Scary books for 11 year old girl
Lisa Marie Nixon
I am looking for scary books for my niece, soon to
turn 11. She is currently reading Goosebumps (are these of any
value?) and looking for other material to read. Preferably
without ghosts. Any suggestions?
Please allow me to thank you in advance!
Marie Nixon
Janet E. Rubin
Scary books? My son (almost 10) says the Goosebumps books are not
scary. He likes the John Bellairs books (all of them) and thinks they
are kind of scary. A Wrinkle in Time is scary too.
Julia and Ted Gray
Well, any book by Zilpha Keatley Snyder can be suspensful and would be
great for that age. I agree about John Bellairs (Eyes of the Killer
Robot, etc.). Howe's books featuring "John Barth" could work - although
they are more mystery - and his younger BUNNICULA series is fantastic -
but more mystery than scary, besides being funny.
For Zilpha Keatley Snyder, try "The Egypt Game." If she likes that,
there are a lot more by the author that are just as good.
pixie child
Phillis Naylor's _Witch_ series (_Witch Herself_, Witch's Sister_, _Witch
Water_, _Witch's Eye_) has real sense of menace and I think is really scary.
How about Poe stuff? an 11 years old and well-read child may enjoy Poe
tremendously. But, I guess the person who recommends that to the child
has to know the child well to make the call.
-- fairrosa
========================================================================
Man in the middle: I want to forget that fish.
Man on the right: I want to curate that fish.
Man on the left: I want to fillet that fish.
-- BLUE MAN GROUP --
========================================================================
Wendy E. Betts
The person who mentioned their son found _A Wrinkle in Time_
scary--coupled with the fact I was reading _So You Want to Be a
Wizard_ and it was scaring the living daylights out of me--made
me think that it would be interesting to start a thread about really
good books which are also scary. I'm not familiar with the
"goosebumps" series, but I have read other books by Stine and frankly,
he can barely use words of one syllble. It would be nice to be able to
show kids other books that can give them what they want and also
introduce them to new ideas and richer language.
I think if librarians booktalked the alternative New York scenes from
_So You Want to Be a Wizard_ it would go over really well with horror
fans. Anyway, let's hear your suggestions and I'll save 'em to post
to Donnie Curtis' gopher site as good booktalk possibilities.
--
Wendy E. Betts, Editor "The WEB: Celebrating Children's Literature"
finger w...@deeptht.armory.com; http://www.armory.com/~web/web.html
"Personally I just let fashion go...if I wash behind my ears and don't
slouch, that's about as far as I care to go." _Freddy the Pied Piper_
Irina Rempt
(rr...@netnews.upenn.edu) wrote on Re: Worthwhile scary books was Re: Scary books for
11 year old girl
> money running out... _The Hobbit_ and _Fellowship of the Ring_
could
> drop you in your tracks if you weren't careful...
_The Fellowship of the Ring_ *did* drop me in my tracks when I first
read it at about 11. It was the scene where Gandalf throws the Ring
in the fire that did it. I was too scared to start again for over a
year.
Some of Diana Wynne Jones' stuff can be pretty scary too, more so in
subsequent readings. The first time you devour it. The second time
you savour it. The third time it makes you think. The fourth time it
scares you... Try _The Homeward Bounders_ or _Fire and Hemlock_ (or
_Hexwood_ for that matter, once you get through the first 50 pages where
nothing seems to happen).
Irina
--
"Well, now that we have seen each other," said the Unicorn,
"if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?"
"Yes, if you like," said Alice.
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
Brian McG.
>
>Hello all!
>
>I am looking for scary books for my niece, soon to
>turn 11. She is currently reading Goosebumps (are these of any
>value?) and looking for other material to read. Preferably
>without ghosts. Any suggestions?
>
are scary but they are definitely better books than Goosebumps in
terms of quality!!! The best one is "The House with a Clock in its
Walls"--you may have to special order this book because many
bookstores don't carry his books in stock!! I definitely reccommend them!!
