4/2/24
The Color of Sound, by Emily Barth Isler, for Timeslip Tuesday
3/31/24
this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (3/31/24)
The Rise of the Legends, by Jake Zortman, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books
Things that Go Bump, by Kathryn Foxfield, at Twirling Book Princess
Two at School Library Journal--Daughters of the Lamp, by Nedda Lewers, and Medusa, by Katherine Marsh
Other Good Stuff
"Why adults should read children's books" by Katherine Rundell at the BBC
3/26/24
The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly, for Timeslip Tuesday
The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly (March, 2024, Greenwillow Books) is a delightful and heartwarming middle grade time travel book that I enjoyed lots.
In August, 1999 (which will seem very strange and far away to the target audience), 12-year-old Michael prepares for the potential disaster that is Y2K. When we first meet him, he's shop lifting a can of peaches to add to his survival stash kept under his bed--his mom is working three jobs and can't give him the money he'd like to spend getting properly prepared. Though money his tight, his mother insists on paying 15-year-old Gibby to keep an eye on him, and though Michael feels confident he'd manage find without her, he still enjoys her company, both because he has a crush on her and because his anxiety and social awkwardness has made it hard for him to have friends. His only other friend is the old maintenance man for the apartment complex.
But then into the mediocre life of Fox Run Apartments, in Red Knot, Delaware, comes a teenaged boy, Ridge, strangely dressed and disoriented. He's a time traveler from the future, and when Michael learns this, he's desperate to know what happens with Y2K. But Ridge isn't telling. He's in enough trouble already, as we learn from glimpses of what's happening in the future. He wasn't supposed to be the first time traveler ever, and he's not going to risk spoiling the future by letting on all he knows. He just wants to experience life in 1999, especially seeing what a mall is like....
There aren't any dramatic happenings in Ridge's time in 1999, although there are many complexities that Gibby and Michael must deal with. And although Ridge doesn't tell all he knows, the time Michael spends with him gives him confidence not just about the future but about the present. And it all ends in a beautiful, time travel wonderful way!
I enjoyed it very much. The time travel has just the right amount of sci fi to it to make it if not plausible at least acceptable, and the repercussions of Ridge's trip to 1999 are lovely. It will bring that long lost time vividly to life for young readers, and the interpersonal dynamics and tension will keep the pages turning for them very nicely indeed. I even grew a bit at one particularly poignant point in the best possible way.
3/24/24
this week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (3/24/24)
Hi all, and greetings from a cold spring morning here in Rhode Island (a good day to read by the fire....)
Please let me know if I missed your post!
The Reviews
Bubba and Squirt's Shield of Athena, by Sherry Ellis, at Bookworm for Kids
Cloudlanders, by Christopher Mackie, at Mark My Words
The Deadlands: Survival (The Deadlands #3), by Skye Melki-Wegner, at The Story Sanctuary
Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Staircase Wit
Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo, at ReadWonder and Redeemed Reader
The Island at the Edge of Night, by Lucy Strange, at Scope for Imagination
Nemesis and the Vault of Lost Time, by P.J. Davis, at The Fairview Review
Nightmares in Paradise (Ring of Solomon 2), by Aden Polydoros, at Mark My Words
Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef, at Pages Unbound
Pages of Doom, by Jeff Szpirglas, at Bookworm for Kids
Shadowhall Academy: The Whispering Walls. by Phil Hickes, at Twirling Book Princess
Sona and the Golden Beasts, by Rajani LaRocca, at Charlotte's Library
Stinetinglers 2, by R.L. Stine, at Twirling Book Princess
Stitch, by Pádraig Kenny, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads and A Cascade of Books
Teddy vs. the Fuzzy Doom, by Braden Hallett, at Twirling Book Princess
Tourmaline and the Museum of Marvels, by Ruth Lauren, at Book Craic
The Traitor of Nubis (Umbra Tales 2), by Janelle McCurdy, at Mark My Words
The Unicorn Legacy: Tangled Magic, by Camilla Benko, at Ms. Yingling ReadsThe Witch in the Woods (Grimmworld #1) by Michaelbrent Collings, at Kiss the Book
Authors and Interviews
Linda Crotta Brennan (The Selkie’s Daughter) at the Kansas Public Radio podcast3/23/24
Sona and the Golden Beasts, by Rajani LaRocca
3/17/24
no round-up today
It's end of spring break, which means me about to set to take my kid back to college....see you next week!
