Picture Books
Are We There Yet? by Dan Santat
It’s time for a family road trip. A boy, his father and mother are headed to Grandma’s for her birthday. But the ride seems to be taking forever. No seriously, I’m pretty sure they just saw a dinosaur outside the window…no wait, it’s a flying car. Pirates? The road to Grandma’s has never been quite this interesting before.
Target Readers:
- Road Trip Riders: This wild and crazy imaginative ride to Grandma’s is a good diversion for a road trip.
- Fans of Innovative Books: Santat has fun with the format of the book (you’ve got to turn it upside down and turn pages backwards for a while).
- Those Who Like to Debate the Final Conclusion: There’s a photo at Grandma’s party that will have readers debating if the trip was real or imaginary. Lots of fun.
Oh No! Not Again!: (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History)(Or at Least My History Grade) by Mac Barnett, ill. by Dan Santat
After suffering a fate worse than death (missing one question on her history test), our heroine decides there's only one thing to be done. She must travel back in time to fix it so she gets 100%. Of course, time travel is fraught with opportunities to royally mess things up in the present, and she learns that sometimes it's better to just leave well enough alone.
Target Readers:
- Barnett & Santat Fans: Mac Barnet and Dan Santat are both well known on their own, so it's hard to go wrong with these two picture book superstars together.
- Time Travel/Humor Fans/Scifi Fans/Overachievers/Perfectionists: This is one wacky story. I found it quite humorous that instead of trying to go back to change her answer on the test, the girl decides instead to change history to make her answer correct. And things of course go splendidly wrong. Overachievers/perfectionists (or teachers of such) should appreciate the humor of this book.
Middle Grade Graphic Novels
The Time Museum (The Time Museum, #1) by Matthew Loux
Delia Bean goes to stay with her Uncle for part of the summer and stumbles into his secret job as curator of the Time Museum. Delia along with five other young people from various time periods have been chosen to try out for an internship. To pass, they'll need to do well in a few trials that take place in a variety of times and locations. While the temptation is to pit themselves against each other, Uncle Lyndon and other adults keep telling the kids that working together may be necessary to get the most points. Can Delia and the others overcome their competitive tendencies to pass and survive things like rampaging dinosaurs and killer robots? And just who is the mysterious Grey Earl they keep running into?
Target Readers:
- Time Travel Fans/Scifi Fans/Mystery Fans/Kids Learning to Cooperate Fans/Graphic Novel Fans: This book has been a super hot commodity since we put it on the shelves a few weeks ago. I keep having kids ask me if the time travel graphic novel is available. I can’t blame them. Overall, it is a fun time travel competition adventure with kids who have to work out some personal differences to learn to work together and some mysterious elements that mean many of us will be eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. If you know a middle grade reader who likes time travel, adventure, science fiction, or mysteries, they will thank you for shoving this into their hands. (Not that shoving it into their hands seems necessary. They’re proving quite capable of grabbing it themselves…I think I need to buy another copy.)
Target Practice (Cleopatra in Space, #1) by Mike Maihack
Cleopatra is dealing with being a royal personage in ancient Egypt and in line to be queen. She doesn't mind certain parts, but could do without Algebra. She's about to have her grand 15th birthday bash when she accidentally gets zapped to the future and finds herself acclaimed a prophesied messiah. She joins the space academy, which is mostly the same ol' boring subjects, though she does like her classes on combat training. Still, she has a hard time swallowing the fact that she's supposed to save all of future society from the evil Xerx...and so are some of the administrators, so they give her a kind of crazy midterm that is a bit more dangerous than normal.
Note: Some space violence.
Target Readers:
- Scifi Fans/Adventure Fans/Egyptologists/Graphic Novel Fans: Cleo is also super popular in our library. She has four books in her series so far with more promised. There’s lots of space adventure, action sequences, and some interesting twists and turns in the plot line. Our middle grade crowd loves her.
A Wrinkle in Time: the graphic novel adapted by Hope Larson from the original book by Madeleine L’Engle
Hope Larson retells the modern classic about Meg, her brother, and some friends battling a deep darkness in graphic novel format.
Target Readers:
- Scifi Fans/Readers of Wrinkle in Time Who Don’t Get It: There are some aspects of the plot of A Wrinkle in Time that are quite abstract and many readers pick this up only to scratch their heads about what is going on. This version helps make those confusing scifi and philosophical elements much clearer with illustrations to help understanding.
