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Three middle schoolers travel back in time to the 1950s with the help of a magical library book.
About the author
At 110 years old, Nicholas O. Time is a retired physics professor and the oldest player in the North American United Soccer League. He built his first time machine when he was twelve, successfully sending his pet mouse back to the Stone Age. Unfortunately, a glitch in the machine caused the mouse to clone upon return. After several trials, Nick’s parents destroyed the machine and adopted a thirty-pound feline named Barney to address the growing rodent problem. Nick and his wife, Rose Maryann, have one son, Justin.
Summary
Three middle schoolers travel back in time on a madcap adventure with the help of a library book in this laugh-out-loud start to the brand-new series, In Due Time.
Going, Going, Gone opens in the library at Sands Middle School where strange things are happening. Vikings burst out of bookcases, Albert Einstein appears out of nowhere, and is that Jackie Robinson tossing a baseball in the corner of the room?
When Librarian Valerie Tremt tells three students that one of the library books, The Book of Memories, is actually a time travel portal, the kids don’t believe her at first. But when they ask to see a dinosaur as proof and suddenly there is a terrifying T-Rex in the library, they realize she isn’t kidding around.
Now that he can time travel, twelve-year-old Matt knows exactly where he wants to go. In the summer of 1951, Matt’s grandfather Joe was on the path to becoming a major league baseball player. But at a 4th of July BBQ, Joe danced a little too close to the edge of a swimming pool and—splash!—he fell in and hurt his ankle. What should have been a minor injury turned out to be a career-ending one. Always the optimist, Joe used to say, “Because of the accident, I met the girl I was going to marry, so it was all worth it.”
Matt wants to go back in time to prevent the accident from ever occurring, so his grandfather can have the career he deserved! But can he successfully alter his grandfather’s past without changing his own future? Only time will tell…
Additional text
Booklist
Ever wish you could change history? Twelve-year-old Matt wishes he could go back to 1951 to keep his Grandpa Joe from falling into a swimming pool at a party, thus injuring his ankle and missing his opportunity to play baseball for the New York Giants. For Matt, this is just wishful thinking, but his middle-school librarian, Valerie Tremt, may have the solution. She happens to be a time traveler, as her anagrammed name suggests. She gives Matt and his best friends, Grace and Luis, The Book of Memories, which gives them the ability to travel back in time, but they have only three hours to change the events of the pool party. Minutes before their time is up, they must correct a small but crucial historical detail. Lots of dialogue and fast-paced action are crammed into the three-hour time frame, making this first book in the In Due Time series, by author Nicholas O. Time (aka Sheila Sweeny Higginson), a hit for reluctant readers or those after an armchair adventure.
— J. B. Petty