3/12/24
The Other Place, by Nancy L. Robison, for Timeslip Tuesday
Today's Timeslip book is The Other Place, by Nancy L. Robison (1978).
Mine, happily picked up at a booksale, turned out to be a review copy (very cool to see the retro promotional info, shown below), but I don't think I'll send in two clippings as requested.
I'm making no effort to hold back on spoilers here with this whacky 1970s sci fi story for kids, so if you are a little kid who's never read any science fiction (which you aren't), go read the book and see if you agree with the two Goodreads readers whose first sci fi it was, and who loved it before I ruin everything.
The Other Place starts with Elena and her dad driving off to the house in the country (USA) where they are now going live, following the death of Elena's mom. Things get weird, and Elena can't see the road behind them anymore, and her dad's stilted remarks don't do much to sooth her growing sense of wrongness. The cabin is fine, and seems normal enough, except that Elena is woken up by strange noises, and goes off into the woods to see what's happening, and the townsfolk are dancing around in the middle of nowhere.
A trip to the store the next day adds to the weirdness, when she sees the storekeeper has eyes filmed over with jelly...as do the kids and the teacher in the one room schoolhouse. One kid, with mostly non jelly eyes, is friendly, lending her a horse to ride, but when she tries to ride her way out of the valley, she finds she can't. She's stuck.
Turns out the townsfolk are aliens in a little bubble cut off physically and temporally from the rest of the world, her mom was one of them, and her dad has volunteered to help them fix their space craft so they can go home. Happily for Elena, the friendly kid helps her get out of the valley, but her dad wants to go off with the aliens because he loves his dead alien wife more than he cares about his living kid (the book does not say it quite like this....). And when Elena escapes after what felt like weeks away from the city, almost no time has passed, and her aunt is there to meet her....and her aunt has.....JELLY EYES! The end.
The illustrations add a certain 1970s something to the story.
3/10/24
This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (3/10/24)
Here's what I found this week, please enjoy and let me know if I missed anything! I had good intentions to read and review lots this past week, which got derailed when I found out I would not just be getting my kid home from college this week, but lots of friends too, so instead of reading I cleaned and decluttered...
The Reviews
Closet of Dreams, by Mark Ukra & Tara Mesalik MacMahon, at Mark My Words:
Creepy Creations, by Jennifer Killick, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo, at Cracking the Cover, Fuse #8, and Log Cabin Library
The Girl in the Window, by Lindsey Hobson, at Faith Elizabeth HoughGoblin Monday (Goosebumps: House of Shivers #2), by R.L. Stine, at megsbookrack
Greenwild: The World Behind the Door, by Pari Thomson, at V's View from the Bookshelves
Grimmworld: The Witch in the Woods, by Michaelbrent Collings, at Always in the Middle… and Melissa's Bookshelf
Magicalia: Race of Wonders by Jennifer Bell, at Little Blog of Library Treasures
Magic Beyond the Mark, by Emily Swiers, at Independent Book Review
Mind Over Monsters, by Betsy Uhrig, at Bookworm for Kids
Nemesis and the Vault of Lost Time, by PJ Davis, at Mark My Words
Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark is Rising, #1), by Susan Cooper, Bookshelf Fantasies
Twice Upon A Time, by Michelle Harrison, at Valinora Troy
The Whisperwicks, by Jordan Lees, at Chris Soul
Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies, by Stacey Lee, at BookstrovertReviewsWrath of the Rain God (Legendarios Book 1), by Karla Arenas Valenti, at Mark My Words
Authors and Interviews
Katherine Marsh (Medusa) "On The Double Standards As An Author", at The Nerd Daily
Rajani LaRocca (Sona and the Golden Beasts) "How to Grow Your Career as an Author" at Literary Rambles:
Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson (Eagle Drums) "When Mystery and Mythology Collide" at Writer's Digest
Kate DiCamillo (Ferris), at AP News
Other good stuff
Here's the Wild Robot trailer, courtesy of 100scopenotes.com
3/5/24
Anne Frank and Me, by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, for Timeslip Tuesday
3/3/24
This week's round up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (3/3/24)
Hi all, here's what I found this week! Let me know if I missed anything.
