Found (The Missing, #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Found (The Missing, #1) Reviews

• 
  Becky

  Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 2008. The Missing Book 1: Found.
  
  I may be a bit biased--slightly--since I love, love, love Margaret Peterson Haddix. My expectations were high with this her first book in a new series. And I was NOT disappointed. I was WOWed. I'm not foolish enough to think that this one will WOW every single kid, teen, or adult out there. But for those that love science fiction and mysteries...this one is for you.
  
  Here's the opening of the prologue: "It wasn't there. Then it was. Later, that was how Angela DuPre would describe the airplane--over and over, to one investigator after another--until she was told never to speak of it again. But when she first saw the plane that night, she wasn't thinking about mysteries or secrets."
  
  What Angela DuPre witnessed on her first day of the job was indescribably unbelievable. Perplexing. A plane that appeared and disappeared on the runway. A plane that she found minus the pilot and flight attendants. A flight were all thirty-six passengers were babies. Sounds crazy, right? How could an unscheduled plane--a plane that did not show up on any of their radars--land on their runway to begin with? How could it have gotten there without a pilot on board? Why babies? But even more strange was the fact that once the babies were unloaded, and the proper authorities called...the plane vanished into thin air. Angela DuPre witnessed the unbelievable alright. But she wasn't crazy.
  
  The Found opens thirteen years later. Our hero is a boy named Jonah. He's got a best friend, Chip, and a slightly younger sister, Katherine. Our book opens with the arrival of several mystery letters. Two letters. Thirteen words. Lives are going to change.
  
  "You are one of the missing."
  and
  "Beware! They're coming back to get you."
  
  Found is a suspenseful, mysterious action-and-adventure novel that will thrill those that love science fiction. Of course I can't promise that it will "thrill" every reader. But I know it kept me reading. I couldn't put it down. And I was loving every minute of it. The pacing was just right. The characters were nicely developed--and are sure to improve upon with each novel that is published in the series. The only problem with the book is that it left me wanting more...wanting more now! I don't want to have to wait for the next novel to come out. I want to know what happens to Jonah and Katherine and Chip NOW! There's this intensity and immediacy that I just don't find in many other books.
• 
  Betsy

  I’m a children’s librarian so I get to see a lot of children’s books pass through my hallowed public library doors. Lots. But a person can’t see everything so once in a while I like to traipse down to my friendly neighborhood bookstore to see what’s on the shelves. I skip into the children’s section, peruse the titles there, skim one or two just to see if I’d like to read them later, and that’s it. End of story. Normally. This past week-end I skipped in as per usual and skimmed the titles of the new fall releases. A new P.E. Kerr... something by F.E. Higgins... and a new Margaret Peterson Haddix. Now there’s a treat! I’m not the biggest Haddix fan in the world but I’m rather fond of her style. Kids love her
  Among the Hidden series and
  Running Out of Time was a fun concept (so much so that perhaps director M. Night Shymalan thought so too). But I’ve never really fallen for a Haddix novel, you know? The writing just usually doesn’t do it for me. Maybe it’s the tone or the content or something, but I wasn’t really digging the Haddix. Until now. You see, as I sat down in the bookstore’s café to read a chapter I found myself sucked into the story. Does it contain some lickety split action sequences and leaps that stretch at my adult credulity? Sure. But I also feel that this may be some of Haddix’s best work. It doesn’t necessarily stand on its own due to its cliffhanger ending, but if you want to hand a kid something fun, fast-paced, and deeply mysterious then this is the book to surrender.
  
  Thirteen years ago an airline attendant saw something impossible. When the plane appeared on the tarmac it somehow appeared without anyone realizing it had landed. Stranger still, it contained no pilot, no crew, no adults at all. Just thirty-six babies strapped in their seats. Fast forward to present day when new friends Jonah and Chip check the former’s mailbox. There, resting inside is an unsigned note that simply reads, “You are one of the missing.” A cruel prank? It certainly seems that way until Chip gets the same letter. Then they both get a follow-up that reads “Beware! They’re coming back to get you.” They? They who? There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to the notes until Chip discovers that he and Jonah have something in common. They were both adopted. And with the help of Jonah’s sister Katherine there’s more to discover. Why does an FBI agent have information about the boys’ birth parents? Why did Katherine see a man appear and disappear in an office one day? Who’s been sneaking around Jonah’s room, looking through his things? And what’s the real story behind that plane? The answers lead the kids to discover their connection to seemingly impossible events.
  
