Monday, May 16, 2011

YA Time-Travel Books

     Since I've written a YA time-travel novel, I figured I should research and read the other YA time-travel novels out there. Surprisingly, the Internet revealed very few. Now, I know that the lists I found are missing some. None of them mentioned Mandy Hubbard's Prada and Prejudice- a book I loved and definitely a time-travel book. So I'm thinking there's more out there to discover.
     There were two that I did manage to get my hands on and I read them both this past weekend. The first one: Emily The Strange: Dark Times by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner.

     I'm guessing that this book is kind of like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I've only flipped through that one but they are both diary form instead of novel-like. This one though deals with a girl who is, well, strange. But not just strange- almost paranormal strange. You don't really know why at first but you get the sense of her throughout the book. Especially since her voice is just so THERE. If you want a book with voice- this is it. There are illustrations throughout, which are fun, and I especially loved Emily's made up swear words like, Balgfarx! and What the glamkins? and flamdrab it! All in all it was a great book- my only struggle was that I just wasn't used to diary form.

     The other book I read, last night in a couple of hours, was The Time-Traveling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky. Obviously I enjoyed the book since I couldn't put it down and finished it quickly. It's YA, except the MC is only 12, which made it seem more MG to me, but whatever. There were similarities between my book and this one so it was easy for me to connect with it, but it was different enough that I didn't feel worried about my own book looking like a knock-off. Louise, the MC, is obsessed with vintage fashion and when she tries on a vintage dress she goes back in time. What I found interesting was that the book blurb doesn't mention the fact that she ends up on the Titanic. To me that would be a huge selling point so why not put it on the cover flap? Is it a big secret? Maybe it's supposed to be since it takes Louise forever to figure out what boat she's on. I knew from the moment she got there and read April 12,1912 on the newspaper so I kept waiting for the moment when she'd finally figure it out.
    I loved the history, the mention of famous names who were on the boat, the descriptions of the rooms and the food. I really loved the descriptions and the illustrations throughout of the clothes. And the Titanic story really gets to me so I loved that about the book. I only wished she would have done more with the actual sinking. And made the MC a little older. But other than that, I loved the book.
     I'm looking out for other YA time-travel books. Does anyone know any that I could add to my reading list?

1 comment:

  1. I wrote a book called Dangerous Reflections. You can read excerpts on my website (shayfabbro.com).

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