. It ends up being Pip, the missing girl from the detention home that they had seen on TV. Pip pushes Clay and Libby's boat away from the dock,with the life jackets in it, so they won't make her leave. Now all four are stranded on the island so they listen to Pip's story, which is quite sad. The story basically says that her mom died and her dad hates her and her brother, Rusty. He wanted all of her college money, but she gave it to Rusty's business. Her dad makes up lies about her to get her put in a detention home. It's sad because all she wanted to do was live with her brother and now she can't have any contact with him. This is why she ran away, so she could live with Rusty. Now what will they do? How will they get off the island? Susan and Libby are not good swimmers. What will happen to Pip? The theme of this story is that jealousy and judging people before you get to know them can lead to bad things. This is a great book. I really liked it because it has a good lesson and was exciting.