  I’m a sucker for books that contain anonymous notes. Such letters appear in stories like
  The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer and you librarians out there will understand what I mean when I say that they make it easy to booktalk titles. I also love mysteries, frightening moments, and plucky protagonists. Actually that final item is a bit odd in this book. Though our hero in this story is clearly Jonah, the boy spends much of the novel with his fingers in his ears going “LALALALALALALA!” while his friend and sister do much of the investigating on his behalf. Credit where credit is due, though. The kids really do discover a ton of information, and in a way that makes sense to the plot and is plausible. Anytime a kid in a book breaks into a locked room with a hairpin my eyebrows make a break for my hairline and it takes a while to coax them down. No coaxing was required as I read Haddix’s novel. My eyebrows remained firmly in place the entire time.
  
  Authors today face several conundrums when it comes to writing contemporary realistic (or realistic-ish) fiction. First of all, how are your child characters living in the suburbs getting around? It’s not as if a lot of suburban kids take the bus, after all. Like most authors, Haddix goes for the old bike riding solution. The next problem? Cell phones. In the past your characters would find themselves in a perilous situation and be helpless and unable to alert anyone to their location. Cell phones, fortunately, can only work where there’s a signal so chalk that up to another problem solved. It’s easy to work around contemporary technology, but a good writer should make use of it. If a kid has a phone with camera capabilities, then that should come in handy. And Haddix definitely sees electronic devices as a way to aid and abet the action rather than hinder it. Other authors take note. Sure, technology changes but when it comes to something like cell phone cameras such devices will be around for a while. Might as well make your book believable by utilizing them.
  
  Okay. So here’s my official SPOILER ALERT warning. If you would like to be surprised by the secret of this book, stop reading this review right now. I liked it. Nuff said.
  
  They gone? Great. As those of you who have read the book are aware, the secret behind this story is that the babies on the plane is that they’re all famous children that died sometime in history. The Lindbergh baby. The kids that Richard III slaughtered. Princess Anastasia (and her little bro). People from the future pay big bucks to raise such kids, but we never really learn who Chip and Jonah are. We can probably rule out the children mentioned in the book, so who does that leave? My hope is that Jonah will turn out to be The Dauphin. That’d be pretty cool, right? As for Chip, why not Henry VIII’s kid, Edward VI? Both are famous in history. Both would yield fascinating speculations. That’s just my two cents.
  
  Haddix is certainly not flying by the
  A Sound of Thunder rules of time travel here, by the way. People can apparently make fairly large changes to the past without worrying about how the ripple affect is going to damage the future. Apparently it isn’t until you’re plopping babies from the past into the twenty-first century that things start to get messed up. How nice that the universe is so flexible. It certainly should be a load off of time travelers’ minds, that’s for sure.
  
  I’ve heard some people voice objections to the book in terms of the action sequences. Is it plausible that two kids would be able to make a last minute plan when they both bend down to tie a shoelace? Meh. And as for the fight scenes, maybe they aren’t the greatest I’ve ever encountered but they didn’t sufficiently distract me from the rest of the book to keep me from enjoying it. Haddix isn’t going to win any major literary awards with this novel, but she’ll probably garner more than a few kids choice medals and ribbons. And quite frankly, that’s the kind of stuff you need to keep in your library. Haddix is a crowd pleaser at heart along the lines of fellow three-namers
  Mary Downing Hahn or
  Willo Davis Roberts. But for what it’s worth, I think she improves as she goes. Found is undoubtedly the book of hers that I’ve enjoyed the most. Looking forward to the sequel.
  
  Ages 9-14.
  
• 
  Prabhjot Kaur

  Jonah and Chip, they both know that they are adopted and are on good terms with that. They start to get mysterious letters and decide to investigate it further. Jonah's sister who's not adopted joins in on the investigation as well. I really liked the brother-sister relationship between Jonah and Katherine.
  
