It’s always fun when themes pop up in my reading, and what’s recently bubbled up is several books on the perennially favorite theme of time travel. Even within that, there’s lots of variation, as we have one nostalgic, one scary, and one fast-paced adventure.

The Carrefour Curse by Dianne K. Salerni. Holiday House, 2023. ISBN 978-0823452675. Read from a library copy. Ebook and audiobook available through Libby.

Twelve-year-old Garnet’s mother told her many stories of growing up in the big old Carrefour house, surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins, and lots of the family magic. Garnet herself has never seen the place – until she’s suddenly vomiting frogs and the only cure is going back to the ancestral home. It should be a dream come true, but even frogs aside, there is a lot wrong: the house is falling apart, her great-grandfather refuses to die, much to the consternation of the rest of the family – and no one can leave the house without some dramatically horrible thing happening to them. Garnet has always had the magical ability to work with stones and crystals that her name implies, but inside the house, she finds herself walking through doors into different times of the past. Could this newfound ability be the key to freeing her family?

There’s plenty to appeal to lots of readers here, from the ancient house hiding secrets, to the wide spread of relatives ranging from decidedly creepy to caring, friendly, and cute, as well as Garnet’s journey to feeling like she is really part of the family. Readers interested in magic will appreciate the chapters named after crystals with their powers explained and the branches of the family (shown in a family tree), each specializing in a different earth element. The old house and buried secrets reminded me a little bit of Thirteens by Katherine Marshall, and the old house in Eden’s Everdark by Karen Strong also has plenty of secrets to hide.

The Rhythm of Time by Questlove and S.A. Cosby, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2023. ISBN 978-0593354063. Read from a library copy. Ebook and audiobook available through Libby.

Seventh grader Rahim has two main activities: sneaking away from his father, with his strict no-technology stance, to record tracks with his best friend and tech genius Kasia – and staying out of the way of his nemesis, a bully who insists on being called Man-Man. His father, a successful history professor, wants him to learn to research from books and won’t even let him have a laptop to do homework with. So when Kasia builds him a cell phone – routing it through a secret government satellite to avid carrier fees – Rahim is thrilled. That is, until the cell phone accidentally transports him back to 1997, right before the biggest concert of his favorite old rap band. Then everything goes kablooey: he can’t just use the phone to get back home the same way. The only place he can find to stay for the night is with his father – and we all know how dangerous that can be. Back in the present, the FBI has tracked the disturbance in their signals to Kasia – and she desperately needs her equipment to be able to get Rahim back. Meanwhile, all the changes are ripping the fabric of space-time, causing massively dangerous phenomena all over. Can Kasia and Rahim find their way back to the right time – without destroying time itself in the process?

This is fast, smart, and funny adventure with a strong Pittsburgh setting that still takes some deeper looks at the dreams and realities of Black kids, both in 1997 and now. I really enjoyed it, and think it will draw in kids who don’t love the introspective books I usually gravitate towards. Though not quite as slapstick, it would pair well with The Last Last-Day-of-Summer by Lamar Giles.

A Spoonful of Time by Flora Ahn. Quirk Books, 2023. ISBN 9781683693185. Read from a library copy. Ebook and audiobook available through Libby.

Maya grew up alone with her mother, until her Halmunee came from Korea to live with them. Halmunee’s memory may be fading, but when she’s most herself, Maya loves spending time with her, away from prickliness that currently dominates her relationship with her mother. One hot August day when it’s too hot to do anything, Halmunee says it’s “patbingsu weather” and makes Maya the traditional Korean shaved ice and fruit dish. Not only are the sweet red beans tastier than Maya expected (mmm, sweet red beans!) – but eating it takes them back to a long-ago memory of Halmunee’s, so that Maya sees her mother as a young girl with her Harabujee, the grandfather she’s never met, so much more engaging than the formal wedding photo that’s all she’s ever seen of him.

This is just the beginning of their journey, where Maya learns to cook traditional dishes and experience her family history. At first, all she’s able to do is watch the memories, but eventually she meets a boy her own age, Jeffrey. in the memories, and learns how to walk in and out of different memories. These adventures serve to uncover more and more mysteries in both Maya’s past and the boy’s. Eventually, though, it will be up to Maya to figure things out to stop a past disaster. Maya is much less concerned with preserving the integrity of the time stream than Rahim and Kasia are! But Maya’s family version of time traveling has its own dangers – not only is it a skill that Maya will have to practice herself, but any mistake could end with her being stuck between the time streams, unable to return to her own time. This was a lovely blend of relationship building with Maya, her mother, her Halmunee, and Jeffrey (and cuteness from her dog Gizmo), homey cooking (recipes included), and traveling through time. Though it comes to a satisfactory ending, there’s definitely room for Maya to have more adventures through her family’s history. I’d love to read them! Where’s Halmoni by Julie Kim and When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller both also involve learning deep secrets about grandmothers, though Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow felt similar in tone if not in obvious plot elements.

What are your favorite time travel books?