Time and the Tapestry: A William Morris Adventure

Plotz’s children’s debut is an ambitious attempt to mix time-travel fantasy with a history lesson about multifaceted artist William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement of 19th-century England. Focusing on an unfinished tapestry that 14-year-old Jen and 11-year-old Ed’s grandmother received as an apprentice in Morris’s factory, the novel begins with a crisis that propels the orphaned siblings onto the back of a giant blackbird, soaring through the tapestry and into Morris’s life. As the trio embarks on a scavenger hunt (or is it a geas—a quest?) based on fragments of a Morris poem, Jen explores mysterious (and never satisfyingly explained) memories and ponders the significance of art. Filled with scenes that reveal the larger-than-life artist and his family, companions, and many accomplishments, the story never fully takes on a life of its own, seeming, instead, to have been built around Plotz’s considerable knowledge of, and passion for sharing, all things William Morris. Saroff’s elegant full-page b&w illustrations and ornamentations—initial caps, miniatures, and borders—beautifully evoke Morris’s style and are a strong component of the book’s thoughtful design. Ages 9–14. (May)