Brian L. Mc
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
blm...@lulu.acns.nwu.edu
Roxanne Hsu Feldman
Now is the actual message:
The other book by Mary Dunning Hahn that is also very scary is _Doll in
the Garden_.
Pam Conrad's _Stone Words_ is my all time favorite ghost story. Zoe
befriends a little girl her own age whose name is also Zoe and nobody
else can see her. They "grow up" together in the old house of Zoe's
grandparents'. Of course, the "invisible" Zoe is a ghost and she is
pleading the "real life" Zoe to go back in time and save her from her
accidental death on her 9th birthday 100 years ago.
It is suspenseful, at times really gorey, and overall very touching. I
always recommend it to 4-6 graders who are looking for something really
scary have already finished all the Stine books.
--
-- fairrosa
@netcom.com
@phantom.com
Roxanne Hsu Feldman
: In article <Oct27.185...@acs.ucalgary.ca>, lmn...@acs.ucalgary.ca (Lisa Marie Nixon) writes:
: > Hello all!
: > I am looking for scary books for my niece, soon to
: > turn 11. She is currently reading Goosebumps (are these of any
: > value?) and looking for other material to read. Preferably
: > without ghosts. Any suggestions?
: You might try Wait Til Helen Comes by Hahn. A sister and brother must decide
: if they want to save their bratty 7-year old stepsister from a ghost in the
: graveyard behind their Church-converted home. Very popular with my middle
: school students.
: Also, my favorites are Richard Peck's series about Blossom Culp:
: The Ghost Belonged to Me
: Ghosts I have been
: The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp
: Blossom Culp and the Sleep of Death ??? not sure on this title.
: Cindy Dobrez
: West Ottawa Middle School Library
: Holland, MI 49424
: woms_...@wmich.edu
Amy W. Graham
looks like it's been reprinted by Beech Tree Books in 1993. The story is
about a young girl who goes to stay with her aunt or grandmother and is
'haunted' by the ghost of the woman's dead daughter. I re-read it as an
adult -it's still excellent.
--
Amy Wissoker Graham
Swarthmore College Library
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore PA 19081
agra...@cc.swarthmore.edu
"Happy dat day to-day" -- Happy birthday, as sung by Ethan Graham b.1/8/93
Amy Mossman
"A Candle in Her Room" and "Requiem for a Princess" both by
Ruth M. Arthur. Esp. "A Candle in her Room", which scared the
daylights out of me as I read it home alone one evening. They
both take place in Cornwall, if I rememeber correctly, and
involve ghosts and discovering lost pasts and such. Hey, I
think I'll have to dig them out....
Amy Mossman
amos...@cfa.harvard.edu
Stacy Winchell
I'm not sure if these are going to be too difficult for an 11 year old, but I
always loved the books by Lois Duncan.
Stacy
Elizabeth Kuzina
Amy, I thought I was the only one who read Jane-Emily! I loved
it, but whenever I bring it up, people stare at me because they
have never heard of it. I think Wendy calls this the "books
nobody else ever read" syndrome.
The worst part (for me): My wonderful elementary school
librarian, Miss Taychuk, recommended Jane-Emily to me because
I was delighted with a similar book (girl goes back in time
and lives the life of another little girl). I have spent years
trying to recall the title of that first book.
Another good book for an eleven year old girl is "Romansgrove,"
I can't remember the author. It is not really scary, but it
does involve time travel, and is mysterious and suspenseful.
I read it recently, and there is a lot of information about
social reform and the women's rights movement in England. I
remembered it mainly as a good story about two children who
move to an old estate in the English countryside, and discover
the ruins of the old manor house.
--
Alice J. Merchant
>Hi-
>Stacy
I loved them too. *Down a Dark Hall* can still scare me if I let it, and I'm
- well _ let's just say I'm well out of childhood. I don't know what the other
books people are mentioning are like (except for Zilpha Keatley Snyder - she's
great) but are they scarier than these? As far as reading difficulty, I read
my first Lois Duncan book when I was 11.
