Super cute middle grade read. ( )

While I liked the emphasis on friendship, the mystery was too easily solved (by myself and by the main character), and the science fiction aspect, which drew me to the book in the first place, was practically nonexistent. ( )

This book surprised me -- I thought it was going to be a lot darker than it was, and I really liked the twist of how it turns out. There's a lot in here: bullying, losing friends, moving, parents worried about jobs, worrying about absent parents, new baby sibling, parental grief and how they deal with it -- and a summertime mystery of teleporting/timetraveling strangers. It feels, in short, like a realistic depiction of the high emotion of summer before middle school in a new place. I really love that the hopeful message comes through. It's a great read.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

When 11 year old Marin moves to Pennsylvania, she worries if she'll make friends- real friends, as her old friends had turned against her. When she wanders through the woods near her new home, she spies a group of teenagers who seem to be such good friends, and then they vanish like magic right before her eyes! She also meets Charley, a boy about her own age that keeps to himself and seems troubled. They decide the teenagers are from the past, one of which is Charley's dad, and the they are witnessing a time right before a tragedy takes place that has long reaching implications for Charley's parents. Can Marin and Charley go back and change the past? This 295 page book deals a lot with families and friendships and has a surprise or two in store. Good for grades 4-6. ( )