The Strangers

The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Adventure, Science Fiction

Ages 9-12

Grades 4-7

405 pages, hardcover

c.2019

           Margaret Peterson Haddix is one of my favorite authors because she comes up with such original, compelling plot ideas. Her stories also have a positive feel even though she writes about difficult subjects. Perhaps the fact that she is a Christian account for this.

            The Grayson family, composed of Chess, age 11, Emily, age 9, Finn, age 7, and their mother, are a close knit, loving family. The three siblings, though very different in personalities, are very loyal and supportive to one another. The opening paragraph, which describes them racing home after school and letting Finn win, has the line, “Today he burst into the house calling out, “Mom! We’re home! It’s time to come and adore us!”

            This lovely picture quickly changes as the children find their mother distraught over the kidnapping of three children in Arizona who have their same names and birthdays. Suddenly she announces that she must leave for an urgent business trip and they will be staying with a friend of hers who they barely know.

            Haddix creates a suspenseful adventure story with elements of science fiction and many plot twists. As the children find the information their mother left for them to find, later, there are codes to unravel and more clues to follow. Throughout their adventure each sibling contributes to the solution using their unique gifts and talents. Chess is perceptive. He notices things and remembers them. He was the one who realized that they needed to use their personal knowledge about their mother to help solve the coded letter she left them. Emma is very logical and good with numbers which helps them apply the key to the code and begin to read the letter. Finn tries so hard to be brave and useful and he is the one who notices the different butterfly logos on his mother’s web pages which eventually helps them realize there is a code. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the siblings. This really helps in getting to know the characters and establishing a bond with them.

            The last part of the letter reveals the shocking news that their entire family comes from an alternative, evil world. Their parents were trying to bring down the evil leaders and in the end had to escape from that world. Now the children are faced with the question of how to rescue their mother. Read on to find out if their daring plan will succeed. There will be two more volumes in this Greystone Secret series.

The Last Humanby Lee Bacon

The Last Human by Lee Bacon

Science Fiction, Adventure

ages - 9-12

grade 4-7

269 pages, hardcover

c. 2019

       The Last Human is about a robot civilization thirty years after the last humans have been exterminated. Therefore, robot XR_935 is so surprised when he encounters 12-year-old Emma, a human. The story is told from his point of view. He has been programmed to believe that all humans were dangerous, wasteful and the cause of many of the problems on earth due to their greed and violence. However, Emma is not at all like that. This causes XR_935 and his two coworkers, SkD_988 and Ceeron_902, to consider helping Emma reach the red dot on her map. Doing so goes against all that they know to be true and puts them in danger as well.

            This is an engaging, often humorous story, as the robots and Emma seek to understand each other. XR_935 has been designed with a complete data base of history and the information to do his job, which is solar installation. Ceeron_902 also works on solar installation but was designed to be super strong and do heavy lifting. SkD_988 works on solar installation as well but is a small robot who can move very quickly and communicates through emojis.

Besides being an adventure story, The Last Human is ultimately a story about friendship, technology, and the need to sometimes challenge the status quo, no matter the consequences. It raises many thought provoking questions about the nature of humanity, the danger of partial truths and the control of information in society, and what happens when one generalizes about a group of people. This is all done in a delightful, humorous way. Ceeron_902 has a great interest in human jokes and idioms which drives literal minded XR_935 crazy. In the beginning when Emma asks XR_935 if the other robots are his friends, he finds the concept incomprehensible, they are coworkers. By the end of the story there is no questions they are all, including Emma, real friends.

Revealed by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Revealed by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Science Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction

Age - 10-13

Grade  -6-8

438 pages, hardcover

c. 2014

Revealed is the seventh book in The Missing Series. In many ways it is the most complex and confusing book in terms of how the time travel elements are presented. It is also different from the other books in the series because there is no missing child from history to rescue and Jonah is on his own to solve the various problems that come up. His sister, Katherine, has been kidnapped by Charles Lindbergh and turned into a baby. All the other missing children from history have disappeared and all the adults in the area, including Jonah’s parents and JB and Angela, have been turned into young teenagers.

