A Year Without Autumn

by Liz Kessler

Overview

The author of the best-selling Emily Windsnap series spins a gripping tale about a girl who stumbles into the future--and must change its course to save a friendship.

Jenni Green’s family vacation has finally arrived! Even though she has to deal with her annoying little brother, her slightly overbearing dad, and her very pregnant mom, she gets to spend a week with her bestest friend in the world, Autumn. But twelve-year-old Jenni’s world turns upside down when she takes an old elevator to visit Autumn and discovers that everything has changed: not only is her friend in a different condo, but tragedy has struck Autumn’s family, Jenni’s mother has had her baby, and everyone is a year older. When Jenni realizes that the elevator caused her to skip a whole year, she tries to go back, but soon finds that fixing things won’t be as easy as pressing a button. How can she alter the past and keep her family and Autumn’s from falling apart? With honesty and insight, Liz Kessler explores how the bonds of family and friendship can endure through time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763656089
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	10/11/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	765,701
Lexile:	570L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Liz Kessler is the author of the New York Times best-selling series about the half-mermaid Emily Windsnap, as well as three novels about Philippa Fisher and her fairy godsister. Liz Kessler lives in Cornwall, England

When Liz was quite young (about eight) she wanted to be a poet. She grew up and did lots of other things, but then in 1999 she suddenly realized she wanted to write a book. She says, “It was as though I’d remembered what I’d always wanted to do, and I’ve never looked back.”

About mermaids, she says, “I am fascinated by the sea and all the mysteries of the ocean. It’s so huge and there is so much of it that we haven’t discovered and know nothing about. To me, mermaids represent the possibilities of what might just exist, on the edges of our imaginations and our world.”

Liz recently spent a year traveling around Europe in a camper van with her best friend and her dog, Poppy. She lives in England.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Preteen readers will likely be swept up in the suspense of Jenni's journeys back and forth in time.
—Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5–7—Twelve-year-olds Jenni and Autumn are best friends looking forward to their families' yearly stay at a time-share condominium complex. When Jenni gets into an elevator that she expects will take her up to Autumn's condo, she discovers that it has lifted her into the future instead, a year ahead of the present. As she moves back and forth between both time periods, she learns that a tragic accident has had a terrible impact on both families, and she must figure out a way to change the present to avoid the tragedy. Kessler deals sensitively with divorce and death, offering readers a plot that is grounded in reality despite the time-travel element. Everything comes together in a tidy ending that readers will find satisfactory. Dialogue is a weaker aspect of this novel-it's a bit syrupy and unnatural at times, which reduces the emotional impact of the story.—Corrina Austin, Locke's Public School, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada

School Library Journal

Every summer 12-year-old Jenni looks forward to her family’s vacation at Riverside Village—it means spending the days with her buoyant and optimistic best friend, Autumn, and her family. But this year, a fateful elevator trip somehow transports Jenni one year into the future, and much has changed. It turns out that just hours after Jenni “left” the previous summer, Autumn’s younger brother, Mikey, was thrown from a horse and has been in a coma ever since, his family struggling to keep it together. As Jenni gradually pieces together what happened to her (and gets increasingly dire glimpses of the future through subsequent trips in the elevator), she works to return to the present and possibly avert Mikey’s accident. Kessler (the Emily Windsnap series) isn’t interested in the mechanics of time travel or even “why” Jenni’s time slip has occurred (as Jenni reflects, “What matters is the fact that it has”). Rather, it’s a vehicle, occasionally heavy-handed but effective, for her story’s empowering message: “Don’t just accept the life you’re given.... Question everything. Always attempt the impossible.” Ages 9–12. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Preteen readers will likely be swept up in the suspense of Jenni's journeys back and forth in time.
—Kirkus Reviews

The novel is enriched by simply drawn characters, an intensely suspenseful climax, and an upbeat ending sweetened by both strong affirmations of friendship and a romantic subplot in the supporting cast.
—Booklist Online

Driven by a pre-teen girl's fierce loyalty to her closest friend, this time travel story ponders how close people often are to life-changing circumstances… This novel holds a positive and strengthening message about friendship, life, and love.
—Library Media Connection

Kessler deals sensitively with divorce and death, offering readers a plot that is grounded in reality despite the time-travel element. Everything comes together in a tidy ending that readers will find satisfactory.
—School Library Journal

Empowering.
—Publishers Weekly

The story line is very intriguing, and readers may find it difficult to put the book down. Kessler tackles the paradoxes of time travel with courage and imagination, while the special friendship between Jenni and Autumn is very moving and emotional.
—KidsReads.com

From the Publisher

Time travel to a disturbing near future forces a preteen to cope for the first time without the help of her best friend.

Twelve-year-old Jenni Green and her best friend Autumn are inseparable. Along with their families, they even spend their summer vacations together every year at Riverside Village. There's so much to do there, from hot air balloon rides to adventure parks. Though Jenni naturally prefers museums to rock climbing, Autumn is always roping her into one crazy activity or another.This summer doesn't seem any different, until a ride in an old elevator lands Jenni in the middle of a strange and unsettling time-travel adventure all on her own. For the first time in her friendship with Autumn, Jenni must take the reins and figure out how to change the past in order to protect the ones she loves in the future. Jenni's first-person narration gives readers a ringside seat to her disorientation. Will she be able to save her friendship with Autumn and spare both of their families the heartache of a looming tragedy? Only time will tell.

Though the logistics of Jenni's time travel are a bit convoluted and the characters often feel disappointingly flat, preteen readers will likely be swept up in the suspense of Jenni's journeys back and forth in time. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews