You start a life and everything is joyful. You have friends and family that love you. Then, one day everything changes. You have to leave everything behind and have to start everything over with a new identity. Your family is in danger and everything is preventing them from being together.

The author’s message reminds us to keep families close and love them to the end of the world because they can be gone the next day. ‘’We walked into the room, and there was a man lying on a big white bed. Around him on both sides were lots of machines and poles with plastic bags hanging from them…Mom went over and kissed him on the forehead.” That shows love and family stick together like glue no matter what happens.

The Year We Disappeared is written in first person. The author uses details to explain how Cylin was feeling and what she was wearing. “I followed them into the kitchen, in my bare feet. I was wearing my summer nightgown. I was glad I was wearing it that night and not my babyish Winnie the Pooh pajamas…. Because I would be embarrassed to have Rick and my dad’s other friends see me in those.’’ The author is telling us that she is afraid of what people think and trying to impress others with how she looks. The book started out slow, but then it grabbed my attention and made me want to read it more.

Overall, this book cautions me to keep my loved ones near me while I have them. I would recommend the book to children or adults who love to read biographies. My opinion on this book is that it’s a really good book because it shows that whatever happens to your family, never give up on them. Work through it together, and that’s what this family did. It would be a very good life lesson if this happened to your family or something similar. The reader should know it is really impressive how the family got through it. And who wants to see their dad on a hospital bed almost dying? Who can be strong like that?