And it is for these reasons that PANIC will be an important addition to middle school and high school collections. Some astute readers will recognize how these issues all relate to the objectification of women in our culture. Thus, it is a book that could quite likely save lives and reputations. It is a story that addresses important issues (like never getting into cars with strangers, and never letting your high school boyfriend take photos of you that you wouldn't want your parents to see). high-interest contemporary fiction - a book that many readers will gulp down in one evening.

Threading through it all is the importance of the arts as a vehicle to get through tough times. Diamond's story, though, with elements of suspense and sexual horror, is the more interesting of the two, and readers will find themselves impatient to get back to her ordeal, which is depicted frankly but with sensitivity. The other dancers face tough situations, from relationship conflicts to a parent returning home after a long incarceration. While the four main characters alternate narration, this is really a two-sided story: Diamond's story of abduction and exploitation, and the everyday concerns her friends face back home. As it turns out, Diamond has been lured by a sexual predator dangling the promise of a movie audition and finds herself in a dire situation. When Diamond disappears during a routine trip to the mall, the close-knit group is thrown into emotional turmoil that mounts as the days go by. Each of them-Diamond, Layla, Mercedes and Justin, the only boy in the group-has a different reason to dance, but they all want to earn a role in the upcoming production of Peter Pan. The Crystal Pointe Dance Academy is a refuge for the group of students who take classes and participate in dance recitals. As rehearsals begin for the ballet version of Peter Pan, the teenaged members of an Ohio dance troupe lose their focus when one of their own goes missing.

Panic by Sharon M. Draper