Alison Lohans

Partial read review:

I found it difficult to get started. I've read these young-adult-transported-into-fantasy-world books before, and this one felt like it was trying too hard to seem authentic by over-using some of the traditional tropes. But as I pushed through a couple of chapters, the story line started to draw me in.

Katie is a typical teenage girl, except that's she's also a mother of an infant child. When she, her, child, and a friend get lost, they learn they're...where? Another world? The distant past? The future? Somewhere other than where they were. Somewhere where there has been a disaster. Somewhere where her baby is called to be the savior.

There is a responsibility (isn't there?) to help these people out - but no one will explain to Katie what is going on. All she wants is to take her baby, go home, get her phone working, and be a normal teen mom again.

I would argue now that the over-use of the tropes I mentioned before is actually a success. The two extremes of Katie's teenage world and this bizarre future/past/alternate/disaster world are much starker, and this adds to the overall development of the setting and story.… (more)

I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter book about an adventurous little girl. This book gave a good message about how kids today should be. Still using their imaginations, not afraid to get a little dirty playing outside, something that many children today sadly do not do as much of due to technology. The big idea of this book was to show how far just your imagination could take you. I like how the author used Laura’s character to show the way in which most children are and how opposite Abby is from the typical. The author showed this by explaining how Laura did not like to play and imagine but would rather swing and jump, etc. I also like how the book read just how Abby was thinking. “Why didn’t Laura want to see it? And who was the person in the yard next door” It gave a true sense for how quirky and eccentric Abby is with her thoughts bouncing about. Abby goes through many different times of trouble and then trying to find. The writing was very engaging and entertaining due to the way the author used short descriptive sentences, which is also good for elementary readers to begin with. I would have liked to see some sort of illustrations however. Illustrations just help give the reader a clearer image of what is occurring in the story. Overall this book was entertaining and gave a good message to its audience.… (more)