Overview

"""A heart-tugging and mind-bending exploration of time and possibility."" --School Library Journal ""A pleasure to read...full of heart and imagination."" --Kirkus Reviews ""Zhang's story is filled with real-world lessons on compassion and kindness with a sci-fi twist--a skillfully rendered framing device for exploring deeper issues of loss, longing, and acceptance."" --Publishers Weekly ""With unwavering hope and focus, and new friendships with unlikely peers, the novel is entertaining and sweet."" --Booklist In the tradition of The Thing About Jellyfish and When You Reach Me, acclaimed author Kat Zhang offers a luminous and heartbreaking novel about a girl who is convinced that an upcoming solar eclipse will bring back her dead mother. One of the happiest memories twelve-year-old Sophia Wallace has is of her tenth birthday. Her mother made her a cake that year--and not a cake from a boxed-mix, but from scratch. She remembers the way the frosting tasted, the way the pink sugar roses dissolved on her tongue. This memory, and a scant few others like it, is all Sophia has of her mother, so she keeps them close. She keeps them secret, too. Because as paltry as these memories are, she shouldn't have them at all. The truth is, Sophia Wallace's mother died when she was six years old. But that isn't how she remembers it. Not always. Sophia has never told anyone about her unusual memories--snapshots of a past that never happened. But everything changes when Sophia's seventh grade English class gets an assignment to research solar eclipses. She becomes convinced that the upcoming solar eclipse will grant her the opportunity to make her alternate life come true, to enter a world where her mother never died. With the help of two misfit boys, she must figure out a way to bring her mother back to her--before the opportunity is lost forever."

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9781481478656

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Mia is excited to spend a month in China with her free-spirited aunt Lin (and her brother and mom), reconnecting with Chinese family and exploring the nearby areas. When an old acquaintance of her aunt's comes around, asking odd questions about an ancient, missing treasure that he and her aunt used to search for, Mia is suspicious, and when her aunt goes missing the next day, Mia knows Lin is in danger. Fortunately, Mia's got some clues about what might have happened, and her cleverness, paired with her brother's reluctant but loyal help, helps her determine the location of the long sought after treasure and her missing aunt. There are a few too many lucky circumstances and discoveries that aid the kids, but they're useful shortcuts toward a safe and satisfying conclusion for young readers, and there's still plenty Mia must endure and uncover to make things right. The Chinese landscape is carefully described, and lush, reverent passages about statues, temples, and cultural details sneak atmosphere into the fast-paced mystery adventure. A quiet note about what Mia has been underappreciating in her mother because of her adoration of her aunt is effectively made, and it will perhaps inspire readers to find hidden depths in those around them.--BCCB March 2017

A heart-tugging and mind-bending exploration of time and possibility. --School Library Journal A pleasure to read . . . full of heart and imagination. --Kirkus Reviews Zhang's story is filled with real-world lessons on compassion and kindness with a sci-fi twist--a skillfully rendered framing device for exploring deeper issues of loss, longing, and acceptance. --Publishers Weekly With unwavering hope and focus, and new friendships with unlikely peers, the novel is entertaining and sweet. --Booklist

Author Information

Kat Zhang loves traveling to places both real and fictional--the former have better souvenirs, but the latter allow for dragons, so it's a tough choice. A writer of books for teens and children, she spends her free time scribbling poetry, taking photographs, and climbing atop things she shouldn't. You can learn more about her at KatZhang.com.

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