Alice
John Richard McGinn
Green Knowe_ by L. M. Boston. I read and loved it as a child, and
rediscovered it as an adult -- it's a beautifully written and really
effective ghost story, with just the right balance of wonder, magic and
scariness. It has that great feeling of the past still being around, and
sometimes intruding on the present, that a lot of the really great ghost
stories have.
_The House With a Clock in Its Walls_ by John Bellairs is also terrific
(though none of his later books are half so good). And _The Ghost
Belonged to Me_ by Richard Peck.
Susan McGinn
susan....@leland.stanford.edu
Nancy Babb
I think it was (and please forgive if I've mangled the headers!)
am...@freenet.buffalo.edu (Elizabeth Kuzina) who wrote:
>The worst part (for me): My wonderful elementary school
>librarian, Miss Taychuk, recommended Jane-Emily to me because
>I was delighted with a similar book (girl goes back in time
>and lives the life of another little girl). I have spent years
>trying to recall the title of that first book.
Well, this may not be the book you seek (such an easy guess
would be scary, wouldn't it?) but your comments joustled my
memory of one of my favorites, _Magic Elizabeth_, by Norma
Kassirer. An unhappy child finds a doll in her aunt's (?)
attic which helps her travel into the life of the doll's previous
owner. Not particularly scary, as I recall it, but certainly
engrossing.
Now to find and re-read it!
I do recall one book which terrified me: Elizabeth Hazelton's (?)
_Haunted Cove_. I read and re-read this book and never ceased
to shiver.
A note of thanks to whomever posted about Ruth M. Arthur's
_Requiem for a Princess_. This was another fav of mine, which
I'd somehow completely forgotten. It does amaze me how many
I've forgotten, but it is a joy to re-discover them.
_________________
Nancy Babb
ae...@freenet.buffalo.edu
Emily Kelly
: The worst part (for me): My wonderful elementary school
: librarian, Miss Taychuk, recommended Jane-Emily to me because
: I was delighted with a similar book (girl goes back in time
: and lives the life of another little girl). I have spent years
: trying to recall the title of that first book.
this sloshed my memory, and something floated to the top which I had not
thought of in years. It was a book with a similar theme (girl goes back
in time, etc.); the girl's name was Charlotte, and she had a little sister
named Emily who was (?) very bubbly. Charlotte was sort of a quiet
intellectual type. They were both in the same boarding school, and they
both (?) went back in time to a much stricter 19th century boarding school.
(Sort of reminds one of the Brontes, now that I think of it.) As I recall,
there was some vital problem that Charlotte had to solve in the past (to save
her sister?), and the climax was pretty scary for me at least.
Now, for two-fifty and a free lunch, NAME THAT BOOK! (Seriously, now that
I remember it, I wish I could get my hands on it again, and the title
completely eludes me.)
-Emily-
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily Harrison Kelly "For me love is a very deep thing; sex only has to
eke...@acpub.duke.edu go a few inches." --Bullets over Broadway
Katherine Rossner
: The worst part (for me): My wonderful elementary school
: librarian, Miss Taychuk, recommended Jane-Emily to me because
: I was delighted with a similar book (girl goes back in time
: and lives the life of another little girl). I have spent years
: trying to recall the title of that first book.
Well, one that fits that description so far (but I have yet to find
anybody else who's read it!) is "Jessamy"--I _think_ it's by Barbara
Sleigh, who wrote the Carbonel books, but I'm not sure. Jessamy is a
little girl in 1966 who has to go spend a school vacation with an old
friend of the family (because her own family is ill, or something like
that). On the wall of one closet in the friend's house is a series of
measuring marks for four children--one of them named Jessamy. When she
goes up and explores the closet one night, it turns out to be the same
day (fifty years later) as the first set of marks, and she ends up back
in 1916 living the other Jessamy's life. Something sends her back to
1966, and she goes back and forth a few times, according to the dates of
the marks on the wall...
This was a favorite when I was 9 or 10, but I don't think I've ever seen
another copy (other than the one in my school library that year)!
