This is the first book that I wanted to write about in a while which really decided I would take my friend's advise and create this blog, so bear with me for the first post. First off, I had such high hopes for this book. Not only did it win the Newbery, but also the Massachusetts Children's Book Award and was recommended to me by several of the kids at the library. On top of all this, I had read First Light, also by Stead and thoroughly enjoyed it. But, I was let down.
I knew that the plot revolved around a young girl, Miranda, getting notes from the future, something else that had intrigued me. However, the book is extremely slow moving. You get through almost a third of the book before Miranda even receives the first note. And the time travel story could have been better expanded. Miranda hardly seems worried about the notes and what they could mean in the beginning. She doesn't question the very nature of time travel or why someone would be sending her these notes. Miranda hardly worries that one notes says "I'm coming to save your friends life".
In fact, I think as a whole, it would have been far more interesting to see the book from Marcus' point of view. While I realize this would take away part of the mystery it would have added a lot to the story. I would have loved to know how in the alternate version of reality (the version in which he does not travel back in time) he is haunted by his actions of the punch which ultimately leads to the chase and the bus accident. What type of journey does Marcus go through? Does he ever try to stop himself from punching Sal in the first place or does he simply accept his fate?
The Wrinkle in Time references were a lot of fun as I love that book, but once again two parts bothered me. First, the tedious conversations about how time travel worked and why they could not have arrived five minutes before they left if they did not first see themselves in the garden before they left. I suspect these conversations were created for children to have a better understanding of time travel, but once again I feel this could have been better executed through Marcus attempting to change different things etc.
Secondly, at the time the novel takes place, two of the sequels to A Wrinkle in Time had been published and I would have at least liked a reference as to why Miranda did not find those books worth reading. This would not normally matter, but with the fact that Stead mentioned several times that Miranda would read no other book and that the teachers' attempted to get her to read other books it seems an oversight not to at least mention the two sequels.
Once again, let me stress that I know I could do no better in writing a time travel novel and I would easily read something by Stead again since I enjoyed First Light. Also, that I have had many children tell me they liked it, these are just my rantings.
So I do not anticipate most entries being nearly so long, but simply needed to get that off my chest. Hopefully I am not alone in some of my feelings about this book. Bear with me as well - I'm sure the entries will get better.
