FIND ME IN THE TIME BEFORE: Review by Guest Blogger, Elliott Kurta and a Giveaway

While traveling through time, teen scientist Charley Morton has met Leonardo da Vinci, explored the Renaissance, and even been tried for witchcraft. Now, on her most daring adventure yet, she sets her eyes on journeying back in time to 17^thcentury to meet her “shero”, Émilie du Châtelet. After receiving a distress call from a fellow time traveler, Carolina, Charley is determined to make her way back to medieval Paris in order to rescue her friend and meet her STEM idol. In order to make the journey, she recruits Billy, her best friend and partner in time travel, and Beth, a fashion-obsessed classmate. Will Charley be able to save Carolina without endangering herself in the process?

REVIEW

            Find Me In the Time Before by Robin Stevens Payes, owes a lot of its appeal to its unique writing style. Among other YA novels, the book is set apart by Charley’s narrative voice in her use of slang and cultural references. Whether she’s explaining how Émilie du Châtelet’s commentary of Newton’s Principia revolutionized physics or who she plans to go to homecoming with, Charley effortlessly incorporates mentions of popular memes, uses texting abbreviations, and remains clear and relatable. As a scientist and historian, Charley’s voice is a blend of subtle references to both modern and ancient works. The book references Shakespeare’s plays, Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, and The Thinker by Rodin, making Charley’s adventures just as engaging as they are educational. Much like Percy Jackson in The Lightning Thief, a sarcastic and whip-smart narrator sets this book apart as a teen novel.

            Despite the net historical accuracy of the novel, there are quite a few moments that stretch disbelief in Find Me In the Time Before. For example, Charley’s time travel is enabled by an AI assistant that her best friend and computer enthusiast Billy manages to program in just a few weeks. Similarly, despite being stranded in time, Charley is able to receive text messages from her friends, often at key moments in the plot. These moments are easily glossed over, but still take away from the overall authenticity of the book. However, the novel remains mostly accurate, with the dialogue of historical characters, such as Voltaire, made up of famous quotes that fit seamlessly into the conversation.

RECOMMENDATION

            In conclusion, Find Me In the Time Before is an engaging book for teens, featuring an absorbing protagonist and incorporating many historically important characters and topics. Charley’s witty comments and endless curiosity help drive the book forward, while the varied characters she meets while journeying through time, including Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire, will inspire teens to tackle history with a new zeal. Additionally, the book is the latest in the Edge of Yesterday quartet, each of which features Charley’s latest adventure through time. With a passion for learning and a witty remark at the ready, Charley’s adventures make for perfect reading material for reluctant teen readers.

GIVEAWAY

I think this would be a fabulous book for upper middle-grade and teens who love adventures, history, and STEM. Leave me a comment by July 19 and I'll enter your name. If you share this post on social media please let me know and I'll enter your name twice. U.S. addresses only. If you prefer to email your entry, send it to me here.

Make sure you check out Greg Pattridge's Always in the Middle blog for other book recommendations.

Leonardo the Florentine- A Review and a Giveaway

If you have a middle school reader who enjoys history and art, then this novel which fictionalizes the early life of Leonardo da Vinci will be just the book for him or her. 

This is the first in "The Life and Travels of da Vinci" series and it is obvious that the author, Catherine McGrew Jaime, has researched well a beloved topic. She expertly interwove facts about Leonardo's tense relationship with his father, his apprenticeship to master Verrocchio, Florence's architectural details, and information about the Medici family into a quick-reading narrative. 

In this section, Leonardo has lived in Florence for only six months. He grabbed his drawing utensils--sketching paper and a charcoal stick.

What he really wanted to do was to draw--to draw the buildings that he was seeing here, and to put some of this amazing architecture down on paper where he could study it in the evenings. He had seen a church before he came to Florence, certainly, and yet he had never imagined this many churches in one location before. Church spires punctured the sky above Florence at every block. (p. 53)

When Leonardo wasn't busy helping Verrocchio mix paints, create colorful banners, jeweled robes, and beautiful blankets for the Medici family; or run errands for him, he learned Latin and hovered around other workshops. Alongside Antonio Pollaiuolo, he helped perform autopsies and studied muscles and joints. Other times he visited Paolo Toscanelli, a famous mathematician and mapmaker where he learned elements of astronomy, geography and optics.

At twenty-years-old, six years after being apprenticed to Verrochio, Leonardo was accepted into the Painters' Guild and given the title, Maestro (Master). Although he was entitled to open his own workshop he stayed another five years so he could continue to learn from Verrochio. 

Once on his own, he began receiving small commissions. Although he was a masterful painter, inventing and science were his first loves. Even when money was tight, he "continued his scientific and mechanical work, with designs for screws, drills, mills, and machines for waterworks." (p. 148)  Eventually Leonardo got tired of Florence and decided to apply to the Duke of Milan for work. He wrote a letter to the duke suggesting his defensive plans could be a help to him, packed his belongings, some of his favorite drawings, and his prized silver lyre. With only a few coins to his name he started out on the two hundred mile journey that would take him to his next adventure.

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For the next chapter in Leonardo's life, you'll have to read Leonardo: Masterpieces in Milan. If you wish to enter the drawing for this book, please leave me a comment by 6 PM July 1. Make sure you leave your email address if I don't have it. Follow my blog or share this on social media and I'll enter your name twice; just make sure you tell me what you do. 

You might also want to check out Catherine's overview of Da Vinci's life in her book, Leonardo Da Vinci: His Life and His Legacy.