TIME TRAVEL

"You Are Here summer book list #2 is Time Travel.  Journey to the past or to the future, on this planet or off. Titles on this list will be on display, in the Young Adult area, throughout the summer.  Have a comment or question?  Have a suggestion for a travel book list? Tell me about it below in the comments area. 

TAKE A TRIP IN TIME

Alice in Time, Penelope Bush, 2011.

As her self-centered behavior spirals out of control, 14-year-old Alice gets an unusual chance to fix her whole disastrous life when she is mysteriously spirited back in time.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain, 1889.

Hank is transported from 19th century Connecticut back to 13th century England.  Using knowledge of an impending eclipse, Hank escapes a death sentence, secures a position at court, and introduces 19th century technology.  A satire that pokes fun at romanticized notions of chivalry.   

Doomsday Box, by Herbie Brennan, 2011.

Working on a highly-classified espionage project, four English teenagers go back in time to the Cold War in 1962 to prevent a global outbreak of the bubonic plague in the twenty-first century.

Firestorm (first book in Caretaker Trilogy), by David Klass, 2006.

After learning that he has been sent from the future for a special purpose, 18-year-old Jack receives help from an unusual dog and a shape-shifting female fighter.

Key Out of Time (4th book in Time Trader series), by Andre Norton, 1963.

Time agents Gordon and Ross are on the hunt for alien artifacts, on a world where most of the surface is water. Traveling to the planet’s past, they find themselves caught in a struggle between rival cultures waged with a mixture of technology and magic.

Pathfinder, by Orson Scott Card, 2010.

13-year-old Rigg has a secret ability to see the paths of others' pasts, but revelations after his father's death set him on a quest that brings new threats from those who would either control his destiny or kill him.

Revolutions, by Jennifer Donnelly, 2010

A 17-year-old musician facing expulsion from her prestigious Brooklyn private school travels to Paris to complete a school assignment, and uncovers a diary written during the French revolution by a young actress attempting to help the young, Louis Charles, the lost king of France.

Singing the Dogstar Blues, by Alison Goodman, 2003.

In a future Australia, the 18-year-old daughter of a famous newscaster and a sperm donor, teams up with a hermaphrodite from the planet Choria in a time travel adventure that may significantly change both of their lives.

So This Is How It Ends(1st book Avatar series), by Tui Sutherland, 2006.

During an earthquake in the year 2012 five teens are transported 75 years into the future, where the end of the world is imminent, and are drawn together by a mysterious force.

Transall Saga, by Gary Paulsen, 1998.

While backpacking in the desert, 13-year-old Mark falls into a tube of blue light and is transported into a more primitive world, where he must use his knowledge and skills to survive.  

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, 2009.

As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a 12-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.

Winter Shadows, by Margaret Buffie, 2010.

Tells the joined stories of Cass, whose father remarried a woman with an ill-tempered daughter; and Beatrice, who more than a century earlier explores her own problems through a journal that connects both girls.

Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie

Winter Shadows, by Margaret Buffie, 2010.  

Connected by family, situation, and location, Cass and Beatrice find and help each other across the space of 150 years.  Both girls have lost their mothers, and are struggling with a new stepmother, and the loss of their secure place in the family home.  It is the beginning of winter in Canada, a few weeks before Christmas, and the holiday brings troubles to a boil for both girls.  Fortunately, Cass and Beatrice both receive support from other family members, from each other across time, and from budding romances.  Beatrice has her Cree grandmother and lives during a time of frontier and social integration, and Cass who lives in the present time has her mother's sister nearby.  This book is a little predictable but is very enjoyable on many levels particularly for the historical information that is interwoven through the story about the life of the people living in Canada during the 19th century.  There are many Cree Indian words sprinkled throughout the book with a glossary at the back.  Though I could guess that everything would resolve positively I still wanted to know who Beatrice finally marries, and whether life at home improves for sassy Cass.
My rating 3 and a half stars.

Books by Margaret Buffie available through the Library's online catalog.
Margaret Buffie's website.