Pale Phoenix (Time Travel Mysteries Series)

by Kathryn Reiss

Overview

Miranda isn't happy when sullen orphan Abby Chandler comes to live with her family. But Miranda's anger turns to shock when she learns the girl's horrible secret: Abby's parents and sisters were killed in a house fire in this very town—more than three hundred years ago. Somehow Abby survived the fire and has been living in a virtual limbo ever since.
Fifteen-year-old Miranda Browne, the extraordinary protagonist from Kathryn Reiss's first novel, Time Windows, returns for a new time-travel adventure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152049270
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/01/2003
Series:	Time Travel Mystery Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	970,296
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	680L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

KATHRYN REISS is the author of Time Windows, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; The Glass House People; Dreadful Sorry; Pale Phoenix, a finalist for the Edgar Award; as well as PaperQuake: A Puzzle. A master of the time-travel mystery genre, “Reiss slips between past and present with a callous alacrity that is wondrously effective” (Kirkus Reviews). She lives with her family in Northern California. www.midgard.com/KReiss/KReissInfo.html

Editorial Reviews

"A book with everything a reader wants. . . . Pale Phoenix has something for everyone."—VOYA

"Once again Reiss proves herself a canny practitioner of the junior gothic, blending elements of romance and suspense with confident storytelling."—The Bulletin

"A thoughtful and enjoyable book. Readers will certainly want to see more of Miranda and Dan and their delightful parents."—Booklist
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From the Publisher

Gr 6-9-In her new time-travel adventure featuring 15-year-old Miranda Browne (heroine of Time Windows [Harcourt, 1991]), Reiss creates an intriguing situation: a 13-year-old girl, caught outside of time in 1693 when her family home burns, is doomed to go on living for centuries without growing older. When Abby appears as a lonely new student at Miranda's school, the Brownes invite her to stay with them. At first resentful of Abby's presence, Miranda begins to suspect that there is something strange about her. Where does Abby go when she disappears, and why can only Miranda hear her crying? What part does a mysterious stone whistle play in Abby's story? In the end, it takes a frightening journey back in time to resolve Abby's problems. The story contains appealing elements: hints of witchcraft, a glimpse of life in 17th-century New England, and a budding romance, but it just misses its mark. The writing style is uneven, slowing the pace. Characterization is not deep enough to sustain the extended drama of the plot, or the questions Reiss raises about life and death.-Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library

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