Another set of favorites, which the librarian almost didn't let me read
because she thought they were "too scary"--hence they might fit in this
thread--was Joan Aiken's "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase", "Black Hearts
in Battersea", "Nightbirds on Nantucket", and "The Whispering Mountain".
(yes, I know there are other books in the series now, but there weren't
then, and I can't remember the titles anyway.)
Katherine
--
j...@netcom.com
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if
I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness
and the desire to be very grown up."
C. S. Lewis, "On Three Ways of Writing for Children"
--
pixie child
: this sloshed my memory, and something floated to the top which I had not
: thought of in years. It was a book with a similar theme (girl goes back
: in time, etc.); the girl's name was Charlotte, and she had a little sister
: named Emily who was (?) very bubbly. Charlotte was sort of a quiet
: intellectual type. They were both in the same boarding school, and they
: both (?) went back in time to a much stricter 19th century boarding school.
: (Sort of reminds one of the Brontes, now that I think of it.) As I recall,
: there was some vital problem that Charlotte had to solve in the past (to save
: her sister?), and the climax was pretty scary for me at least.
I believe it is _Charlotte Sometimes_ by Penelope Farmer.
Except for this, I don't remember exactly what happens in the book.
Vaguely-- also a very old house? an uncle who died very young? or some
really strange family history?
--- fairrosa
fair...@phantom.com
rfel...@aurora.liunet.edu
================================= the witch and her cat
by the pool of light
on a wintry night
pixie child
: One of my favorite scary books for that age group is _The Children of
: susan....@leland.stanford.edu
Agree! and two more titles:
_The Ghost of Thomas Kempe_ by Penelope Lively. It has a mischievous,
sometimes malicious, and at the end, pitiful ghost. This book is all at
once truly scary, funny, and deeply thought provoking. A wonderful story
for anyone wishes to show a young reader the importance of history and
also the concept of letting go.
_Court of the Stone Children_ by Eleanor Cameron. A wonderful blend of
Time Travel and Ghost Story. A girl of our time has to solve a mystery
which occured in the time of Napolean France by the pleading ghost of
another girl from the past. It's really eerie at times, especially when
the ghost appears noiselessly at unexpected places.
Unfortunately, I believe both these titles are out-of-print. They are
really GREAT children's titles. Hopefully, some day, some one will
re-issue them. (I'd love to obtain either one, if anyone has an old copy
to offer, please e-mail me. :)
--- fairrosa
fair...@phantom.com
rfel...@aurora.liunet.edu
================================= the witch and her cat
by the pool of light
on a dark wintry night
Ruth Bygrave
> this sloshed my memory, and something floated to the top which I had not
> thought of in years. It was a book with a similar theme (girl goes back
> in time, etc.); the girl's name was Charlotte, and she had a little sister
> named Emily who was (?) very bubbly. Charlotte was sort of a quiet
> intellectual type. They were both in the same boarding school, and they
> both (?) went back in time to a much stricter 19th century boarding school.
> (Sort of reminds one of the Brontes, now that I think of it.) As I recall,
> there was some vital problem that Charlotte had to solve in the past (to save
> her sister?), and the climax was pretty scary for me at least.
I think that's "Charlotte Sometimes" by Penelope Farmer. Still in print,
well-known, over here, not sure if it is on your side of the Atlantic.
Couldn't swear to it because I haven't read it for a while, but sounds
like it.
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Emily Harrison Kelly "For me love is a very deep thing; sex only has to
> eke...@acpub.duke.edu go a few inches." --Bullets over Broadway
>
--
Regards, \/\/oof
Amy Mossman
>
> this sloshed my memory, and something floated to the top which I had not
> thought of in years. It was a book with a similar theme (girl goes back
> in time, etc.); the girl's name was Charlotte, and she had a little sister
> named Emily who was (?) very bubbly. Charlotte was sort of a quiet
> intellectual type. They were both in the same boarding school, and they
> both (?) went back in time to a much stricter 19th century boarding school.
