The Hourglass Door - Lisa Mangum


ISBN: 978-1606410936
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Fantasy
Age Level: 12+
Reader’s Annotation: Abby cannot help but be attracted to Dante, the mysterious new transfer student from Italy. And when things start to get odd, Dante is the only one who can calm Abby, and make the world stop rushing around her.
Summary:
Wow. Hourglass Door tells the story of Dante and Abby. Dante is an injustly punished criminal from 1500 Italy. He is sent in da Vinci’s time machine into the future as punishment for his crime. There he meets Abby who believes his outrageous story. Dante explains that he is torn: for the time he spend in the present he must also spend time on “the bank,” where he can “catch up” the time lost to him that he spends with Abby. Enter Zero Time, fellow travelers, who don’t live by Dante’s rules: instead they feed off their excess time on the innocents around them. When Zero Time discover a way to travel back into Time, and forward as they like, Dante must choose whether or not to pursue them, and Abby must choose to let him go.
Evaluation: Forget all the other titles; this is the new twilight. Dante and Abby’s story is engrossing and emotional and readers can’t help but be caught up in it. Secondary characters are fully fleshed out, and for once, the original boyfriend doesn’t get totally shafted when the new boy comes to town. An original and fun title, tweens and teens will flock to this title.
Author Info: First time author
Booktalk Ideas: How far would you go to save the one you love? How far in time?
Selection: Recommended by a friend, this title blew me away.
Challenges: none