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Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Summary

Just before she turns thirteen, Bethany's parents disappear. They leave her with an aunt she's never met and many mysteries about her own past. As she starts to unravel the truth Bethany discovers that she has a puzzling, but important connection with a girl named Elizabeth. And just as she gets closer to figuring out the secrets her parents have hidden from her, Bethany learns that a stranger is trying to track her down, for reasons of his own.

Booktalk

A week before her thirteenth birthday, Bethany goes to stay with her Aunt Myrtle. This might not seem like an unusual event, but it is, for several reasons. For one thing, her father cries when he says goodbye; her mom cries all the time lately, but never her dad. For another thing, Bethany never even knew Aunt Myrtle existed. And until now, she has never spent a single night away from her parents. They've always been extra protective. But they drive away, leaving Bethany in Aunt Myrtle's house. When she calls her father's cell phone a while later, she learns it's been disconnected. He does call her every once in a while, but won't give her his number. Her mother calls just once, but when she does, she doesn't even seem to know who Bethany is. She keeps calling her “Elizabeth.” When Bethany finally gets to explore the small town that has become her temporary home, she gets another surprise: nearly everyone who sees her stares as if they've seen a ghost. Gradually Bethany begins to uncover some of the secrets about her own past; secrets that were hidden from her by her parents. And just as she's starting to put some of the pieces together, a mysterious stranger in a black car shows up in town. He knows exactly who Bethany is. And even more important, he knows exactly what Bethany's father secretly did, just about thirteen years ago.

218 pages, 5th grade and up

Discussion questions

Warning! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

  1. Bethany was surprised to learn that her parents were hiding things from her. Can you think of any reasons she might have had to suspect that this was going on?
  2. In what ways was Bethany truly different from Elizabeth? How were these differences especially important to the story?
  3. Should Bethany's parents have told her more about her past earlier? How would her life have been different?
  4. Was their attempt to try to create an “exact copy of Elizabeth” the right thing for Bethany's parents to do? Why or why not?
  5. At the end, Bethany is more comfortable with Joss than with anyone else. Why?
  6. From reading Bethany's story, have you changed the way you think about the ethics of human cloning?
  7. What does Joss mean when she tells Bethany that “life always wins in the end?”
  8. Were you able to figure out some of the secrets about Bethany before she did? Which clues helped you?
  9. If you were faced with Bethany's situation, what might you have done differently?
  10. In what ways does Bethany changed over the course of the book? Do other characters also change?

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