  We get to know that Jonah and Chip are the kids stolen from History and there are others like them. It involves time travel which was not explained much as to how it works. I'm guessing since it's a series, we'll find out more in the next books.
  
  I recommend it to Sci-Fi fans.
  
  3 stars
• 
  Tina ➹ Woman, Life, Freedom

  3.5 Silver Stars
  
  it has a great mysterious plot, interesting concept,
  good thrilling start
  it was so intriguing I finished it in a day!
  & made me curious all the way to see what will happen to the characters & why
  but it was a middle grade (Not regardless of age because the characters acted childish sometimes & at some points the whole plot wasn't attracting me enough)
  so yeah 3 is good
• 
  Anne

  Per the summary: When thirteen-year-old friends Jonah and Chip, who re both adopted, find out that they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies, with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to capture them.
  
  The first two-thirds of the book were okay - a little dragged out and sometimes frustrating - but the last third of the book, which reveals the time travelers and their intentions, was very disappointing. The science doesn't make sense and at several points the author seems to forget that a large group is present - only the main characters do anything.
  
  This is the first book in the series. I'm not sure I'll pick up the next one.
• 
  Denise Johnson

  "Found" is my first review on goodreads. Since a synopsis of the book is available, I'm not going to recap the plot, but simply give my thoughts.
  
  I am a fan of Margaret Haddix's work and have read "Running Out of Time" and the Shadow Children series among others which are in the same genre as "Found." However, Haddix's writing spans a range of genres and I recently read "Uprising," which is historical fiction, and it was excellent. I am also a big fan of fantasy/scifi and reading the first book in a new series is always exciting. I get that feeling of starting a new adventure that you really hope is exciting. In the case of "Found," I was not disappointed. Time travel is certainly common in children's books but Haddix puts a fresh twist on it by including time thieves who recklessly steal babies for profit regardless of the consequences to the future and time police who are out to stop the thieves even if it means that the stolen children must go back in time, leave their families, and even die. The children are caught in the middle.
  
  Though the idea for the book is exciting, the plot occasionally bogged down, the characters were frustrating at times and two dimensional for the most part, and, having a teenager myself, I often questioned the authenticity of the thoughts and dialogue of the main characters. It also seems clear as to the direction of the series. With that said however, I'll definitely read the second book to find out what happens based on the decision Jonah made at the end of the book.
  
• 
  Kate Willis

  If you ever can’t find me in a crowd, just say “this book has timey wimey and pro-life themes” and I will come running like I’m traveling with the Doctor.
  
  I’ve begun to count on Margaret Peterson Haddix to deliver these themes, and this book was no exception.
  
  The sibling loyalty and sleuthing were my favorites, and I loved that super suspenseful first scene. O.o. Also, I’m a fan of a certain mysterious janitor. XD
  
  The whole “missing from history” concept was one thing I was most excited about, and I loved the little bit we got in this book. (And I hear there’s more in the rest of the series. :D )
  
  Altogether, this was a fun, intriguing read. ;) I may continue with this series in the future.
• 
  Michelle

  Both of my girls are adoped and so I had a connection to this story that was unexpected. Imagine having your adopted child receive a letter that tells them "You are one of the missing" That would freak me out! Well, that is what actually happens in this book. I really enjoyed this book. It was an action packed book.
• 
  Marley

  I first picked this book thinking, Well I've read a lot, so why not start a new series? I wasn't expecting much, but I was wrong.
  
  The plot. So It was running fine but then it took a surprising twist in the middle that just keeps you hooked. I couldn't put it down without thinking, what now?
  
  Jonah. He reminds me of, well, me. Super cautious and wanting to live life the same way. Yet he's good at figuring things out.
  
  The ending. All I can say is wow. The whole cave thing amazed me. I kept thinking, what are you doing Jonah?!?
  And when they teleported to the 15th century, I was speechless. Jonah and Kathrine going with Chip really proved their friendship.
  
