Bring Back Yesterday

Time travel and issues of airline safety mix with the themes of friendship and bereavement in this eclectic novel. When Lisa's parents are killed in a Lockerbie-like plane disaster, one of the many changes in Lisa's life is the reappearance after many years of her imaginary childhood friend, Rooji. Rooji, amorphous in identity, takes the guise of a struggling actor in Elizabethan England, a time and place which Lisa is studying in school and to which she is mentally transported during periods of tension and pressure. Sirof (Because She's My Friend) skillfully parallels Lisa's escapist adventures with the events in her real life, allowing her a setting in which she can safely overcome some of her fears as well as uncap the long-unexpressed pain over her parents' deaths. As Lisa slowly heals, Rooji disappears and the time travel stops. But the lessons she learns--forgiveness of her guardian, an aunt whose advocacy of airline safety often goes to the extreme; the acceptance of genuine overtures of friendship; and the ability to grieve openly for her parents--linger on. Given the recent tragedy of TWA Flight #800, this novel is likely to attract unusual interest. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)