Middle Grade Fiction
Ben Franklin's in My Bathroom by Candace Fleming, ill. by Mark Fearing
Nolan's summer is pretty humdrum. His dad has moved away to London and his parents are getting a divorce. His mom has serious writer's block, and it's up to him to keep his little sister Olive occupied. But when a mysterious package arrives for Nolan, their humdrum summer suddenly gets much more eventful. After they fiddle with it a little, the strange box with H.H. on it makes some flashes and suddenly Ben Franklin is standing in the living room. Yep, that Ben Franklin. Nolan is immediately trying to figure out how to send Ben back to the past. But Olive is thrilled to show Ben Franklin all the wonders the 21st century has to offer, and Mr Franklin's curiosity is quickly getting the better of him. Before he knows it, Nolan is chasing Ben Franklin and Olive all over town trying to prevent a major catastrophe and figure out how to get Mr Franklin back to his proper time.
Target Readers:
- Reluctant Readers/Reluctant Historical Fiction Readers/Kids Who Think History Is Boring/Humor Fans: Given what we know of Ben Franklin, the hijinks that he and Olive drag Nolan into are all too believable and make for a very entertaining summer's day adventures. (And the illustrations, especially Ben's stories in graphic novel form, help make it easy to visualize.) There's Ben at the pool, Ben at the fire station, Ben at the library for the living history presentation, and of course, Ben's fascination with things like flushing toilets and toasters and light switches. To add to the excitement there's also the nosey neighbor boy bent on proving that Ben is from the past and making trouble for Nolan. Of course, along the way you learn quite a bit about the historic Ben Franklin without even realizing it. Even the bibliography gets woven into the story. There's a promise of further historic figures showing up via the machinations of the mysterious box and clever readers will be able to figure out who will show up in the next book. The time travel-controlling box also seems to have an agenda. It isn't until Ben and Nolan learn an important lesson that Ben gets to return to his own time. If you want kids to get into history without even realizing it and pick up some important life skills too, you need to go hunt down this book and keep your book radar up for the next one in the series.
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman, ill. by Skottie Young
While Mum is away on a business trip, Dad and the two kids are fending for themselves. Dad almost makes the kids eat their cereal dry when the milk runs out, until he realizes that means no milk for his tea. Horrifying! So Dad goes out for milk and it takes him so long to come back the kids start to wonder if something happened (though more likely he found someone to talk to). When Dad does come back with the milk he admits running into someone he talked to, but there was more. He got abducted by aliens and fell through a time portal, was captured by pirates, and ran into a time traveling dinosaur, almost was killed by vampires, and then single-handedly saved the galaxy and almost blew it up...all thanks to having milk on hand. Did Dad make up the story to entertain the kids? Or was it all true?
Target Readers:
- Humor Fans/Tall Tale Fans/Easter Egg Fans: A fun and humorous tall-tale (or real time travel adventure??), illustrating the vital importance of having milk on hand. The story is accompanied by fun illustrations throughout that augment it, but the story is a sophisticated enough tale for even middle school kids. See if you can notice some similarities between the character illustrations and various authors and well-known people. Riddell had some fun.
A Tale of Time City by Dianna Wynne Jones
Oh dear, how to summarize. How about, It's complicated. Nope? Ok, here's an attempt:
Vivian Smith, a girl from 1939 Britain finds herself kidnapped by two boys from Time City, a place outside of time, because they are convinced she is the Time Lady and can solve the instabilities that are happening in several eras of time. They soon discover they have made a serious mistake but can't take Vivian back so they try to pass her off as one of their cousins returned after several years out in history. Since she is stuck there, Vivian decides to help Jonathan and Sam try and figure out what really is wrong. Of course nothing is simple when the plot involves the renewal of time and time travel. The three kids eventually do help save the day, but I'll let you read it to figure out just how.
Target Readers:
- Readers in Search of Unique Books/Time Travel Fans/Fantasy Fans: Though there are a few elements similar to some other time travel stories I've read, this one definitely has enough unique elements to set it apart and make you feel like you haven't quite read anything like it before. (Unless possibly if you made Dr Who a child, switch his Tardis for an egg and had time falling apart around him...that might get a slightly similar feel, maybe. Although he'd probably just sit down and drown his sorrows in jelly babies without a Tardis.) Anyway, this is an enjoyable, refreshing time-travel read with a touch of humor and adventure.
Found (Missing, #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
A mysterious plane lands full of only babies who are put up for adoption eventually. Fastforward over a decade, and those adopted babies are now tweens who start receiving messages that they are one of the “missing.” Two of the adopted kids decide to do some investigating and stumble into a plot that involves time travel and the mystery about where all the kids on that plane came from. The series has them visiting a variety of different time periods as they explore the mystery.
Target Readers:
- Reluctant Readers/Time Travel Fans/Scifi Fans/Historical Fiction Fans: This is a great series to teach kids about historical figures. And best of all? Everyone who picks up the first book gets seriously addicted and tears through all eight books. Even the most reluctant readers can seem to resist this series.
