Throwback

Gr 4-7–Lerangis’s novel takes the intriguing premise that some people can time travel simply by concentrating on an object from a certain time. Thirteen-year-old Corey time-hops around New York City’s history with the guidance of his Greek American Papou (grandfather) and the support of best friend Leila. September 11th features prominently, but Corey also goes back to the 1860s and spends some time with track-clearing “West Side Cowboys” in 1917. Of course, time-jumping has dangers that lend themselves well to a forward-moving adventure tale such as this; in this case, losing an object means losing the ability to go to that period, frequent time-jumpers find themselves turning into weird animals, and convincing people to change their behavior to change the future is frustratingly difficult. Lerangis avoids delving too deeply into the paradoxes of time travel or describing period accoutrements, leaving this a light, fast-paced adventure full of lively dialogue and action with not-very-perceptive yet colorful time-locals. Corey is ostensibly half Greek American and half Puerto Rican.