Five stepsiblings must escape their foreign captors in this
breathtaking second book in the Stanley Family series, a companion to
The Headless Cupid, from three-time Newbery Honor winner Zipha Keatley
Snyder.
The Stanley family is moving to Italy! David, Janie, and twins Esther
and Blair are thrilled. But their moody stepsister Amanda, thwarted from
spending time in California with her father, spends the trip alternately
moping or boasting about how rich her father is. And precocious Janie
translates everything Amanda says to all the neighbors.
But such bragging does not go unnoticed. One terrible night, the
children are kidnapped. David tries to make friends with the kidnappers
to protect his family. But that's hard to do when Janie lectures them on
how to write a ransom note and Esther complains about the terrible food.
Can David and Amanda use their siblings' hijinks to outsmart the
kidnappers?