Young Adult Fiction
A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody
Ellison had the WORST Monday ever. Her family is all in the grumps at breakfast. She forgot it was picture day and didn't bring an umbrella so she had an epically bad school photo for her Junior year. In the midst of her fight last night with her boyfriend she forgot to watch the latest episode of her favorite show and let down her best friend. She bombs her speech for vice president. A bird flies into the window during Spanish...and dies. Her dream date at the carnival turns into a nightmare when her boyfriend dumps her, and so she wishes for a do-over in bed. She wakes up the next day to discover that her request has been granted. But as the Mondays keep coming and Ellison keeps failing to get it right, she starts learning some important things about herself and the people around her. And maybe the perfect version of this day that will break the cycle isn't anything like she originally thought.
Note: Click on the title to see content notes.
Target Readers:
- Groundhog Day Fans/Great Life Lessons Delivered in Fun Ways Fans/Clean Romance Fans: Yes, this is like a Junior girl's version of Groundhog Day (the movie is even referenced a few times). The overall message is really good and important for teens. Some of the Monday moments are cringe-worthy (especially as a teacher...how are Ellie & her boyfriend getting away with kissing at school so much?!?), others are laugh out loud hilarious, and some may have you grabbing for the tissues. Because we get to live the same Monday multiple times, this isn't just about Ellie and her boyfriend. That's one part of the storyline. There's also Ellie's relationship with her best friend Owen, and how that's changed in recent time. Then there's stuff going on between Ellie's parents that needs help, and one of the Mondays Ellie finally realizes that her younger sister is going through a really tough time and figures out how to help her out. But most of all, this is Ellie re-evaluating her everyday activities, attitudes, and figuring out who she really is. She tries a lot of the common pitfalls teens believe they need to catch a guy, playing hard to get, being low maintenance, dressing provocatively. And every single one of them succeeds in some ways but ultimately fails. The final Monday surprised me in some ways but I really liked the overall conclusion and message it conveys.
Waterfall (River of Time, #1) by Lisa T. Bergren
The main character is a 17 yr old girl whose mom is an archeologist. Her mom has drug Gabi and her 15 yr old sister, Lia, to Italy for the summer searching for Etruscan sites. You get the picture that they’ve been doing this all of their lives. Their father was also an archeologist, but he died six months ago and we aren't given many details how. Gabi & Lia aren’t ever allowed onto the sites until the digs are finished...their parents have been too afraid the girls will damage the sites or themselves. One day Gabi’s mother is distracted by an Italian official claiming she hasn’t filed proper documents, so Gabi & Lia take the opportunity to sneak onto the site and see what’s up since they’ve seen their mom really excited about this one. While on the site they manage to trigger some sort of time travelling device and Gabi finds herself in medieval Italy in the middle of a city-state war (she happens to land right on disputed land during a battle) and for some reason Lia isn’t with her. She is rescued by one Lord’s son, Marcello, and taken to his family's castle. Gabi's main mission becomes finding her younger sister, Lia, but with very little success for most of the book. While she is trying to figure out how to find Lia and get back to the 21st century, there are a couple other plot lines going on. Marcello's older brother is in horrible health and fighting for his life. Marcello is betrothed to Lady Rossi, and their marriage will strengthen the city state of Siena. Gabi's arrival threatens this betrothal, even though she does her best not to. Also, there are ongoing battles with the neighboring Paratores, ultimately linked to city state tensions between Siena and Firenze.
Note: Click on the title to see content notes.
Target Readers:
- Time Travel Fans/High-Octane Adventure Fans/Medieval Italy Fans/Romance Fans: I have a whole group of readers at our school who absolutely adore this River of Time series. Bergren knows how to write great time-travel romantic fiction. Oh, and high action. Life is never dull for Gabi! I like how she makes the main character seem authentically from the present and realistically struggling with adjusting to life and customs in the past. The past also reads with plenty of convincing evidence that Bergren has done her research on that time period. You get transported with the main character, and anachronisms that the character throws in get pointed out. The romance elements are "clean steamy" in that it'll make some readers swoon or squeal with excitement, but it stays PG. Recommended for anyone who likes clean romance or time travel or historical fiction with memorable characters. There are five books in this series, and the die-hard fans this series seems to create will likely also devour the two books in Bergren’s River of Time: California series (completely separate from this series, but similar in overall style).