As the title suggests there is much that is revealed in this book, including Jonah’s real identity. However, since that would be such a big spoiler I will not mention it in this review. Gary and Hodge, the original time kidnappers, are responsible for all the problems Jonah is forced to deal with and this time the problems they have created with time seem to be beyond his ability to repair. Jonah is faced with the very real possibility that he will lose all those he loves and his own life as well. When, at a critical moment, he asks the Elucidator for help he is told that getting any help depends on the next decision he needs to make.

Much of the action revolves around the 1932 kidnapping of the son of Charles Lindbergh and his determination to find his son. As usual, Haddix provides much historical background in the author’s note at the back of the book. Lindbergh himself is an interesting and complex character. Though some of his actions and thoughts are fictional they reveal his development as a character. As the author notes reveal Lindbergh was not willing to stop the search for his son for some time. He managed to finally accept his death and go on with his life.  For a time he worked with the Ford Motor Company in connection with one of their factories that was building bombers. From there he became a test pilot, a test subject for extreme conditions for pilots, and a fighter-pilot instructor. In the novel he comments to Jonah, “I have learned that even with time travel, some things just are. They can’t be changed or undone or fixed. But people, people can heal. Even from events they believe ate unendurable.”

A major part of the book is the character development of Jonah himself. He has been maturing throughout the series but in this book he has attained a new level of self-sacrificing love. He is no longer impulsive or careless in his actions and decisions. He has learned that little actions can have great consequences, how tiny moments of helping one person can save many. So when everything seems lost he decides there is still one thing he can fix, one thing he can do before he dies. There is one thing that would be perfect and right and good, even as everything else is wrong.

There are many things I didn’t mention in this review but I encourage you to read the book. There are parts about time that are confusing but there is much that is inspiring and the plot twists and adventure are all there. There is one more book in the series. Jonah’s adventures and trials aren’t over yet.

Risked by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Risked by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Science Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction

Age - 10-13

Grade 6-8

350 pages, hardcover

c. 2013

     Risked, the 6^th book in The Missing Series, departs from the other books in that we now know what happened to Anastasia and Alexei Romanov, the missing children from history. However, when Haddix started writing the series in early 2007 there was still no conclusive evidence that they had been killed along with the rest of the family. New discoveries in the summer of 2007 and 2009 confirmed that they did die in 1918 with the rest of the family, but were buried in a different spot. However, this is a work of fiction which allows the author to imagine some intriguing possibilities.

            Very shortly after meeting Daniella, who is really Anastasia, Jonas, Katherine, and Chip are kidnapped by Gavin, who is really Alexei. Gavin is working for the original time kidnappers, Gary and Hodge, who have just escaped from time prison. Gavin thinks he is bringing them all into the future where he will be adopted by a family, as promised by Gary and Hodge. However they all land in Russia in 1918. While traveling to the future Jonas manages to tell the Elucidator, device from the future, to send then back to their correct time. He means the 21th century but the correct time for Anastasia and Alexei is 1918, the day before the entire Romanov family will be killed.

            After landing in 1918 Gavin and Daniella are captured by the Russian guards and returned to the house where the rest of the family is being kept as prisoners. Using the Elucidator Chip, Jonas and Katherine are able to become invisible. They begin to plan how they will rescue not only Daniella and Gavin but the entire family. The rescue plan is extremely complicated and made more challenging by the unexpected arrival of Gary and Hodge who still want to take all the children to the future as babies to be adopted by wealthy parents. During the following battles both Jonas and Gavin, who is a hemophilic, are wounded. Meanwhile, time travelers from the future are having a meeting about how to deal with the Romanov situation and protect time and history.

            Haddix does change some of the actual historic events in the end of the story so that some members of the Romanov family are saved as well as Jonas, Katherine and Chip. In the process of the rescue there is much heroic and self- sacrificing action as well as quick thinking. Haddix also includes many historical details in the story, such as the stuffed grizzly bear on the landing of the house and the diamonds the Romanov sisters sewed into their clothes, as well as the historical notes at the end of the book.

Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Science Fiction, Adventure

Age -10-13

Grade - 6-8

343 pages, hardcover

c. 2012

     “Jonah Skidmore was in science class when time stopped.” Thus begins Caught, the 5^th book in The Missing Series. Everyone, everywhere in the twenty first century is frozen in time except for time travelers. This is a complicated book, both in terms of the time travel concepts presented, and the development and interactions of the characters, both historic and fictional. Regarding time travel there are episodes where the future changes the past and the past meets the future. The historic character Mileva Einstein, Albert Einstein’s wife, is a fascinating person and her relationship with Katheryn and Jonah, but especially with Jonah is complex.

