Letters

Authors Note: This is a Theme Analysis about the book “Found” by Margaret Peterson Haddix.  

If you were to receive a letter saying something along the lines of “You are one of the survivors.” what would you do? Would you think it was a joke and ignore it, or would you take it seriously? “Found” is the first book in The Missing Series, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. The story begins with two boys, Jonah and Chip, who both receive identical  letters from an anonymous person. When they get the letters, the boys felt they needed to really find where they were from. The main theme of this story is the perseverance the boys show as they try to find the answers to their past.

Once the boys got the letters, they wanted to find answers. They started their search by breaking into Chip’s father’s safe. In it they found a copy of Chip’s birth certificate, along with a post-it with a phone number. The phone number led them to James Reardon, an FBI agent. After a meeting with Reardon, they found a file. The file from Reardon’s office included a list of survivors and witnesses of something. Chip and Jonah were both on the list of survivors.   Now they have more questions, and they start calling people on the lists hoping to find answers. This is another good example of the theme, because even though most refused to talk or completely ignored them, some of the people had answers and the boys kept going.

Perseverance can be found in other stories. In the book “Legend”, by Mary Lu, Day and June both persevered in different ways. June was determined to earn the Commander’s respect, while Day was determined to get the vaccine for his sick brother.

In “The Lighting Thief”, by Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson perseveres through his journey to find Zeus’ lightning bolt. Percy has to overcome many challenges in order to prove himself to Zeus, and prevent a war between the gods.  Percy, like Chip and Jonah, didn't give up, even when things are at their worst.

Though it is sometimes hard to continue with something when it seems impossible to finish, Chip and Jonah never give up on trying to find the secrets to their past. They keep digging up more clues, and hunting down the information they need. Perseverance is when you continue on even when something gets hard, and that’s exactly what the boys did. The boys’ perseverance made the story more interesting, because a story about someone giving up wouldn't be as engaging to read.