Exciting and heartfelt.
Two boys stuck in an unexplained temporal anomaly join forces and try to escape.
The middle kid of five, Ezra often feels overlooked in his family; Finn is an only child with adoring parents but no friends. Both boys end up trapped in a 55-hour time loop on their shared bar mitzvah weekend at the Bergenville Hotel in New Jersey. When they figure out what’s going on, Finn announces, “We’re in this together for some reason. And we’re gonna get out together too.” They try everything they can think of, from doing good deeds and running a “perfect loop” to winning the lottery to carrying out a bank heist. In the process, they learn about their families, each other, quantum physics, and time travel in the Talmud. The first-person narration alternates between Finn and Ezra; varied chapter lengths effectively help control the pace of the story. Ezra’s family attends a different synagogue and is more religious than Finn’s, so some of Ezra’s explanations to Finn will help readers who are unfamiliar with Judaism. Ultimately, both boys, who read white, learn to look more carefully at what’s right under their noses. Facing the ordinary challenges of life is what enables them to break out of their extraordinary “timey-wimey” challenge.
Exciting and heartfelt. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9780063248243
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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A smart sequel that’s filled with surprises and heart.
In this follow-up to The Rhythm of Time (2023), young time-traveling adventurers face their biggest challenge yet, forcing them to question themselves and one another.
Rahim looks forward to starting eighth grade with best friend Kasia even though he anticipates a tough transition after homeschooling. Kasia makes friends as seamlessly as she makes the cool beats that Rahim skillfully raps over. Although Rahim, who’s a target for bullies, feels a bit left behind, the duo still has their music and a rather unusual extracurricular: on-demand time-travel adventures at the behest of their future selves and the mysterious Aevum Organization. Rahim’s parents place a lot of pressure on him and dismiss his hip-hop dreams as impractical. Adult Rahim and Adult Kasia present the pair with a mission to 1978 Honolulu, where temporal anomalies have been detected. They’ll be facing Chrononauts, time travelers who are trying to change the world to suit their own selfish ends. This entry markedly raises the stakes in ways that challenge even Kasia’s genius. Rahim’s intuition and emotional development are thoughtfully plotted as the kids leave their parents in the dark and take big risks. This nuanced story centering on Black middle schoolers explores trust and care, putting friendship to the test even as the Hawaiian setting offers a provocative allegory for being thoughtful about our global (and interdimensional) impact. Final art not seen.
A smart sequel that’s filled with surprises and heart. (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026
ISBN: 9780374393175
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
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SEEN & HEARD
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