Dark Mirror (Dark Mirror, #1) by M.J. Putney
Lady Victoria Mansfield, known as Tory to her friends, is a perfectly respectable young lady from a perfectly respectable family. So it is a huge shock when she wakes one morning to find herself floating above her bed evidently on her own magical power. Tory immediately resolves to work hard to repress this ability. If it got out that she was a mage, it would scandalize her family and her own reputation would suffer irreparable damage. It's all right for the lower classes to have such base talents, but the aristocracy never stoops to such lows. Tory's best laid plans go out the window, or rather, over a cliff when her little nephew is in peril and the best solution is to save him with her magic. Though the relief of her brother and his wife is palpable, the rest of the family makes it clear Tory is no longer welcome and packs her off to Lackland Academy to be "fixed" of her magic. Tory arrives at Lackland to find that some of the other students would rather embrace their magical abilities than learn how to suppress them and have formed a group working to actually develop their magical abilities in the event they are needed in the war against Napoleon brewing on the horizon (somewhat literally since the school is quite close to Dover and France can be seen across the Channel). Of course, training in magic is decidedly frowned upon at a school that is supposed to cure lords and ladies of such things, so Tory and her friends must be ever vigilant and secrecy is tantamount. During one meeting, would-be discoverers try to raid the tunnels the group meets in and Tory is caught in a dead end. She is sure she'll never get to practice magic again, but suddenly a mirror appears in front of her and after touching it she finds herself in Lackland over a hundred years later, during WWII. Tory explores the future a few days with the help of descendants of some of her magical friends and then returns to her own time, but just days later Nick comes through the mirror from the future begging for Tory and her friends to come help with the retreat from Dunkirk. Unsure if they are up to the task, Tory and about four other friends go through the mirror and decide to see what they can do to help. The rest of the series goes on to develop characters
Note: Click on the title to see content notes.
Target Readers:
- Light Read Fans/Regency Fiction Fans/WWII Fiction Fans/Fantasy Fans: This is a very fun, light read and covers two popular time periods of history. Tory is a great heroine to traipse around with. She feels very real as she wrestles with whether to embrace her magic or not, weighing the costs and getting reconciled to the fact her life has changed forever. The romance between her and another student was a teensy bit cheesy, but forgivably so. I was surprised that some of the secondary characters gained more depth as the story went on and didn't quite fall into stereotypical ruts like I thought they would. I liked how Putney worked the actual facts of the events of Dunkirk in, and often attributed them to the work of Tory and her friends. So overall, if you like Regency or WWII historical fiction, time travel stories, or good ol' adventures and go into this expecting a light read, you should find this enjoyable.
Adult Fiction
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
This is one of my favorite science fiction books because of the witty humor, and the skill in developing a time travel story that makes sense.
Target Readers:
- Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat Fans: Jerome fans will probably already realize that the title of this book is taken from the subtitle of Jerome’s book. The hilarious classic is referenced quite frequently in this book. Reading this drove me to read Three Men in a Boat and for that I owe Connie Willie a debt of gratitude. It’s hilarious.
- Those Who Like Adventures in England/Humor Fans/Time Travel Fans/Historical Fiction Fans/Science Fiction Fans: There are two settings in this, both in England, but one is modern and the other is turn of the 20th century. The time travelers are sent on a mission by an imperious woman who could definitely be related to Jane Austen's Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The mission finds the time travelers traipsing around the older England and finding themselves in all sorts of tricky but humorous situations not unlike P.G. Wodehouse's Bertram Wooster and his friends (and there is even a Jeeves-like butler). There's a little bit of mystery, a little bit of science fiction, a little bit of romance, and a lot of witty humor. All in all, a delightful read. This is technically part of a series, but you don’t need to read any of the other books in that series to get this book.
Nonfiction
Whographica: an Infographic Guide to Space and Time by Simon Guerrier, Steve O’Brien, and Ben Morris
A collection of infographics about the TV show Dr. Who.
Target Readers:
- Dr Who Nerds/Stats Lovers/Random Fact Gatherers: I know that a lot of the interest in time travel of late is thanks to the revamped Dr. Who TV show. We have some very avid Dr. Who fans at our school, so we also have a variety of Dr. Who fiction available for them and when they are deciding on which one of those to read in the timetravel section they notice some of the other titles above. In addition to fiction titles, they all like this nonfiction title as well, and it helps them get even nerdier with random Dr. Who facts.
Books on My To-Read List
These are some new-ish time travel books that are on my to-read list. Kids seem to enjoy the Flashback Four and Outlaws of Time so far. Diego hasn't hit our shelves yet.
Flashback Four series by Dan Gutman
Four kids are financed by a billionare to travel through time and photograph important events in history.
Outlaws of Time series by N.D. Wilson
A kid finds out his dreams are real, a mysterious time walker, and a villain who has held a grudge for a long time.
Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic by Armand Baltazar
Diego lives in a world where time has been broken and exists in a crazy mashed up mess. When his father is kidnapped, Diego must try to rescue him.
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