The Terrorist

Caroline B. Cooney

*****

I recently finished a book called The Terrorist by Caroline B. Cooney. She is a really good author, and a few days ago, Mrs. Hodgeson came to our class and introduced this new author to us. When we went to the library, there was a green bucket which contained Caroline B. Cooney books and also Lois Duncan books. It was swarming near the green bucket, so I just reached my arm and picked up a book. LUCKILY, I chose The Terrorist. My four choices were The face in the Milk Carton, I know what you did last summer, Stranger with two faces, and The Terrorist, and I actually picked up the one I really wanted to read! And of course, it turned out to be good.

This book is about a girl named Laura and her younger brother, Billy. When Billy and his two friends got out of the train and got to Baker Street, they decided to do a race and see who gets out to the fresh air first. It was five pence for the winner. Passengers were all crowding (swarming) to the train, so his friends were way ahead. When Billy was running, there was a man who stopped him. He smiled, and gave a package to him and said that his friends dropped this. He knew it was a bomb after he got it, and he didn't want to throw it at the crowd, so he just let it explode in his hands. Unfortunately, Billy got killed by the bomb. His sister Laura, soon heard the news of Billy, and was shocked. This incident was in news, and newspapers. Everyone soon knew what happened. Laura went to a school called London International Academy (LIA) and had lots of friend there, like Mohammed, Con, Jimmy, Jehran and lots more. Laura thought she had to find Billy's killer, so he suspected everyone. Her neighbours, teachers at school, and even friends. She searched everywhere for clues, but it was no use. One day, Laura went to a slumber party at Jehran's. Everyone was there. Suddenly, Jehran asked Laura for Billy's passport. Jehran looked like Billy even though she was a girl. Jehran said that she is in danger, and have to flee this country, England. Jehran wanted to flee to America, but when she gets Billy's passport, she would only be 11, so she couldn't go to America alone. She needed a person older than 15 to go with her. Laura was older than 15, so Jehran decided to go with Laura. Laura pretended to go to a place called Edinburgh with Jehran, and lied to her parents. When Jehran and Laura reached the airport. They bought two tickets. One for Laura and one for Jehran. The Passport Control man looked at Jehran's passport (which was actually Billy's) and believed that it was Billy, not Jehran. Suddenly, Laura decided to turn back and go home. She didn't want to go to another country just because Jehran's life was in danger. When she told that to her, Jehran said that she went through weeks of planning just to go out of England. Confusion filled Laura's brain. What Jehran said meant that Jehran killed Billy just to get Billy's passport to flee this country! Laura understood it. All the soldiers in Jehran's house was a terrorist, helping her. Jehran started threatening Laura. She said that she doesn't want to die the way Billy did. Laura knew that Jehran was a terrorist and she called the Airport Security. Then, Jehran started plan B, which was to run away. Mr. Evans came to Laura to help her and calm her down. Laura told all her friends and returned home.