No Ordinary Thing

September 1, 2020
A magical New York journey through time and the grieving process. In 1999, 12-year-old orphaned Adam lives with his kindly Uncle Henry. Despite financial hardship, they love each other and Henry's struggling bakery, although Adam is bullied at school and longs for his parents. When a strange man points him to a magical snow globe, Adam finds himself hopping through time, encountering various points in the lives of three other children--Jack, Daisy, and Francine--whose stories intersect in various ways. The arch, omniscient narrator also shares the connected story of Elbert, a magician and the son of Irish immigrants in the early 20th century, and his search for three pieces of time. Heavy material--Adam, Francine, and Jack have traumatic backstories while Daisy's family magically controls their underpaid and overworked factory employees, leading to tragedy--is handled (too) lightly, with ultimate messages of acceptance and the beauty of living life in the present made explicit. This sweet, short debut has a few glaring issues with problematic tokenism: Two sage elders, one Black who fills the Magical Negro role and one who is homeless, disabled, and perpetually cheerful, exist only to support biracial (Chinese/White) Adam. The novel has a loose sense of place (this New York City is a sanitized pastiche), but the book still manages to evoke emotional closure. Imperfect but not without appeal. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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September 28, 2020
Schmidt’s complex, tightly constructed middle grade debut explores time travel and fantasies about altering the past for the better. Ever since his parents—“international aid workers and avid travelers”—died in a plane crash when he was five, Adam Lee Tripp, who is biracial (Chinese and white), has lived over—and helped at—his Uncle Henry’s bakery on New York City’s Lower East Side. The book opens in 1999, when Adam, now 12, discovers a snow globe in the attic, containing “only a layer of confetti snow—nothing else,” that transports him back in time to New York City and a small town just north in 1922, 1935, and the 1960s. In both locations and multiple timelines, he becomes involved with characters whose lives turn out to interweave with each other and with three treasures that possess different magical powers: the snow globe, a chestnut music box, and a gold pendulum. The objects’ histories are revealed through the story of a young magician at the beginning of the 20th century, an arc that is interspersed with Henry’s travels through time and place. Told in a confident narrative voice, the novel adroitly traces the characters’ and objects’ journeys and connections, encouraging close reading and keen speculation as the suspense builds to a most satisfying conclusion. Ages 8–12.

October 1, 2020

Gr 4-7-Twelve-year-old Chinese American Adam Lee Tripp lives in 1999 New York City with his Uncle Henry, who owns Biscuit Basket Bakery. A loner, Adam connects with the past when a chance visitor, J.C. Walsh, gives him a prophetic message about attics and adventures. In the attic, Adam finds his late parents' snow globe that time travels. By time traveling, Adam learns that three artifacts control time: Past, present, and future. As he meets people connected to a candle factory fire, Adam yearns to use time travel to unravel tragedy, perhaps even bring back his parents. Schmidt uses a third-person direct address style. As she tells Adam's story, she provides hints and sentiments that provide a warm, comforting backdrop, as do her narrative metaphors and sensory details of the bakery. Adam is sympathetic, both because of his lonely childhood and his empathy for everyone he meets. The people Adam encounters and those connected with the three artifacts are all intriguing, and a greedy time thief adds a dangerous element to the last few chapters. While Schmidt makes connections between everyone Adam meets and his future, there's a curious, incomplete feeling to the story. Adam sees and learns many things, but he is an observer to much of the action, and the story lacks forward propulsion. VERDICT Elegant writing and an imaginative conceit may compensate for a passive story. Purchase where Kathryn Littlewood's Bliss or Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me are popular.-Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Lib. Assoc., CT

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2020
Grades 4-6 An upbeat ending belies the sobering lesson at the heart of this time-slip tale: that trying to monkey with events is dangerous, futile, and life-ruining. When a strange customer remarks that adventures await him in the attic above his uncle's New York bakery, shy, lonely, orphaned young Adam finds a mysterious snow globe that transports him from 1999 back to the 1930s and into other decades to meet and bond with several children who, oddly, take his sudden appearances and disappearances in stride. Gradually a complex, looping plotline emerges, involving the Barons, four generations of villainous businessmen; a catastrophic 1967 fire at their candle factory; and three magical tokens. In time (literally) Adam comes into possession of all three, but even as he's learning that they are more curse than gift, he finds himself being stalked and then attacked by Robert Baron IV, a twisted, vicious killer. Schmidt doesn't make it easy to keep track of all the comings and goings down the years, but she'll leave readers thoughtfully making connections and drawing conclusions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)