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This novel belongs to two genres, science fiction & historical fiction. Time travel occurs, taking a modern boy to a difficult time in the past. Thirteen-year-old Tom, an unhappy foster child in Liverpool, falls into a massive open grave and is transported to Ireland in 1847, where he finds himself in the midst of the deadly potato famine. The way he is dressed and his ability to perform life saving CPR on a drowning boy make Tom seem like a supernatural hero to the people in the small Irish town in which he finds himself. Tom uses the skills and knowledge he has as a 20th century teenager to help the struggling Irish family he meets.

This is a fascinating tale of history. I became very interested in the Irish potato famine after reading The Grave, and I researched it by reading another book in our library, Black Potatoes: the story of the great Irish famine, 1845-1850, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. ( )

Yawn. Lame attempt to write an historical fiction that fits into the “new” curriculum including the potato famine in Ireland. This kid just happens to be able to flit back and forth between times in history. Yeah, right. And the family he just happens to visit is his own? And then the football (aka soccer) team captain turns out to be his own father?? And they believe this cockamamie story? Give me a break. Wouldn’t give this book to ANYONE!!! Had trouble finishing it myself!!!

As they begin to build a new school, a mass grave is uncovered in Liverpool. Tom Mullin, a 13-year-old who has spent his life moving from foster home to foster home, goes to check it out. HE is drawn in and wakes up 1847 Ireland in the midst of the Potato Famine. He is taken in by a loving family. Now he must decide where and when home truly is.

Other books to try: Both sides of Time, Paper Quake, The Sterkharm Handshake

Other books by this author: Flood, Torn Away ( )