The Reviews
Bumps in the Night, by Amalie Howard, at Ms. Yingling Reads
Daughters of the Lamp, by Nedda Lewers, at Islamic School Librarian
Dread Wood: Creepy Creations, by Jennifer Killick, at Scope for Imagination
Dreamstalkers: The Night Train, by Sarah Driver, at Bellis Does Books and Books Up North
Fright Bite, by Jennifer Killick, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell, at Mark My Words
Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, by Nina Varela, at Cannonball Read
Lia Park and the Missing Jewel, by Jenna Yoon, at Kiss the Book
Lili Gray and the World's Most Embarrassing Superpower, by Ada Loewe, at Mark My Words
Medusa by Katherine Marsh, at The Adventures of Library Girl
Paper Dragons: The Fight for the Hidden Realm, by Siobhan McDermott, at Courtney Reads Romance
Pirates of Darksea, by Catherine Doyle, at Book Craic
The Princess Protection Program, by Alex London, at Baroness' Book Trove and Cannonball Read
The Selkie's Daughter, by Linda Cotta Brennan, at Faith Elizabeth Hough
Sona and the Golden Beasts, by Rajani LaRocca, at Steph's Story Space
Too Many Interesting Things Are Happening to Ethan Fairmont, by Nick Brooks, at Charlotte's Library
The Unicorn Legacy-Tangled Magic, by Kamilla Benko, at Always in the Middle…
Authors and Interviews
Meredith Davis (Beneath the Swirling Sky) at Cynthia Leitich Smith
Other Good Stuff
'Kiranmala And The Kingdom Beyond' To Be Adapted As Animated TV Show (deadline.com)
3/1/24
Too Many Interesting Things Are Happening to Ethan Fairmont, by Nick Brooks
Ethan is happily planning interesting inventing and pleasant hanging out at the old industrial building now turned maker space where he met Cheese, and foiled the other hostile aliens hunting down Cheese and his people. And he's happily looking forward to the start of sixth grade. Less happily, he misses Cheese lots, and he and his family are still cooping from the trauma of the local police and the feds threatening the black community of Ferrous City and his family in particular. And then school gets off to a rocky start, when a new girl, Fatima, threatens his self-worth with her own inventor smarts, and Ferrous City is experiencing a population boom that's raising real estate prices, and Ethan's parents, who are doing fine but aren't well off, are considering cashing in. On top of all this, the feds are back in town (and what are they up to?)
Turns out, though, that Fatima is just the new team member Ethan needs to re-establish communication with Cheese. And Fatima is even more needed when the evil aliens renew hostilities....
It's not a comfort read; as the title suggests, too many interesting (and not very joyous) things are going on in Ethan's life. But it's a gripping read, and a thought-provoking one, and I enjoyed it. The young characters are believable and very relatable, as is Ethan's growing maturity about teamwork and living in the moment instead of what if-ing, the tension builds at a nice pace, and the ending is satisfactory! The social justice theme of the first book is here as well, as is an age-appropriate romance. And of course a lovely alien friendship!
If there is a third book, I'm there for it!
2/25/24
this week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (2/25/24)
Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post!
The Reviews
The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander, at Semicolon
Bumps in the Night, by Amalie Howard, at Jenjenreviews
The Clockwork Crow, by Catherine Fisher, at Pages Unbound
Crystal Shadows: Gripping New Blood, by R.J. Parker, at Pages and PawsDaughters of the Lamp, by Nedda Lewers, at Cracking the Cover
The Doll Twin, by Janine Beacham, at Valinora Troy
Elf Dog and Owl Head, by M.T. Anderson, at Sonderbooks
Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo, at Ms. Yingling ReadsThe Princess Protection Program, by Alex London, at Ms. Yingling Reads
The World Beyond the Door, by Pari Thomson, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Two at The Book Search--The Princess Protection Program, by Alex London, and The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith, by Tom Llewellyn
Other Good Stuff
Check out the middle grade category of the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot for great mg horror recs!
