Greenwillow Books, 5 March 2024
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
Michael Rosario lives in the Fox Ridge apartments in Delaware in August of 1999. It's his birthday, but he's worried about Y2K approaching. He has good reasons; his mother lost her job when she stayed home to take care of him when he was ill, and she now works three jobs. Sometimes the apartment handyman, Mr. Mosely, keeps him company, and sometimes older neighbor girl Gibby "babysits" him, but he has plenty of time to go by himself to the grocery store and shoplift cans of peaches to add to his Y2K preparedness stash. He's afraid of the local boys who play basketball at the complex nearby, and when he sees a new boy, dressed strangely, loitering around, he is concerned about him as well. He and Gibby both talk to him, and the boy, Ridge, eventually confesses that he is a time traveler from the future. Of course, the 1999 kids don't believe him, bur Ridge tells them that an earthquake will occur that day in Turkey. When it does, they take him seriously. We learn a lot of information about Ridge's life in 2199, 200 years in the future, in chapters where his brother Shale, and his mother, Dr. Maria Sabio, discuss what is going on in their time frame. Dr. Sabio perfected the STM (Spatial Teleportation Module), but is feeling resistance from the scientific community about actually sending people into the past or future. It seems better to send artificial intelligence, due to the threat of diseases for both the time traveler and the world to which they travel. Ridge was irritated with his brother, and used the device out of anger. Gibby and Michael manage to get him better clothes, and talk to him a lot about what will occur, although Ridge tries to follow some of the rules for time travel; of course, he's already broken a lot of them. When Ridge decides to go back home, his device doesn't work. He uses the opportunity to see a mall; he's obsessed with the decade of the 1990s, and has traveled with a "summary book" with information about this time period. Michael has his own problems, and is still worried about Y2K as well as Mr. Mosely, who hasn't been feeling well. Ridge isn't able to tell Gibby and Michael much about the future, because, as he says, "it's like explaining the internet to someone who doesn't know what electricity is". When Ridge becomes ill, it becomes more imperative for him to return to his own time. When he finally thinks he can get back, he leaves Gibby a note that says "Netflix IPO 2002". An epilogue tells us how Gibby and Michael's lives continued after their unlikely encounter with Ridge.
Strengths: I love a good time travel book, and this had several elements that make it successful. There is a very scientific but somewhat vague mechanism for the process, and a very well thought out preparation for time travel. The sumbooks are awesome, especially since they are in paper format because the technology is always available! Ridge is just awkward enough to stand out even though he is prepared. Michael's ordinary life plays into the story just enough, and I absolutely adored that he grew as a character due to his experience with Ridge. He becomes less anxious, and even phones a girl and approaches neighborhood boys to play basketball afterwards. I'm not usually a fan of epilogues, but the one at the end of this story made me happy. The details of the 1990s are exquisite. Rather a different book for Kelly, but quite a successful one.
Weaknesses: The chapters set in 2199 were information heavy and slowed down the story. I'm almost gave this four stars (which is rare; nearly everything gets three), but will have to go with 3.5 because of this.
What I really think: I love time travel so much, but my students are somewhat reluctant to pick it up. Since they have parents who were Michael's age in the 1990s, I think I can sell this on the nostalgia factor, like Graff's Rewind or Eulbuerg's The Best Worst Summer.
Weaknesses: The chapters set in 2199 were information heavy and slowed down the story. I'm almost gave this four stars (which is rare; nearly everything gets three), but will have to go with 3.5 because of this.
What I really think: I love time travel so much, but my students are somewhat reluctant to pick it up. Since they have parents who were Michael's age in the 1990s, I think I can sell this on the nostalgia factor, like Graff's Rewind or Eulbuerg's The Best Worst Summer.
August 29, 2023 by Simon Spotlight
Library copy
Because students occasionally have to read a certain number of books, I like to keep short, fun nonfiction in stock to meet these goals while also teaching my readers something. I bought all three books in the series, but am still waiting for the 1980s and 1990s. This was a fun overview of the 2000s, and did have some photographs along with the illustrations. This hit the highlights, but I'm not entirely sure the word "fetch" was used as much as the author seems to think. I started my current job in 2002, and my own children were in middle school, so a lot of the trends seemed familiar; butterfly clips and the Wii certainly infiltrated my house. This could have used a bit more research; the ice bucket challenge, which was used to illustrate YouTube, didn't happen until 2014, and while Netflix might have started at this time, it was far more common to go to a video store or the library to get DVDs. Still, a fun overview, and I always wished I had picked up some of those 2000 glasses. I got my Master of Library Science degree in 2000, and did buy a ring similar to the one below as a keepsake! 
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