  Now I wonder, what would have happened if they were to late to grab Chip's arm? Who is Jonah. What happens now?
• 
  Sesana

  This is the first book in the Missing series. I've heard really, really good things about this book, and they're all true. I almost read it in one sitting, not bad for a 300 page book. A plane mysteriously appears at an airport, carrying only 36 babies. No pilot, no crew, no adults at all. As soon as the babies are unloaded, the plane vanishes again. Thirteen years later, Jonah (adopted) and his new friend Chris (also adopted, though he doesn't know it at the beginning of the story) start getting strange (identical) messages, and begin researching their adoptions to find some strange things. The mystery of who they really are and where they really came from is (mostly) solved by the end of the book, but there's still a lot left to cover. I'll be reading the rest of this series.
• 
  Jessica

  Oh, CURSE YOU, MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX! As with the Shadow Children books, she's giving us another edge of your seat, what the heck will happen next series, and I'm hooked. I bought this book because I was just at a conference with her, and wanted to get something signed . . . and there went the next couple days of my life! An utterly new and intriguing scenario that will keep you guessing, with plenty of twists that you won't see coming!
• 
  Angie Miles

  4.5 this was so much better than I remembered I can’t wait for the rest omg
• 
  Susan

  Great adventure!
• 
  Tyler S.

  This book was way better than I remembered reading it a long time ago. The beginning seemed pretty boring but in the middle all the action and conspiracy happened and it good good again. I liked the book but I did not absolutely love it. I will probably read the series because I wonder what happened to the main character and his sister when ____ happened. Overall, I liked the book and people should read this.
• 
  audy (wylan's version)

  SPOILERS (ish)
  Um... this was good? When I first picked this up, I was a bit sceptical of how it would turn out. I had flipped to a few pages and read it, and I didn't see a lot that appealed to me... but I never DNF, so I decided to try my hand at The Missing series.
  First of all... can we appreciate the cover? *chef's kiss* The cover gives me a beautiful sci-fi vibe and was one of the reasons why I decided to borrow this book.
  Ok, now to the review...
  
  The plot's really cool, it opens a door to new laws of time travel and sci-fi. Chip, Jonah, and Katherine (one of my favourite characters, she's that sassy loveable character that I absolutely LOVE) are stuck deep in this dilemma after Chip and Jonah gets weird letters that are a (metaphorical) invitation to a LOT of conspiracy, ideas, and investigating.
  It's realistic: no super-human powers, no unrealistic big brain moment, and a lot of fun. The whole 'disappearing plane' thing's really different than usual sci-fi I read, but that made it feel even better in my opinion.
  
  I'm giving this a 4 out of 5 because the beginning was a bit slow, and it took a lot of guessing, but most first-books of a series are usually the most boring because it's the whole 'realisation' era where people are learning about who they really are.
  Even though Jonah already knew he was an orphan, I still feel like it's a bit... I dunno, odd that Chip and Jonah are both orphans. Again, this is just my opinion, and it doesn't change my rating at all. Just a note.
  They ended at the WORST (AKA best) cliff-hanger, 'Welcome to the 15th Century', and I can't wait to read the next book!
  
  Let's play... Q n A with Audy!
  
  Question 1: Rating?
  I'd rate it a 4.2 ish, but it's overall a pretty solid book.
  
  Question 2: Age?
  13+ or YA. There's no 'mature' or 'older content', but I think younger audiences would have a harder time figuring it out. Thankfully everyone on Goodread should be over 13...
  
  Question 3: Genre?
  I think hardcore fans of surrealistic, sci-fi, shady plot, etc would really like this book, but I'm not a hardcore fan of sci-fi but still had a great time reading this.
  
  Question 4: Anything else?
  Uh... yes. WHY THIS [redacted because of big spoilers] AND [redacted] DID [redacted] *screams at microphone as I finish typing my review*
  
  Audy --> out
  
  hope this review helped! happy reading xx
• 
  Barb Middleton

  I was plopped between two 5th graders in the fiction section of S's and W's with my legs crossed booktalking like an auctioneer. Sigh. Joy. My favorite part of my job. These two youngsters were not put-off by my rapid-fire read-this-read-that spiel. I have to tone it down for most as their eyes cross or their whites show. But not these two. They inhaled the book information interrupting me to chuck in their own opinions. So imagine my double joy when one jumps up and says "just a minute," and runs to another section to return with a book she thrusts in my hands and says, "you've gotta read this one."
  
