Time Sight

Jonell beguilingly entwines history and fiction in this sprawling time travel novel set at Menzies Castle in the Scottish Highlands. Will and Jamie Menzies arrive from the U.S. to stay with relatives, who keep the family castle open to tourists. Their father, meanwhile, is searching for their mother, who was recently taken hostage during a medical mission to a war-ravaged country. Exploring the fortress, 12-year-old Will discovers that he has Time Sight, which transports him, his younger brother, and their Scots cousin back to critical moments in their ancestors’ lives. Among the events they witness are the rival Stewart clan’s burning of the castle in the Middle Ages and escalating tensions between warring Picts and Romans during the Iron Age. Jonell (The Sign of the Cat), a descendant of the Menzies clan, provides vivid recreations of these episodes, made even more immediate and involving given that each unfolds on the site of the present-day castle, and Mildenberger’s airy pictures deftly incorporate past and present action. Will’s awakening to his strong bond with his ancestors and to the senseless violence that molded history and currently threatens his own mother’s safety gives the story additional acuity and depth. Ages 8–11. [em]Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management. (May) [/em]