The Boy from Tomorrow

February 1, 2018

Gr 4-7-Twelve-year-olds Josie and Alec live a century apart-until supernatural means bring them together. In 1915, Josie's famed mother, Lavinia Clifford, makes her living speaking to the dead. But Josie and her little sister, Cass, are scarcely allowed to speak to anyone. Following his parents' divorce, Alec and his mother spend 2015 building a new life in the old house at 444 Sparrow Street. Enter a Ouija "talking" board, an all-knowing doll named Mrs. Gubbins, a library archive, a time capsule, and some phonograph cylinders. DeAngelis cements a compelling friendship through time. Through Alec's conversations with Josie, one thing becomes clear: cold and cruel Lavinia has nothing in common with his own loving mother. More concerned with writing her memoir than caring for her daughters, Lavinia soon manipulates even Josie's newfound friendship to her own advantage. Chapters alternate between the 20th and 21st centuries, incorporating differences in technology and contemporary everyday life. Child welfare is a prominent theme, as Cass's childhood precocity is punished with physical abuse and neglect. The narrative is excellent. The book is marred only by "A Word of Advice" with a rather foreboding caution against using "talking" boards in real life. VERDICT An immersive read oozing with cross-genre appeal for realistic, historical, mystery, and scary fiction readers.-Maria O'Toole, Carroll Manor Elementary School, Adamstown, MD

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2018
Twelve-year-olds Alec and Josie communicate with each other in the same house--100 years apart.In 1915, Josie's emotionally abusive mother, Lavinia, a former actress, is a well-known spiritualist, operating from their newly built home in small Edwardstown, New York, where Josie and her 6-year-old sister, Cassie, are schooled by a tutor. Alec moves into the house with his mother in 2015, after his parents' separation. When he and new friends Danny and Harold discover a "talking board" in a drawer, they are astonished when the glass planchette begins to move: "W-E A-R-E Y-O-U-N-G L-A-D-I-E-S." An old photographic portrait of a girl labeled "Josephine Clifford, 1915," and the words "HELLO ALEC" carved into the attic windowsill confirm for Alec the presence of something unexplained. The connection between the children is carefully constructed and revealed, sometimes running along similar paths in their respective Novembers (1915 and 2015) and sometimes diverging. A packet of letters, hidden for a century for Alec to discover, and visits by Alec and Danny to the local library and historical archives add to the rich storyline. Lavinia's discovery of Josie's friendship is sinister and frightening, amping the tension, but Alec's research allows him to reassure Josie and readers that she and Cassie will escape--and find their own futures. The book assumes a white default.Spellbinding. (Fantasy. 10-13)

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March 15, 2018
Grades 4-7 Josie and Alec's story is an unusual ghost tale. Through an odd warp in time, the pair, who both live in the same house 100 years apart, can speak to each other through a Ouija board, the wax cylinders of an old record player, and a cache of letters. As they grow closer, Alec (in 2015) begins to fear that Josie (in 1915) and her younger sister, Cassie, are in danger from their mother. The glamorous Lavinia Clifford is a wealthy spiritualist who communes with the dead. She also keeps her daughters virtual prisoners in their room, and often punishes Cassie cruelly. Alec is shaken when he finds a local grave, engraved simply Clifford, that appears to be a child's. Can he convince Josie that she needs to contact her old governess and escape? Can Alec change the past, and therefore the future? Creepy and intriguing, DeAngelis' middle-grade novel will appeal to readers who enjoy chills as well as puzzles. The Alex Award-winning author of Bones & All (2015) has crafted a definite winner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)