  Found is about Jonah, an adopted boy, whose new friend, Chip discovers he's adopted as well. The two begin getting scary letters in the mail about people coming to get them and being "missing." Katherine, Jonah's sister plunges into the mystery headfirst trying to find answers along with Chip as to the background behind their adoptions. Jonah becomes more reluctant as the answers unfold and he isn't so sure he wants to find out the mysteriousness of his adoption. The story unfolds to an exciting climax that will make you want to read book 2.
  
  Students like this series that sweeps readers along with gobs of action and creepiness. The writing descriptions are not gorgeous nor is the dialogue witty but it is a quick fun read. I do think Katherine upstages Jonah as the main character. She's such a spunky, gutsy gal with a quick brain and eye for details. She's just a plain 'ole fun character. Jonah sticks his head in the sand until the very end where he is forced to either show some leadership skills or fade into the rocks.
  
  Not all the questions are answered in this book. We don't know who Jonah is historically and he isn't really described so the reader can't take a stab at guessing. Well, you can take a stab at it but chances are you'll be wrong. We also don't know what happened to Daniella. It isn't clear Katherine's role in the series either but I think she's an interesting character that has to be in the next book based on how Found ends. A good series for your library.
  
  Reading Level 5.0
  
• 
  Sam Bloom

  Extremely quick-moving read, and really enjoyable. This is the first book of hers I've read (I need to read "Among the Hidden," obviously). A plane appears out of nowhere, full of crying babies... and no one else. No pilots, flight attendants, parents... nobody. What a premise! Then, we fast-forward 13 years and meet Jonah, who keeps getting cryptic letters with no return address. The letters are related to the fact that Jonah is adopted, which is related to that weird airplane from the beginning of the book. I'll look forward to book 2!
• 
  Kadi P

  This was not a book. This was pure curiosity bottled up. This was absolute perfection!!
  
  Every chapter heaped on a pile of mystery and curiosity and fear. There were parts that genuinely made me shiver I was actually scared for the characters.
  
  I cannot put into words how fantastic this book was. The mystery was so superb, so intense. The way all the pieces fit together like this gigantic jigsaw puzzle. This deserves its place on my all time faves shelf, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. I cannot wait to see what comes next...
• 
  Zoe

  
  
  
  Margaret Peterson Haddix's
  Among the Hidden series is one of my favorite dystopian series because of how utterly thought provoking and eerily plausible it is; so I was curious to see what she was able to do with Found. And she certainly didn't disappoint.
  

  It wasn't there. Then it was.

  It's Angela DuPre's first day on the job working for an airline, and she's determined not to screw it up. But, of course, that's not possible. Her entire life turns upside down when she sees an unscheduled and unannounced jet arrive that appears as if to come out of thin air. Curious, she goes to check on it; but she soon finds there's no one in the plane. No pilot, no flight attendants, no passengers...nobody, except for thirty-six infants.
  
  Thirteen years later, Jonah and his best friend Chip begin receiving threatening messages, the most ominous of which claims they are one of "the missing." In a search for their identities, they become wrapped up in a conspiracy that they would have never dreamed possible.
  
  Haddix's new series begins with a huge bang. Within the 400 pages of this book, there is nearly no room to breathe. This is jam-packed with action, twists, suspense and mystery; all with a sinister undertone that when the next gigantic twist will be revealed.
  
  From the cautious Jonah, to the easygoing Chip, to Katherine, each character had ample development. Haddix's characters feel eerily real and raw, and you can't help but feel connected to them.
  
  Something that stands out in Haddix's novel is her use of family relationships and friendships. The relationship between Jonah, his sister Katherine, and their parents is written in a way that is realistic and that allows you to root for them. Jonah's parents are involved in the book in a way that is realistic (no absent parent syndrome here!), and the dynamics between Jonah and Katherine feel wholly realistic. Additionally, Jonah's relationship with his best friend Chip is one that I really liked. Chip and Jonah's friendship is positive and realistic at the same time, a realisticness that is much less common than it should be in young adult literature.
  