> (Sort of reminds one of the Brontes, now that I think of it.) As I recall,
> there was some vital problem that Charlotte had to solve in the past (to save
> her sister?), and the climax was pretty scary for me at least.
>
> Now, for two-fifty and a free lunch, NAME THAT BOOK! (Seriously, now that
> I remember it, I wish I could get my hands on it again, and the title
> completely eludes me.)
>
> -Emily-
>
I don't know the author but I believe the title is 'Sometimes Charlotte'.
She would sleep in a certain bed that was old-fashioned and wake up in
the earlier time. And the girl from the old time would take her place.
I remember them having some kind of communication through a journal and
dealing with classroom work and what happened and such. Do I get the
free lunch?????
Amy Mossman
amos...@cfa.harvard.edu
Pat Hanby
> Elizabeth Kuzina (am...@freenet.buffalo.edu) wrote:
> Well, one that fits that description so far (but I have yet to find
> anybody else who's read it!) is "Jessamy"--I _think_ it's by Barbara
> Sleigh, who wrote the Carbonel books, but I'm not sure. Jessamy is a
> little girl in 1966 who has to go spend a school vacation with an old
> friend of the family (because her own family is ill, or something like
> that). On the wall of one closet in the friend's house is a series of
> measuring marks for four children--one of them named Jessamy. When she
> goes up and explores the closet one night, it turns out to be the same
> day (fifty years later) as the first set of marks, and she ends up back
> in 1916 living the other Jessamy's life. Something sends her back to
> 1966, and she goes back and forth a few times, according to the dates of
> the marks on the wall...
>
don't know this one, but a very similar storyline is Penelope Farmer
Charlotte Sometimes.
Charlotte goes to boarding school, and finds that by sleeping in a
particular bed she goes back in time around 50 years and lives the life
of another little girl in the same house - Claire I think she is called.
Others like this are Philippa Pearce Tom's Midnight Garden
K.M.Peyton A Pattern of Roses
Barbara Freeman several titles, The other Face, A pocket of Silence,
Clemency in the Moonlight (not sure of that last title) and a few others,
all involving timeslips.
And another timeslip one I really enjoy is Mabel Esther Allan Time to go
Back, about a girl in the 1960s who goes back about 20 years to Liverpool
in the 2nd world war during the bombing, and meets her own mother, and an
aunt who died in the war. MEA's sense of place is really great - she has
written over 80 books I should think , mostly for teenage girls but some
for younger children. About a dozen or so are set in New York - she used
place she'd been to and liked, - and I think she was quite extensively
published in US (she's still alive, though no longer writing. I've had
lengthy correspondence with her, (must write - I owe her a letter!)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pat Hanby Book Orders Librarian Reading University Library
PO Box 223 Whiteknights READING RG6 2AE UK
vlsh...@reading.ac.uk Tel. 0734 318777 Fax 0734 316636
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Susie Milner
(Elizabeth Kuzina) says:
>
>Wow -- Pat Hanby posted a great list of "timeslip" books --
>thanks for some good suggestions!
>
>I would like to compile a list of such titles. I was recently
>having a conversation (hi Katherine) about this type of book.
>They differ from sci fi time travel, because they are not so
>much about the theories and mechanics of traveling through time,
>but rather the intimate experience of "knowing" another life and
>age. If anyone has any favorites that have not been mentioned,
>please send them along!
>
I haven't seen this one mentioned--_A Traveller in Time_ by Alison
Uttley. I read this book when I was growing up in England--not
sure if it is well known or even available. It is about a girl named
Penelope (Penny-Lope!) who visits a farmhouse where she travels from the
twentieth century back to the time of Mary, Queen of Scots. In fact, the
story is based around the history of Mary, Queen of Scots, because the
people in the past support her claim to the throne. I think she is even
a character in the book. Anyway, I remember this book for teaching
me very interesting facts about life in that period, like that sugar was
so valuable (having been brought from the new world) that only the most
important people could have it, and only on very special occasions even
for them! It wasn't one of my favorite books, but it was a pretty good
one, if I remember correctly.
