Magic in the Mix

Gr 3–6—Molly and Miri haven't always been sisters; they were brought together through magic. Molly is originally from 1935 but became Miri's fraternal twin in Miri's contemporary family (with two other sets of twins; one older, one younger) when they traveled through time. The girls travel first to 1918, where Molly meets her mother and wonders if she's supposed to prevent her parents from meeting in order to save her mother from dying in childbirth. But there seems to be another task in store for the girls. They travel to the 1860s, accidentally joined by their brothers, who are dressed as Union soldiers for a Civil War reenactment and are captured by Confederate soldiers. The girls must figure out how to save their brothers and return to their own time. The fast-paced plot is dramatically narrated by Cris Dukehart, with Southern accents, deep voices, or a snarky tone for villains and much lighter voices for the children. The narration accentuates the drama of the action and the children's contemporary language. Not all questions are addressed, however, leaving open the possibility of another time-travel tale.—Maria Salvadore, District of Columbia