It's 1960, but on the decayed Fairchild sugar plantation in rural Louisiana, vestiges of a grimmer past remain--the old cottage, overgrown garden maze, relations between white and black races. Stuck for the summer in the family ancestral home under the thumb of her cranky, imperious grandmother, Sophie, 13, makes a reckless wish that lands her in 1860, enslaved--by her own ancestors. Sophie's fair skin and marked resemblance to the Fairchilds earn her "easy" employment in the big house and the resentment of her peers, whose loyalty she'll need to survive. Plantation life for whites and blacks unfolds in compelling, often excruciating detail. A departure from Sherman's light fantasy Changeling (2006), this is a powerfully unsettling, intertextual take on historical time-travel fantasy, especially Edward Eager's Time Garden (1958), in which white children help a grateful enslaved family to freedom. Sophie's problems aren't that easily resolved: While acknowledging their shared kinship, her white ancestors refuse to see her as equally human. The framing of Sophie's adventures within 1960 social realities prompts readers to consider what has changed since 1860, what has not--for Sophie and for readers half a century later--and at what cost. Multilayered, compassionate and thought-provoking, a timely read on the sesquicentennial of America's Civil War. (Historical fantasy. 12 & up)

In the summer of 1960, 13-year-old bookish Sophie Fairchild Martineau is dumped at her mother's childhood Louisiana home, Oak Cottage, where Sophie's grandmother has taken to her bed, sighing for the Good Old Days before the War of Northern Aggression. In the stifling humidity, Sophie vents her silent resentment by clearing an overgrown maze, part of the once proud Fairchild plantation. After she wishes impulsively for a grand adventure, she is transported to Oak Cottage in 1860. Here, the story takes a startling turn as Sophie is mistaken for a slave by her ancestors. The vivid characters come to life through Sophie's nuanced observations, and the tension heightens as her compassionate understanding of her fellow slaves deepens. Sophie's shift back to her own time is abrupt, but the juxtaposition of the skillfully drawn settings allows readers to draw conclusions about racial equality, human dignity, and the innate drive to control one's own life. This multilayered story combines fantasy, clever literary allusions, and societal observations into a unique coming-of-age story.

Its 1960, and thirteen-year-old Sophie is spending the summer at her grandmothers Louisiana bayou home. After meeting a mysterious creature, shes transported back in time one hundred years and (with her summer tan) mistaken for a slave. Sophies coming of age resonates with moral outrage and righteous indignation. Sherman pays homage to classic fantasy tropes while vividly evoking two historical settings.

It's 1960, but on the decayed Fairchild sugar plantation in rural Louisiana, vestiges of a grimmer past remain--the old cottage, overgrown garden maze, relations between white and black races. Stuck for the summer in the family ancestral home under the thumb of her cranky, imperious grandmother, Sophie, 13, makes a reckless wish that lands her in 1860, enslaved--by her own ancestors. Sophie's fair skin and marked resemblance to the Fairchilds earn her "easy" employment in the big house and the resentment of her peers, whose loyalty she'll need to survive. Plantation life for whites and blacks unfolds in compelling, often excruciating detail. A departure from Sherman's light fantasy Changeling (2006), this is a powerfully unsettling, intertextual take on historical time-travel fantasy, especially Edward Eager's Time Garden (1958), in which white children help a grateful enslaved family to freedom. Sophie's problems aren't that easily resolved: While acknowledging their shared kinship, her white ancestors refuse to see her as equally human. The framing of Sophie's adventures within 1960 social realities prompts readers to consider what has changed since 1860, what has not--for Sophie and for readers half a century later--and at what cost. Multilayered, compassionate and thought-provoking, a timely read on the sesquicentennial of America's Civil War. (Historical fantasy. 12 & up)