Susie
Elizabeth Kuzina
Wow -- Pat Hanby posted a great list of "timeslip" books --
author of a similar book. It is about a teenage boy in New
England who goes back about 100 years and meets his great-
grandfather as a teenager. I believe they are ship builders in
a whaling village.
I would like to compile a list of such titles. I was recently
having a conversation (hi Katherine) about this type of book.
They differ from sci fi time travel, because they are not so
much about the theories and mechanics of traveling through time,
but rather the intimate experience of "knowing" another life and
age. If anyone has any favorites that have not been mentioned,
please send them along!
Thank you!
--
Cera Kruger
Elizabeth Kuzina <am...@freenet.buffalo.edu> wrote:
>
>Wow -- Pat Hanby posted a great list of "timeslip" books --
>thanks for some good suggestions! I am looking for the title or
>author of a similar book. It is about a teenage boy in New
>England who goes back about 100 years and meets his great-
>grandfather as a teenager. I believe they are ship builders in
>a whaling village.
Would this be _A Storm Without Rain_? I'm not positive of
the title, but if it's the book I'm thinking of the boy not only
meets his great-grandfather but gets something of a crush on a local
girl (who later becomes his great-grandmother?) and meets Mark Twain.
It was a fine, fine book; I read it at an absolutely miserable camp
during eighth grade and it saved the week for me.
>I would like to compile a list of such titles. I was recently
>having a conversation (hi Katherine) about this type of book.
>They differ from sci fi time travel, because they are not so
>much about the theories and mechanics of traveling through time,
>but rather the intimate experience of "knowing" another life and
>age. If anyone has any favorites that have not been mentioned,
>please send them along!
One of my favourite books of this sort is _Time Tangle_.
It's about a girl who's sent to live in a convent school and ends
up in the middle of a Tudor mystery. There's some neat time-slipping,
and the entire ambience of the book is rather eerie.
>Thank you!
--
Cera Kruger -+- kru...@math.okstate.edu -+- di...@netcom.com -+- SFLAaE/BS
This is a crude version of a more advanced utility that has never been written.
-- X-windows xwud(1) man-page
Ethan A Merritt
>
>I would like to compile a list of such titles. I was recently
>having a conversation (hi Katherine) about this type of book.
>They differ from sci fi time travel, because they are not so
>much about the theories and mechanics of traveling through time,
>but rather the intimate experience of "knowing" another life and
>age. If anyone has any favorites that have not been mentioned,
>please send them along!
Current favorite (found in library surplus sale):
_The Court of the Stone Children_, by Eleanor Cameron. This book belongs
on any list that people are compiling for the "strong female leads" threads
as well as for a "timeslip" thread.
Nina is a newcomer to San Francisco. She seeks refuge from cliquish school
mates and a family apartment which she finds horrible compared to her previous
home. She finds solace in repeated visits to a private museum which
recreates a French chateau from the 18th century. Interaction with the
museum staff and a mysterious girl from the chateau's past trigger a
strong ambition in Nina to become a museum curator herself. She
marshalls the personal resources to devote herself to her new ambition,
to find a new home for her family, and incidentally to solve a 150-
year-old mystery from the chateau's past.
Target ages: 10+ highly recommended
_The Court of the Stone Children_
Eleanor Cameron
E P Dutton & Co, 1973
ISBN 0-525-28350-1
_
Ethan A Merritt
mer...@u.washington.edu
Anita Graham
Uttley wrote a timeslip book. A girl, visiting a farm, slips back to
Elizabethan times. Her green dress (modern), inspires her `cousin' to sing
Greensleeves. The family is in some sort of political trouble.
Back in modern times she eventually finds some keepsake from the Elizabethan
family.
Despite the bare bones description above, it is a lovely book. Our books are
all in boxes or I would find it now and reread.
Wendy E. Betts
is probably my favorite...one of the few in which the traveler
actually becomes part of the past rather than having to struggle to
return to the present. A flawed but interesting YA book published this
year was _If I Should Die Before I Wake_, about a white supremicist
whose spirit travels into the body of a Jewish girl during the Holocaust
and lives through it with her.
