Stranded in Time - Kelli Sue Landon, Author

Stranded In Time - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds, A Book and A Dish

"You know how it started?  There was a crack in that wall.  I didn't discover it until I worked there for about six months.  I subbed for the teacher, and I just had to use the bathroom.  Normally I used the one we had in the teachers' lounge, but we had a fire drill that day.  We had to stand outside longer than I thought, after getting all those kids out of the building.  On our way back in, I excused myself form the class to use the bathroom.  I had one of the more responsible girls watch the others, which made it fun for her.  She loved playing teacher, you know.  I knew it wouldn't take me long to pop in and out.  And there it was.  I could hear cheers..  I could eve hear a coach training them.  I tried to look through the crack, but all I saw was light coming form the gymnasium floor... I kept going back to that room.  I'd sneak in after school was out.  Sometimes I heard nothing.  Other times, there were kids shooting hoops before a practice and setting up for school plays.  I was becoming obsessed.  I would watch through the crack, and the only time I saw any kids was when someone was on the stage.... I made sure the place was empty before I started knocking down the wall with my hammer."

Samantha (Sam) has a paper to write for school.  Her professor told the class it could be anything as long as it wasn't something that had been covered in the news.  Sam decided to write her paper on her mother's family, which she actually knew very little about.  She knew her mother had gone to Lotus School for just a few years and then she and her mother had moved away.  Her mother had never been married to her father who had been just a one night stand.  After her mother's death due to a wreck, Sam had met and gone to live with her father.  She now wanted to know more about her mother and the relatives she never knew.

Sam's adventure starts when she goes to Lotus School, which is no longer in use, just to be closer to where her mother grew up.  It was at the school that she discovered a little girl playing on the stage behind the wall that had a hole in it.  As she stepped through the hole, she found herself in another time.  Sam had just stepped back into the 1970's.  Her great-grandmother was still alive, as was her grandmother and her own mother was just a child.  Then she meets Suzanne.

Sam came into this past world with knowledge of what the future holds.  She, along with Suzanne, can make changes and correct some of the events to happen... but will they?... should they?  There is a child that will die, unless Sam and Suzanne can prevent it from happening but if they do what will it change in the future?  What will any events that take place in the 1970's change in the future if they try to make changes?

This book took me just a few pages to become involved in the story but when I did, I didn't want to stop reading.  As each event is to take place, I find myself wondering how this is going to affect Sam's life if she ever makes it back to her own time.  And if she doesn't, what will happen when her mother grows up and gives birth to her?  Will there be 2 Sams in the world or will she not be born at all?  This book was a very entertaining read that I really enjoyed.

Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com