Remarkables

June 1, 2019
Eleven-year-old Marin discovers her "new" neighbors are from 20 years ago. Light science fiction and plenty of mystery abound when her mother's job takes Marin and her family from Illinois to small-town Pennsylvania. The preteen worries about losing old friends and making new ones, but not for predictable reasons. An unexpected opportunity allows Marin--and readers--to learn how fear, bullying, and secrets poisoned her former friendships. The second and larger mystery, which also drives the plot, occurs when Marin, scouting out her new neighborhood, notices several teenagers appear and suddenly vanish. Charley, who's lived next door with his grandmother since his parents' substance use made it hard to care for him and his brothers, has seen them, too. Dubbing these mysteriously vanishing teens the Remarkables, Charley believes that they are time travelers from the past and include his father and the girlfriend his father may have accidentally killed. In this tightly woven, stand-alone story, Marin and Charley set out to identify the Remarkables, stop the accident that claimed one of them, and hopefully keep Charley's father from succumbing to addiction. In the process, the author seamlessly combines elements of both mysteries while also raising ethical dilemmas about changing the past. Most characters, including Marin and Charley, are default white, but some of the Remarkables are kids of color. Blending issues that matter to young adolescents with intrigue and a surprise ending, Haddix proves why she's a master of middle-grade fiction. (Suspense. 8-12)

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July 22, 2019
Marin, 11, is looking forward to a fresh start when she moves from Ohio to Pennsylvania with her parents and infant brother—and away from the friends with whom she’s abruptly fallen out. While exploring the woods behind the family’s new home, she becomes entranced by a group of nine teenagers in a nearby yard who seem to vanish as she watches. Marin doesn’t know what to think until she meets Charley, a neighbor being raised by his grandmother. Charley can also see the enigmatic group, which he calls “the Remarkables,” and theorizes that they are figments of the past from 20 years ago, just before the occurrence of a tragedy with personal ramifications for Charley’s family. As the mystery of the Remarkables deepens, Marin and Charley learn about the detrimental and far-reaching consequences of guilt and, slowly, with pain and joy, find a way to move forward. As ever, Haddix plots her satisfying mystery with careful touch points and reveals. But it is her smart exploration of the past’s legacy and sensitively painted family dynamics—from Marin’s exhausted but joyful parents to Charley’s difficult family story—that makes this story remarkable. Ages 8–12. Agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary.

June 1, 2019
Grades 3-6 Eleven-year-old Marin is exploring her new neighborhood when she witnesses something miraculous: several teenagers arrive at the house next door only to vanish in an instant? like magic. Her neighbor Charley is the only other person aware of these extraordinary, elusive beings. He calls them the Remarkables, for their apparent ability to travel through time, if that's what it is. As Marin acclimates to her new hometown, Charley's obsession with the Remarkables reveals a secret shame he can't overcome alone. It's up to Marin to help him solve the magical mystery, even as she faces her own unfinished business with the friends she left behind. With just a splash of the supernatural, this latest from Haddix (Children of Exile, 2016) is well-grounded in reality, delivering a stand-alone adventure about friendship, family, and learning how to reckon with past mistakes while building toward a better future. Despite a bland cast of characters, this well-paced blend of mystery and fantasy will have young fans flipping pages all the way to the epilogue in search of answers.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Haddix's series are as popular as ever, but this stand-alone will intrigue her new generation of fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)