I can't say I'm a big science fiction fan, but I did enjoy this book. I thought it was interesting that the present is set in 1999....not a year any YA readers will really know. I do think this would be a good book to do a class. There is potential for great discussion about friendship, change, the future, time travel, etc. I think this might be a tough one in grade 3....it'd work better in middle school.
I loved how at the end it all got pulled together and told us what the characters did in the future. The main character, Michael, does a lot of worrying about the future, especially Y2K, which is interesting when we know what a nothing burger it ended up being.
We read this book for our Children's Lit book club. Someone made a peach dump cake (Michael steals canned goods, especially peaches) and we had lemonade from the sunshine crew at the high school as well as a charcuterie board Janet brought. It was a great evening!
This is a Newberry winner. Interesting choice! I think this is a book I'd appreciate more and more the more times I read it. I'd enjoy discussing it with students.
Goodreads says:
When twelve-year-old Michael Rosario meets a mysterious boy from the future, his life is changed forever.
It's August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his fifteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.
It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn’t where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he’s the world’s first time traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999—fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls—Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants—no, needs—to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it?