            Jonah and Katheryn find themselves suddenly and without warning or preparations in 1903. Their task is to return Einstein’s daughter, Lieserl to history. Additional challenges are involved due to the fact that Albert Einstein seems to know that time split in 1611 and he is thinking about that instead of what he should be thinking about in 1903. As JB communicates to Jonah and Katheryn, “He is not thinking about the right things. He could ruin everything.” Perhaps their biggest problem is that Mileva becomes aware of their presence, figures out they are time travelers and manages to capture their Elucidator. She then learns all about time travel, as well as her future and that of Albert, Lieserl and the two sons she will have in the future.

            At one point Jonah, Katherine, Emily, who is the modern Lieserl, Mileva, JB and another time agent are all trapped in a time hallow, a space outside of time. JB and the other agent are frozen and when Jonah and Kathryn frighten Mileva by running toward her she uses the Elucidator to freeze them as well. It is during this time that Mileva learns about time travel and the future by exploring the Elucidator. She sees much pain and suffering in her future. Eventually she realizes that she needs to trust Jonah and that together they can repair time, which is frozen. Mileva shows herself to be not only a brilliant scientist but a woman capable of great courage and self-sacrifice. Jonah comes to realize this and in the end, when he realizes she plans to stay in 1903 and go through all the suffering she saw in the time hallow, he offers her the Elucidator as a means to escape if she chooses. Many years pass before she chooses to use it. She is well aware of the potential damage she could cause to time so she does it in a way that is both wise and very loving. There will be no spoiler alert here but I do encourage you to read this thought provoking and inspiring book.

Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Torn by Margeret Peterson Haddix

Science Fiction, Adventure

Age - 10-13

Grade - 6-8

344 pages, hardcover

c. 2011

     Torn is the 4^th book in The Missing Series. The basic premise of the series is that important children from history have been kidnapped, by time travelers from the future, at the point right before they disappeared or died. The plan was to bring them into the future as babies to be adopted by wealthy parents. This has disrupted history and time so Jonas and Katherine have been working to return the missing children to their proper time in history and restore time. However, beginning in the last book and continuing in this one a new element has been added. The villain, Second Chance, is changing history to suit his own ideas and this has disrupted time so much that it is near collapsing. This would result in the end of all things, past, present and future. Due to what Second did in the last book, Sabotaged, time traveler J.B., and missing children Andrea, Brendan and Antonio are trapped in 1600.

                Jonas and Katherine find themselves on the deck of Henry Hudson’s ship the Discovery just before a mutiny takes place. The boy from history that they are trying to help, John Hudson, Henry Hudson’s son, is missing so J.B. instructs Jonas to impersonate him with the help of a special costume from the future. Katherine is instructed to use the Eucidator to become invisible. They realize, early on, that history has been dramatically changed. Henry Hudson has a map that he shouldn’t have, showing the Northwest Passage that now exists. Second Chance is responsible for all of this and unless Jonah and Katherine help him all time will end in 1611. Second’s plan is to send Jonah and Katherine back to their first moments on Hudson’s ship and to have them do things differently this time. Without precise instructions Jonah decides to try and save the sailor Wydowse from being murdered by Second. As John Hudson Jonah challenges Hudson’s authority and insists they leave the small shallop they have been put in during the mutiny and go to the winter cabin they had used last year. When they do this time is literally torn apart and there are now two separate versions of time. One version is the current one and the second is how things went the first time Jonah and Katherine were there. However, only Jonah and Katherine can see the two versions of time. Eventually they also see the traces of the sailors from original time before they came. When the sailors merge with their tracers time in 1611 is restored.

            Time outside of 1611 has been so damaged by the actions of Second that JB, Andrea, Brendan and Antonio, from the previous book, are still stuck in 1600. Only a heroic and self-sacrificing action by Jonah will enable them to escape.

