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Summary
Summary
Perfect for fans of The Thing About Jellyfish, Echo, and Hour of the Bees, this charming time-travel story from husband-and-wife team Marisa de los Santos and David Teague follows one girl's race to change the past in order to save her father's future.
Thirteen-year-old Margaret knows her father is innocent, but that doesn't stop the cruel Judge Biggs from sentencing him to death. Margaret is determined to save her dad, even if it means using her family's secret--and forbidden--ability to time travel.
With the help of her best friend, Charlie, and his grandpa Josh, Margaret goes back to a time when Judge Biggs was a young boy and tries to prevent the chain of events that transformed him into a corrupt, jaded man. But with the forces of history working against her, will Margaret be able to change the past? Or will she be pushed back to a present in which her father is still doomed?
Told in alternating voices between Margaret and Josh, this heartwarming story shows that sometimes the forces of good need a little extra help to triumph over the forces of evil.
Author Notes
Marisa de los Santos is an American author and poet. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Virginia. She earned an English degree from the University of Virginia, as well as an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D in English and Creative Writing from the University of Houston.
In addition to her collection of poetry entitled From the Bones Out, Marisa has written numerous novels, including: The Precious One, Falling Together, Belong to Me and Love Walked in. She also co-wrote Saving Lucas Biggs, with children's author, David Teague.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Horn Book Review
When her whistle-blowing father is framed for murder by his corrupt employer, Margaret explores her family's forbidden secret power of time travel to set things right. A parallel story set in 1938 exposes Victory Fuel's history. The time-travel element and character development feel incidental to the environmental (hydro-fracking) and social-justice (exploited workers) messages, but the compelling-enough narrative and suspense may engage high-volume readers. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Margaret O'Malley's father has just been sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit. In the same town 70 years earlier, a miners' strike led to another murder and another falsely accused man. The O'Malleys' forbidden ability to time travel might save everyone or no one, but Margaret is desperate enough to try. De los Santos and Teague craft a gentle, quiet sci-fi story where the focus is not on the science. Margaret's time-travel abilities aren't the point love, nonviolence, and social justice are. The husband-and-wife writing team keep the story moving along at a nice clip, so the peaceful message grows naturally out of the action and drama. The resolution might be a bit easy, but by that point most readers won't care. They will be too busy appreciating determined Margaret, her plucky friend Charlie, and his steadfast grandfather Joshua a character in both 2014 and 1938. Give this one to readers who like stories about family, doing the right thing, and standing up to those who don't.--Wildsmith, Snow Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Margaret O'Malley's father is sentenced to death for crimes she knows he did not commit. She watches as he is taken from the courtroom, his voice calling out to her with a verse from a poem. It is a vow that could carry her to a world gone by, but is not to be used. His clever explanation of string-theory physics and her family's "quirk" of being able to relocate, although briefly, into history sends her on a quest to save him from bitter, vindictive Judge Biggs's sentence and from the people who are still trying to silence him. Margaret goes back to 1938 and witnesses the events that caused Lucas Biggs to become the person he is today. The authors weave a tale of justice and family bonds with threads of historical fiction accented with the fantastical physics of time travel. The heroine begins to realize that the very stuff that makes people who they are-that combination of all their life experiences-can sometimes shift the very fabric of history. At least that's what Margaret is hoping, because the only way to save her father is to first save corrupt Lucas Biggs from himself.-Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The authors, a husband-and-wife writing team, seamlessly incorporate heavy social-justice issuesfracking for natural gas in 2014 and a coal-mining protest in 1938into a riveting time-travel adventure story. Margaret, 13, is devastated when her geologist father (recently fired) is falsely accused, convicted and sentenced to death by the vindictive and corrupt judge Lucas Biggs for arson and murder in the first degree. A whistle-blower, John Thomas O'Malley discovered that due to fracking, poisonous chemicals had leaked into the local water supply: Is he a traitor or hero? Two stories set in the company town of Victory, Ariz., told in alternating voicesMargaret's in 2014 and 13-year-old Josh's in 1938run parallel and then converge. Desperate to save her father and supported by her best friend, Charlie, and his grandpa Joshua, Margaret breaks the sacred family vow and activates the genetic O'Malley "quirk" to travel back in time to try to change events just enough to impact the present. In 1938, a related narrative of injustice is unfolding, one in which Luke Agrippa's pacifist father is leading a nonviolent uprising for decent working conditions after a mine collapse and a company-led massacre. Who is Lucas Biggs, can he be saved, and why does it matter? Strong storytelling, suspense, lyrical writing, high drama, weighty matters made accessible and a bit of humor add up to a terrific and heartwarming read. (Mystery/fantasy. 9-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
