Once Was a Time by Leila Sales - ESSENTIAL

Sales, Leila Once Was a Time, 324 pages.  Chronicle Books, 2016.  $17.  Content: G.

England, 1940:  Lottie’s dad has been working for the British government, postulating the existence of breaks in the space-time continuum, hoping to weaponize the theory into a way to go back in time and rid the world of Hitler.   When Lottie, her dad , and her best friend Kitty are kidnapped by German spies, a strange shimmer appears in Lottie’s cell, and she takes a dive through it, finding herself in America in 2013.  A nice boy helps her find the local library, where she finds the Internet and learns that everyone she loved is gone.  Taken in as a foster child by a kind couple, Lottie tries to build a life for herself and forget the girl she used to be.  Three years later, she chances upon a note written to her by someone who could only be her, supposedly, long-dead friend Kitty.  IS there anyway Lottie can get herself to Italy and follow the clues to find out what REALLY happened all those years ago.

I was immediately charmed by this little book – yes, little – 324 pages went way too quickly.  I knew that something was going to happen when she finally opened a copy of “The Little Princess” after three years and I was not disappointed.  I would happily read this book aloud at bedtime or to a class. 

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  

Cindy, Library Teacher