Sabotaged by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Sabotaged by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Science Fiction, Adventure

Age 10-13

Grade 5-8

377 pages, hardcover

c. 2010

            In Sabotaged, the 3^rd book in the Missing series, Jonas and Katherine are asked to help another “missing” child. This time it is Andrea, who is really Virginia Dare from the lost Roanoke colony in the 16^th century. As the title indicates someone has interfered with the mission in significant ways. Andrea is a complex, emotional character and in her rush to begin her mission they leave without the normal preparation. They expect to get directions once they arrive through the Elucidator, the futuristic device that allows them to communicate with JB. However during their transport the device is lost. Thus they arrive not knowing for sure what their location or time period is. Andrea is acting strangely and eventually it comes out that a strange man visited her before they left and she agreed to follow his directions, which included inserting a code he gave her in the Elucidator and throwing the device away. He promised her that by following his directions she would be able to go back to the time before her adopted parents died in a tragic car accident and save them. She now realizes that he lied to her.

            Due to the effects of the sabotaged mission the plot is more complicated than the previous book. Time and history are being tampered with and confusion results. Jonas, Katherine and Andrea see tracers of two native looking boys who aren’t there. They rescue a drowning man who turns out to be John White, Virginia Dare’s grandfather.  Later two boys from the 21^st century show up who belong to the native looking tracers. More puzzling is the lack of a tracer for Virginia, which should be there. Eventually they discover that a man who calls himself Second Chance has engineered events so he can recreate history the way he thinks it should be. He was the man who came to Andrea’s house before the mission. His plan was to reunite Virginia with John White which didn’t happen in history. Not only did he achieve that but he also released the time ripple which JB was trying to prevent. Now history and time are in a state of flux and the only hope that they all can return to the 21^st century is if Jonas and Katherine, who have been sent to the year 1611, can stabilize that time.

         

   In this book Haddix presents dramatic action, interesting historic details and thought provoking questions about choices and consequences and the rewriting of history. Because her books often provide much food for thought she is one of my favorite authors.

Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Science Fiction, Adventure

Age 10-13

Grade 5-8

 313 pages, hardcover,

 c. 2009

            Sent is the 2^nd book in the Missing series. Found, the 1^st book,  sets up the situation of the missing children of history that have been kidnapped by some time agents from the future Their plan was to sell these famous children to parents in the future. Another group of time agents are trying to stop them and send these children back to their proper time in history. This will restore time and prevent “ripples” that could alter the present and the future.

            The following books in the series deal with different “missing” children. At the end of each book there is an author’s note in which Haddix gives the actual historical background of the events described. Each event has unresolved questions and Haddix does an excellent job of mixing the historical facts with the fiction. Each of the historical events is interesting in themselves and I think many of the readers will be prompted to do some research themselves.

            In Sent, Chip, who is really Edward V, rightful king of England and Alex, who is really Richard, Duke of York, his younger brother, along with Jonas and Katherine are sent back to the 15^th century. They have been promised by JB, time traveler, that if they can “fix time” he will allow them all to return to the 21^st century. However, according to “history” Edward and Richard died in the Tower of London and their uncle, Richard III became king of England. What really happened is that the boys vanished in 1483. Workmen renovating the Tower of London in 1674 found skeletons that were assumed to be the boys but in 1933 when scientists were given permission to study the skeletons they couldn’t tell if the bones were male or female.

            Jonas and Katherine manage to save Chip and Alex from being murdered in their sleep and with help from JB and another disguised time traveler also save them from being killed at the Battle of Bosworth. There are ghostly versions of the missing children called “tracers” which are only visible to the time travelers. They show what exactly happened in history. When the missing children merge with their tracers they become visible to those in that world. While they are merged they gain the historic figures memories and beliefs but are also able to maintain their own memories. They can separate from their tracers whenever they want but the longer they stay connected the more they become that historical person. Thus there were times when Chip was determined to fight his uncle and regain his crown.

            Alex, in the 21^st century,  is described as an agnostic but when he is merged with his tracer he expresses the Christian beliefs of Richard. Once back in the 21th century he has an interesting exchange with JB. "You believe in God?" Alex asked JB incredulously. "But you know how to travel through time. You're a scientist." He hesitated. "Aren't you?"
JB rolled his eyes.
"It amazes me how people of your time set up such a dichotomy between science and religion. Fortunately, that only lasts for another... well I can't tell you that ... But I assure you, the more I travel through time, the more I witness, the more I realize that there are things that are both strange and wonderful, far beyond human comprehension."