Time Sight

March 15, 2019
A time-travel adventure incorporates reflections on human nature in this middle-grade stand-alone.With their mother in danger overseas, 12-year-old Will Menzies and his little brother, Jamie, are bundled off from the United States to Scotland to live with relatives. At the family's ancestral castle, Will discovers his ability to look into the past...and, as Jamie impulsively learns, even to visit it. Will and his irrepressible cousin Nan are determined to rescue Jamie, but every trip into history brings greater dangers. Will is an immensely appealing protagonist--introspective and responsible yet sick with worry, anger, and guilt over his mother's situation. The other characters (most of them Will's Scottish relatives and ancestors and all white, like Will and Jamie) are more thinly drawn but still lively and likable. The historical chapters especially shine: Despite the hand-waving pseudo-scientific mechanics, the trio's jaunts to the Middle Ages, Roman times, and even earlier are vividly realized, rich in well-chosen details, and charming and thrilling and gross and cruel where appropriate. (While never graphically explicit, the level of bloody violence sometimes clashes with the simple, almost naïve, illustrations.) These episodes are united by Will's growing awareness of humanity's tragic predilection toward fear and violence, along with its capacity for bravery and kindness. In a touching epilogue, he is able to bring his new understanding to reconciliation with his parents' choices.Gripping and thoughtful; readers will be left pondering their own connections to the past. (Fantasy. 9-13)

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May 1, 2019

Gr 4-7-Jonell's newest middle grade offering explores present and historical Scotland. Will and Jamie are second-generation Scottish Americans, and both of their parents are from the well-known Menzies Clan. The two boys set out on their first visit to their ancestral home in the Scottish Highlands without their parents, while their father searches for their missing mother. Will is unhappy with his situation: he's been sent away to a strange country and is in charge of his five-year-old brother. One day he is trying to see the picture in Jamie's Magic Eye book when he discovers that instead of seeing the shapes on the page, he can open a window into the past. While he and his cousin Nan are experimenting with this newfound skill, Jamie stumbles upon them and becomes trapped in the past. The characters leapfrog across time searching for lost family and trying to escape danger, sometimes certain death. Jonell does not pull punches when it comes to depicting how violent the past could be, but there is no gratuitous gore. Readers learn about the greatest hits of Scottish history: King James IV, the Roman invasion, and the Bronze Age. The end of the book does address the violence that the characters have inadvertently witnessed during their travels and still conveys a positive message. While the time travel itself is treated a little cavalierly, it is likely the target age group will not mind. VERDICT Give this to history buffs, fans of tales set in the UK, or even adult Outlander viewers who enjoy a good and wholesome read.-Sara Brunkhorst, Indian Trails Public Library District, IL

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June 10, 2019
Jonell beguilingly entwines history and fiction in this sprawling time travel novel set at Menzies Castle in the Scottish Highlands. Will and Jamie Menzies arrive from the U.S. to stay with relatives, who keep the family castle open to tourists. Their father, meanwhile, is searching for their mother, who was recently taken hostage during a medical mission to a war-ravaged country. Exploring the fortress, 12-year-old Will discovers that he has Time Sight, which transports him, his younger brother, and their Scots cousin back to critical moments in their ancestors’ lives. Among the events they witness are the rival Stewart clan’s burning of the castle in the Middle Ages and escalating tensions between warring Picts and Romans during the Iron Age. Jonell (The Sign of the Cat), a descendant of the Menzies clan, provides vivid recreations of these episodes, made even more immediate and involving given that each unfolds on the site of the present-day castle, and Mildenberger’s airy pictures deftly incorporate past and present action. Will’s awakening to his strong bond with his ancestors and to the senseless violence that molded history and currently threatens his own mother’s safety gives the story additional acuity and depth. Ages 8–11. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management.