cover image Alice in Time

Alice in Time

Penelope Bush, Holiday House, $17.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-8234-2329-3

Debut novelist Bush offers a conventional coming-of-age story with a time-travel twist, first published in the U.K. Fourteen-year-old Alice hates her life: her seven-year-old brother, Rory, is a brat; Alice blames her mother for ruining their family by leaving her father; she's growing apart from her best friend, Imogen; and Alice's classmate Sasha makes her life miserable at school. When Alice is pursued by a cute new student, she ends up setting into motion a trip back in time. Suddenly, Alice is seven years old again and has the opportunity to change her future. At first her goals seem clear: save her family from falling apart and make Sasha's life miserable. But surprises await Alice, among them that her father is not entirely the good guy she believed him to be. Alice's dry humor is engaging, but her ongoing selfishness (she gives Rory a run for his money as far as brattiness is concerned) gets old quickly. There is never much doubt that Alice will emerge from her journey kinder and more confident. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)