Jodi Lynn Anderson

This novel is book two in the Thirteen Witches series by Jodi Lynn Anderson, titled The Sea of Always. It's a solid upper elementary early /middle school novel.

Rosie leaves with her best friend Germ to find her brother, who was kidnapped in book one and whom she has not seen since they were born. Her mother, broken from the spell she was under--so to speak--, watches the sea every night waiting for Rosie to return. Where are they? In a whale. Yep--they travel the Sea of Always in a whale. It's a magical whale that can give them almost anything they wish for: food, clothing, etc. In the Sea of Always, the whales circle time. They can go to any place in time geographically, and see what's going on. Rosie's brother is in the 1800s in San Francisco. She has a limited amount a time--indicated by an hour glass the Time Witch gives her--to find him. The Time Witch plans on killing them all.

Rosie and Germ can't do this task alone. On their first "landing," they meet Aria, a fellow witch hunter. She knows a lot about hunting witching and joins them. They develop a plan and have to hop and skip through time to find all of the remaining thirteen witches. If they can get what they need form the witches and get to San Francisco on time, maybe they can defeat the Time Witch and rescue her brother and go home. The fourth member of their crew will remain a mystery until you read the book.

That's all I'm willing to say about a sequel. I found the book to wander about a lot. Rosie struggles to gain confidence and feels that Aria is superior to her, so she tries to emulate Aria. Germ believes in the whale and fearlessly keeps going, believing that they can overcome the evil witch. I feel that I could sum up in the book in a few sentences.… (altro)