  The concept of Found alone has the thrill and the suspense of a Twilight Zone episode, and the execution is just as good. Filled with twists and turns at every corner, and with an extremely suspenseful atmosphere, Found goes to prove what a strong writer Haddix is.
• 
  Jayelee

  Expect very one sided opinions because i dont really like time travel books. MAKE ME BRAIN HURT :P
  
  
  
  Though i dont really like time travel the book was pretty good. If u are a fan of time travel, then you will love this book. Maybe. Or u will hate it. Who knows?
• 
  JG (Introverted Reader)

  It's very hard to summarize this book without giving anything away. Let's see.... Jonah Skidmore was adopted when he was three months old. Just before his thirteenth birthday, he receives a cryptic message in the mail and he starts questioning the little that he knows about his past.
  
  Very, very bare bones there. After getting hooked by the fantastic prologue, I had a little bit of an idea as to where this might be going. I was right to an extent, but mostly I was hugely surprised by the time the ending rolled around. I woke up, started this as I ate breakfast, kept reading, and finished it in about three hours. Sure, it's an older kids' book and I'm a pretty fast reader, but I could not put this down. The action and discoveries didn't stop and I just kept frantically turning pages to find out more.
  
  Jonah is an engaging character. Not too good, not too bad--just your average seventh-grader. His actions, reactions, and interactions all felt real to me. Even his sister Katherine and his friend Chip are believable and well fleshed-out. I will say that the Skidmore parents felt a little too perfect.
  
  Really, there are only two things keeping this from being a five-star book for me. One, it's science fiction and I'm not really a fan of the genre. Two, by the time I got to the ending, I felt like this was mostly set up for the following book(s). There's nothing wrong with that, and there's nothing really wrong with this book, but I feel like there's room for the sequel to be even better and I just want to leave some wiggle room in my ratings. If I were the author, I would feel cheated, but there you go. Four stars.
  
  Highly recommended as a surprising page-turner for young teenagers and even those older folks who don't allow the age of a protagonist to keep them from enjoying a great story.
• 
  Heather

  My sister sent me a copy because she LOVED it. So I read it today and I quite liked it.
  
  As a mother of an adopted son I must say this book made me a tad uncomfortable - what if someone tried to take him back? NNNOOOOOOO!!! But it was interesting to read the characters' emotions as they discussed adoption, learned they were adopted or were the sibling of an adopted child. I think the characters were very well done and the emotions and thoughts were true to life.
  
  This book is a bit science fictiony. You won't like it if you don't like sci fi. The first part of the book was a little slow. The last part was a little too fast. But overall I enjoyed it and would read the second book. I do hate though when a book just ends totally abruptly and right on the edge of a major discovery. I HATE waiting for the next book. I typically like to read a series after it's all written so I don't have to wait. Except for HP, and Leven Thumps, and Fablehaven, and Artemis Fowl....oh, I need to shut up.
  
  It's geared towards 4th graders on up but I disagree with that most heartily. I don't think this book appropriate until 7th grade or higher. For one, I think younger kids would be bored with the slow start (a lot of it is about feelings) and second, I think it's just subject matter that's a little more grown-up.
  
  At first I really liked Jonah's family's relationship but after a while he started getting snippy and rude to his parents. He's never really bad, but it still grated a bit. His friend Chip is from a pretty disfunctional family which could be a good discussion topic.
  
  A good, fast, fun read.
• 
  Chris Zable

  I am *so* not the target audience for this middle grade sci-fi thriller! I really enjoyed it, though, finding it compulsively readable. I didn't find the characterization deep or convincing, but it was a very fun ride. I'll probably be reading the whole series.
• 
  Nolan Mitchell

  Found is a book that starts right off with the drama. It is not a lot, but it is enough to get you wondering and thinking. Throughout the book you are left off with surprises and cliff hangers, that makes you want to keep reading. The main character (Johna) is always doubting himself and can never believe what he is hearing or seeing, but as the book goes on he matures and learns how to stick with his decisions and stops trying to find a logical explanation for everything. Overall Found was a good book that I hope is going to start off a good series.
• 
  Vanessa Lopez

  It was a very mysterious and fun book. It was amazing. I really loved their adventure and made me even feel that I was there too.
• 
  Julia

  Absolutely crazy plot.
• 
  Kerri

  I didn't actually like this book, but as I am pretty sure I would have when I was the target audience, I gave it a 3 stars instead of 2.
  