Penelope Lively wrote several "timeslip" books, I think, including
_The House at Norham Gardens_. And Delia Huddy's _Time Piper_ is
another unusual approach to the theme.
I'd really love to see the list of suggested titles, there are tons of
timeslip books nagging at the back of my mind that I'd love to
remember...
Wendy E. Betts
her books have that theme, although I didn't much care for most of
them.
Ethan A Merritt
>
>I'd really love to see the list of suggested titles, there are tons of
>timeslip books nagging at the back of my mind that I'd love to
>remember...
OK, a few more which I've managed to remember from titles read aloud
as bedtime reading:
_The ghost of Opalina; or Nine lives_, by Peggy Bacon. Little, Brown: 1967.
A family who have recently moved into an old house find that the attic
room is graced by the ghost of a cat. The cat treats the children to a
series of stories about former inhabitants of the house. Quite a nice
book; ages 6-10? Maybe not quite a match to the "timeslip" label, as
the only link to the past is the ghost cat herself.
_Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Time_, by Jean Louise Curry. Atheneum: 1975.
Pretty much spot on the "timeslip" theme. A girl visiting an old
mansion finds that the herb garden is a gateway to events in the past.
OK, but wasn't all that great as a read-aloud book.
_The Bassumtyte Treasure_, by Jean Louise Curry. Atheneum: 1978.
Another visitor to an old house finds pathways into the past. This one
has a better framing story than _PSM&T_, but the whole thing is totally
spoiled by the ridiculous ending. (OK, you really want to know?
American orphan turns out to be long-lost heir to the British throne
via Mary Queen of Scots. Trite, silly, and unnecessary).
_An Acceptable Time_, by Madeleine L'Engle. Farrar, Straus, Giroux: 1989.
Part of the Chronos/Kairos series (the O'Keefes, Murrays, etc).
The plot mixes Calvin O'Keefe's family history, international current
events, early settlers in colonial times, and accounts of prehistoric
Irish princes in exile in New England. The history and current events
are totally made up and impossible, which I found somewhat annoying, but
I very much liked the parallelism of people and themes throughout the
different time periods. The "timeslip" in this book is not physical
(or even ghostly); only the observer's sense of self and perspective
is sent back through the ages to witness past events. I'd say it's up
to the reader to decide whether the observer's presence is in fact
influencing the past. Certainly it seems to affect the present.
Good book, though not the best of the series.
Ethan A Merritt
mer...@u.washington.edu
Martins
Antonia Barber, and The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope. Charlotte
Sometimes is still available in paperback as is Jane-Emily.
I think a "time slip" list is a great idea. Is anyone familiar with a book
called The Lute and The Glove by Katherine Eyre? I've been trying to find it
for a while, sounds like it might fit into this category.
Constance
Alayne McGregor
In a previous article, mer...@u.washington.edu (Ethan A Merritt) says:
>In article <CzF3y...@freenet.buffalo.edu> am...@freenet.buffalo.edu (Elizabeth Kuzina) writes:
>>
>>I would like to compile a list of such titles. I was recently
>>having a conversation (hi Katherine) about this type of book.
>>They differ from sci fi time travel, because they are not so
>>much about the theories and mechanics of traveling through time,
>>but rather the intimate experience of "knowing" another life and
>>age. If anyone has any favorites that have not been mentioned,
>>please send them along!
_A Pattern of Roses_ by K.M. Peyton would probably fit this description.
Not precisely a typical Peyton (no horses or boats that I remember), but
quite good.
--
Alayne McGregor aa...@freenet.carleton.ca
ala...@ve3pak.ocunix.on.ca
mcgr...@cognos.com
SEALYCAT
an...@meander.osi.curtin.edu.au. (Anita Graham) writes:
The Allison Uttley book is A Traveler in Time, originally published in the
UK, but published here by Viking in 1964. A very good book...just hard to
find.