Fox Snare (Thousand Worlds #3), by Yoon Ha Lee
Fox Snare (Thousand Worlds #3), by Yoon Ha Lee, is the third installment of great space adventure for upper middle grade readers on up (but do read the first two books in the series first).
Told in alternating points of view by Min and Sebin, this is a gripping read in which the character's personal conflicts and the external dangers are beautifully balanced, and the magical abilities of the shape shifters, and some unexpected supernatural elements, make for lovely reading. This installment is more direct than the previous book in identifying the Thousand Worlds as being of Korean descent, and the Sun Clans as being Japanese, making it an even more thought-provoking read.
2/18/24
this week's round-up of middle-grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (2/18/24)
The Bravest Warrior in Nefaria, by Adi Alsaid, at PBC's Book Reviews
Monster Bite Back (Monster Hunting #2) by Ian Mark, at Twirling Book Princess
No Flying in the House, by Betty Brock, at Semicolon
Not Quite a Ghost, by Anne Ursu, at Puss Reboots
Princess Protection Program. by Alex London, at Cracking the Cover and Log Cabin Library
The Rhythm of Time, by Questlove and S.A. Crosby, at Mark My Words:
The Secret of the Moonshard, by Struan Murray, at Book Craic
Shadow Fox, by Carlie Sorosiak, at Scope for Imagination
Shock the Monkey (The N.O.A.H. Files 2) by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman, at Mark My Words
The Song of the Swan, by Karah Sutton, at Ms. Yingling Reads
Time Travellers: Adventure Calling, by Sufiya Ahmed, at Scope for Imagination
The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found, by Jordan Lees, at Valinora Troy
Worst Broommate Ever (Middle School and Other Disasters 1) by Wanda Coven, at Mark My Words
Authors and Interviews
Talking Freedom Fire: A New Imprint Discussion with Kwame Mbalia, Tracey Baptiste, and Leah Johnson, at Fuse #8
Other Good Stuff
The winners of this year's Cybils Awards have been announced! Congratulations to The Grace of Wild Things, by Heather Fawcett, this year's Cybils Awards winner for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction!The Bellwoods Game, by Celia Krampien
Conjure Island, by Eden Royce
The Demon Sword Asperides, by Sarah Jean Horwitz
The House of the Lost on the Cape, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Yukiko Saito, Avery Fischer Udagawa (Translator)
Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, by Nina Varela
The Rhythm of Time, by Questlove and S. A. Cosby
The Lovely Dark, by Matthew Fox
The Lovely Dark is a middle grade reimagining of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, with a dash of Sleeping Beauty. It begins with sadness, when Ellie's grandmother dies alone of Covid during the height of the pandemic. and it quickly becomes fantasy, when her grandmother's ghost pays Ellie a cryptic visit. As covid restrictions lift, Ellie becomes great friends with Justin, who's just moved in across the street. Justin takes her to see a newly discovered mosaic of the Orpheus story, found deep underground....and disaster strikes when the walls around the excavation give way, and the two children are trapped by the inrushing water.
They find themselves in the underworld, determined to stick together and find a way home. But they each have a different path to follow, and are forced to split up. Ellie's path takes her to Eventide, a sort of school (but with no lessons) filled with other children, with tasty food, pleasant grounds, and secrets. The other children are all dimly content there, despite having died, but Ellie is determined to find Justin again. In her explorations, she finds that in the locked library another girl named Ash is hiding in a secret room behind the books, which are themselves somewhat haunted--fairytales in particular keep being pushed off their shelves.
(This is where the Sleeping Beauty part enters into it--Ash and Ellie agree to give themselves permission to kiss each other if they ever need to be awakened from a cursed sleep, and this is an important plot point later).