  This book is mostly set-up, but I feel like Haddix is going to do a thing with different eras in time like what Rick Riordan does with mythology, to try to make it more approachable. I could be very wrong but that is the impression I get. I honestly don't really know what to say about the rest of the book.
  
  As an adult, it was just kind of boring. I didn't care about the characters or mysteries, I felt no attachment at all. Everything was too convenient and answers were jumped to so rapidly. People who say they have answers just beat about the bush in really awkward ways. There are too many loopholes and discrepancies.
  
  Awkward. That's the word I want for this book: it is awkward and clunky.
  
  As a child, though, I would not have noticed all of that, would have taken it in stride, and would eagerly pick up the next to find out what happens. How will they fix the 15th century? How will they fix all the centuries so all the kids can stay with their 21st century families and all end up back in the cave and at the conference safe and sound? My younger self would care, but my adult self does not.
• 
  Dorian

  Wow, this book was insane. It was super slow for the majority of it, but it got so action-packed at the end. If you read this and are wondering if its worth it to push through the slow part to get to the end, you definitely should because the explosive ending made it so worth it.
  
  I definitely think this was a little bit of a filler book, but its also super necessary because it really explains what the hell is going on without it feeling like an info dump. This book was super suspenseful, and the ending was insanity, but the main point of this book, I think, was to set up for the second book. I think the pace is going to pick up so much in the next book, there is going to be so much more action, and it is just going to be crazy town.
  
  While I couldn't really connect to the characters because they are so young compared to me, I think they were relatively well-fleshed out. I think we will really get to know them more as the series goes on, but overall, I never felt like they were flat or static characters. They definitely grew and developed over the course of the book, which I really appreciated.
  
  I also appreciated the fact that there was no love in this story. Don't get me wrong. I love me a good love story, but it's so refreshing sometimes to just read a book without one, and this definitely did not need one, not just because of their age but also because it honestly would have felt out of place given the circumstances of the plot and everything that happens. So I really liked that it was definitely more about friendship and family than any kind of romantic relationships.
  
  Overall, I really loved the characters and the writing and plot and world, and I am so excited to read the next book. It is going to be epic, I can already tell. I highly recommend you check out this series because it is just so fantastic!
• 
  Nancy

  hmm...I'm rounding up to three stars simply because it wasn't as bad as I went in thinking it would be. The three stars would probably be an accurate rating from a reader in the target age group, which is juvenile or middle reader.
  
  Does this book meet C.S. Lewis's criteria?
  “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” C.S. Lewis
  I'm well over fifty and say no, not this book. So then I have to ask, was there any value in the book?
  
  Pro: There is the possibility of an interesting story here, although time travel is always tricky. The author lays out some 'time travel rules' (late in the book) that are pretty concrete and she does so in a way that doesn't muddy the water which I find often happens when the phenomenon is 'explained' in the story.
  Con: The book is like a long introduction to the REAL story which we don't get here; you have to read the other 7 books to get that, I guess. It's funny, because there is a prologue to start off this book. I think what follows is simply a longer prologue to the next book or books.
  
  Pro: There is a lot of talk about adoption and adjustments to adoption for all concerned. That might be helpful for someone.
  Pro: There is an example of a strong, loving, supportive family, so that is good.
  Pro: There are traits of friendship and loyalty and bravery and integrity displayed.
  Con: There is also a whole lot of snark. I suppose most kids go through this stage. It was somewhat balanced by moments of kindness and expressions of love between kids, so maybe it was realistic? The question is, will YOUR child read this and see the nastiness in the sass or will they feel like they've just got some new pointers and want to try it out?
  
  I was intrigued, but the writing and plot were not enough for me to continue the series.