Terri Butler
(seal...@aol.com)
Kathryn Andersen
>
>I would like to compile a list of such titles. I was recently
>having a conversation (hi Katherine) about this type of book.
>They differ from sci fi time travel, because they are not so
>much about the theories and mechanics of traveling through time,
>but rather the intimate experience of "knowing" another life and
>age. If anyone has any favorites that have not been mentioned,
>please send them along!
Has anyone mentioned "A Traveller in Time" yet? Darned if I can remember
who it was by. A girl recovering from an illness is sent to the
country (English) and timeslips back and forth to the time of Elizabeth I,
where the people of the house are part of a plot to free the royal Mary...
It was made into a TV serial, very well done.
--
_--_|\ Kathryn Andersen <k...@werple.apana.org.au>
/ \ #include "std/disclaimer.h"
\_.--.*/ Donvale -> Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia
v -> Southern Hemisphere -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy
Audrey Ishizaki
_The Devil's Arimetic_ (I believe that's the right title, definitely the
right author). It's about a young girl (11-ish, I'd say) who, tired of
the same old stuff with the relatives at the passover seder, steps into
the consciousness of a young jewish girl who's quickly on her way to the
Nazi concentration camps. She comes to understand the experiences and
sacrifices her relatives made to "be a jew" and survive those most
horrifying of times. Definitely need kleenex to read this book.
audrey ishizaki
Juliet A. Youngren
Oh yes, and how about CAT IN THE MIRROR by Mary Stolz? The time-
slip happens while the main character is unconscious with a head
injury, and she slips back to ancient Egypt. What I liked about
this book was that she meets the counterparts to the people in
her 20th-century life and even works out some of her problems with
them while in the "slip". The ending is not exactly it-was-all-a
dream, but a more satisfying "Was it or wasn't it?"
The "dream" endings used to annoy me as a kid, but I find they
bother me much less now when I go back and reread.
J.A.Y.
Amy Mossman
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I had completely forgotten
that book and now it all comes back to me. I'm adding it to my list
right now.
Speaking of timeslip books, wasn't there a similair misfit kid book
with going back to Dutch New York (New Amsterdam) called "I'm Nobody,
Who are You?"? Or am I confusing kids books again?
Amy Mossman
amos...@cfa.harvard.edu
R A Burroughs
: thought of in years. It was a book with a similar theme (girl goes back
: in time, etc.); the girl's name was Charlotte, and she had a little sister
: named Emily who was (?) very bubbly. Charlotte was sort of a quiet
: intellectual type. They were both in the same boarding school, and they
: both (?) went back in time to a much stricter 19th century boarding school.
: (Sort of reminds one of the Brontes, now that I think of it.) As I recall,
: there was some vital problem that Charlotte had to solve in the past (to save
: her sister?), and the climax was pretty scary for me at least.
: Now, for two-fifty and a free lunch, NAME THAT BOOK! (Seriously, now that
: I remember it, I wish I could get my hands on it again, and the title
: completely eludes me.)
: -Emily-
Two-fifty and a free lunch, please! It's called Charlotte Sometimes and
it's by Penelope Farmer. I loved that book. But I read it at school, and
when I got my own copy one of my favourite parts was missed out.
Anyway, Charlotte went back in time and exchanged with a girl called
Clare who lived at the time of WW1. It was Clare who had a little sister
called Emily. Charlotte was herself only on alternate days, and it all
got very confusing for her. Then she got stuck in Clare's time and vice
versa....
Rosie
***************************************************************************
Don't count your coffins before they're burning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about
love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as
perennial as the grass. --Desiderata
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosie "I'll count my own coffins, thank you" Burroughs
R.A.Bu...@durham.ac.uk
***************************************************************************
Carolin Campbell
: Two-fifty and a free lunch, please! It's called Charlotte Sometimes and
: it's by Penelope Farmer. I loved that book. But I read it at school, and
As a side note, British pop band "The Cure" wrote a song called
"Charlotte Sometimes" which both British and American audiences loved -
but Brit listeners knew where the reference came from; Americans thought
it was just a made up song. :)
--Carrie