The Strangers

“This was not like Mom. She had never acted like this before.” 

Finn’s world is one of routine: breakfast, school, snacks, homework, dinner, and bedtime. Haddix wastes no time foreshadowing the book’s central conflict with a disruption in that routine—his mother doesn’t respond when he comes home from school. She “clenched onto the edge of the counter” (3). Her phone lay on the floor. Even Finn, the youngest, notices something is off in his mother’s behavior. His observation serves as a clue to the reader that something worrisome is afoot.

“He wanted everybody to laugh. He needed everybody to laugh.”

Like many young kids, Finn doesn’t understand “adult” problems. His mother is always cheerful as far as he knows, so when she is distracted by a news story, his main priority is to restore normalcy. He uses humor to do it, like he always has. As long as his mother laughs at his antics, the problem is solved. He associates laughter and humor with routine, so when he perceives his mother is upset, he makes a joke so she would “forget those other kids; she would bring out snacks and ask Finn and Emma and Chess about school. Just like usual” (15).