Ellie keeps exploring, and finds much that discomfits her, and then she and Justin make contact again, and he helps her go home. And Justin, unlike Orpheus, doesn't look back and I wept.
Slight spoiler--Ellie's experiences could all be written off as a dream, but I am so glad Matthew Fox doesn't throw this in our (tear-streaked) faces. And since the ghost grandmother can't be explained way, the story gets to stay fantasy.
In short, Matthew Fox is now firmly an auto-buy (as expenses allow) author for me. And I am determined that next time I won't peak at the ending halfway through, concerned though I may be for the fate of characters I am deeply invested in!
2/14/24
Congratulations to this year's Cybils Awards winners!
The Demon Sword Asperides, by Sarah Jean Horwitz
The House of the Lost on the Cape, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Yukiko Saito, Avery Fischer Udagawa (Translator)
Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, by Nina Varela
The Rhythm of Time, by Questlove and S. A. Cosby
2/13/24
Fair Bay, by Eleanor Frances Lattimore, for Timeslip Tuesday
A vintage time travel book this week-- Fair Bay, by Eleanor Frances Lattimore (1958). All her life Trudy's grandmother has told her stories of Fair Bay, the South Carolina island where she spent her summers. When Trudy goes to stay with her great aunt Gertrude at the family plantation house, she asks about the island, hoping to visit, but is told that it was washed away in a storm, leaving only a strip of sand with a few palmetto trees. Her grandmother had told her of the storm, but wanted to talk more about happier times. Millicent, the cook, who was also a little girl on the island when the storm came, tells her how her great aunt Christina was almost lost to the storm when she went back to the house to look for her precious music box, but won't tell her much else about it, and Aunt Gertrude doesn't want to talk about it either.
Though Fair Bay is still much in her mind, Trudy spends her days happily exploring on horseback (this is pleasant reading in a not very exciting way). Then one day she wakes up early and decides to go riding before breakfast, and her horse gets a mind of her own and her down an old road she'd never seen before.
The road leads to the old causeway to Fair Bay, and the tide is low....so Trudy succumbs to temptation and crosses over. Wandering the strip of beach, she finds the old music box, and slips through time. The island is whole, with all its houses and its church, and the children are playing on the beach. And Trudy watches the day unfold, seeing her aunts and other children playing on the beach (rather horrible, a group of them are digging up a turtle's nest) knowing what's going to happen to them in a few hours.
Though Trudy feels perfectly corporeally present, she can't be seen or heard. This inability to interact with anyone back in the past dims the emotional intensity of the experience. She's just a passive on looker, and though it's not uninteresting, it's also not nearly as interesting as it could have been. I felt from the way the survivors won't talk much about the horror of the storm that there must have been some tragedy involved, but Trudy discovered nothing new, and I felt a bit cheated. In fairness, it's only 123 pages of generous font, written for younger children than me, but still.
I wish the date of the hurricane was made clear; I think it might well have been inspired by the Great Storm of 1893 which hit the islands of South Carolina coast hard, but it doesn't match exactly--that storm hit at night, and the coastal islands hit hardest were homes mostly to black families, not rich white ones....And reading about the Great Storm and its horrors, I'm even more disappointed about the cop out on Lattimore's part that no one in Trudy's time wants to talk about it. It could have been a much more powerful book than it was. Oh well.
In short, though I didn't mind reading it at all, and quite possibly would have loved it when I was a seven or eight year old horse loving Charlotte, it didn't hit hard for me reading it today.
Eleanor Frances Lattimore is best known for her Little Pear books, about a Chinese boy, written for younger children, which don't really seem like something I'd love. That beings said, and although this one didn't quite make me desperately want to read others of her books, I will certainly pick up any that come my way. She is very good at describing, which I like, and I may well revisit Fairy Bay in memory (especially whenever I read about sea turtle conservation efforts....to their credit, the girls involved wanted to rebury the eggs so they could hatch, but the boys wanted to take them home, and of course these particular eggs were doomed anyway, but still).
2/11/24
this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (2/11/24)
This week's roundup has a higher percentage of books in the first third of the alphabet than any other that I can recall. Go abcdefgh for what it's worth. And let me know if I missed your post.
