JOURNEY TO ELSEWHERE

In this middle-grade novel, a group of children go back in time and learn scary truths about living in the 19th century.

Twelve-year-old DeeAnn Quesenberry, her twin brother, Leon, and their 7-year-old sibling, Caleb,are all set to visit Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia with their beloved Uncle Azer. But just before their trip, he goes missing. A mysterious letter from their uncle tells them that if he suddenly disappears, they’ll likely never see him again and they shouldn’t file a missing person’s report. After some time, their parents decide that Uncle Azer will not be returning, so the children each choose something from his home to remember him by. As they admire the model steam train that Caleb chooses, they reflect on a genealogical chart that their mother rescued from the house. They imagine living in the past, which causes a time-traveling steam train to appear, and it takes them to 1854 Pennsylvania. Once there, they insinuate themselves into the home of a kindly couple who operate a station on the Underground Railroad. The children help the pair secretly transport enslaved people to the next station, risking their own lives in ways they never could have imagined. They want to return home, but they will have to uncover their Uncle Azer’s secret before they can. Over the course of this engaging adventure novel, Quigley presents a wealth of historical detail, and the young characters’ behavior will be relatable to the book’s intended audience. The author makes references to classic children’s time-travel books, such as the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time (1962), establishing that she understands the kind of material that will appeal to her audience. However, the story’s sections about the Underground Railroad, while intriguing, can come across as a White-savior narrative, as the Black characters don’t play a very active role in the story.

A sometimes-thrilling but problematic time-travel adventure.