The Reviews
Abeni's Song, by P Djèlí Clark, at Garik16's SciFi/Fantasy Reviews and Other Thoughts
Adventure Calling (Time Travellers #1), by Sufiya Ahmed, at Book Craic
Awake, by Christopher Krovatin, at Ms. Yingling ReadsCameron and the Shadow Wraiths, by Mark Cheverton, at Bookworm for Kids
The Clockwork Conspiracy, by Sam Sedgman, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads and Book Craic
The Curse of Eelgrass Bog, by Mary Averling, at Charlotte's Library
Dangerous Allies (The Forgotten Five 4), by Lisa McMann, at Mark My Words
Evie's Ghost, by Helen Peters, at Charlotte's Library
The Eyes & The Impossible, by Dave Eggers, at Kiss the Book
Fight for the Cursed Unicorn (Tiger Warrior #5), by Maisie Chan, at Book Craic
Fox Snare, by Yoon Ha Lee, at Garik16's SciFi/Fantasy Reviews and Other Thoughts
Galaxy Gladiators: A Stellar Cadets novel, by C.M. Bilson, at Mark My Words
The Gatekeeper of Pericael, by Hayley Reese Chow, at Literary Titan
The House on the Hill, by Eileen Dunlop, at Staircase Wit
The Last Fallen Realm, by Graci Kim, at Kiss the Book
Rebel Undercover (The Forgotten Five 3), by Lisa McMann, at Mark My Words
The Secret of the Moonshard, by Struan Murray, at Scope for Imagination
Secrets of the Snakestone, by Piu DasGupta, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books
The Umbrella Maker’s Son, by Katrina Leno, at Pages Unbound
Authors and Interviews
Deke Moulton (Don't Want to be Your Monster) at Fuse #8
Katherine Marsh (Medusa: The Myth of Monsters) at Watch Connect Read
Nedda Lewers (Daughters of the Lamp), at MG Book Village
Siobhan McDermott (Paper Dragons: The Fight for the Hidden Realm) at Library Girl and Book Boy
Bob Doyle (The Fifth Hero: Escape Plastic Island) at From The Mixed Up Files
Other Good Stuff
The Best Children's Book Picks Feb 2024 UK Post - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books
The Curse of Eelgrass Bog, by Mary Averling
2/6/24
Evie's Ghost, by Helen Peters, for Timeslip Tuesday
The story starts with Evie, very grumpy and sorry for herself, being packed off to stay with an old friend of her mother's, while her mother goes off on her honeymoon. The old friend lives in an apartment carved from a once stately home, and it's a mess and there's no food, and Evie's mood does not improve. But carved on the window glass of her small room is a message from the past:
Sophia Fane Imprisoned here 1814.
That night a ghostly girl appears outside the window, desperate for help, and Evie, reaching out to her, finds herself falling back in time. Evie is now a lowly servant in Sophia's grand home, struggling with the hard and painful domestic labors required of her. She knows she's there to help Sophia, who's about to be married off to a loathsome old, but very rich, man, and she's pretty sure she won't make it back to the present until she succeeds. The big challenge of figuring out what to do and the pressing challenges of the drudgery of her life keep her occupied, and the reader gets a beautifully detailed slice of life for working children in the early 19th century that isn't a pretty picture. And in the end Evie comes up with a brave and clever way out for Sophia, that's a risky gamble for herself.
It's not a story that gave me any flashes of numinous wonder, but it did absolutely keep me riveted. It's interesting historical fiction lived by a modern child, believably culture shocked, and with lots of tension both from the larger plot and in the specifics of Evie's life as a servant. And it was a surprise treat at the end, when Evie arrives at her own home before her mother does and sets to work applying her hard-won domestic knowledge to getting the place ready to welcome her mother and stepmother home. I feel it's rare for time travel to have such practical maturing effects on the young travelers, and found this refreshing. And it was also lovely to see Evie back in the present finding the ending to Sophia's story, and her own personal connection to it.
So, in short, highly recommended, and I will keep a look out for more books by the author.