The Shadow on the Dial

Twelve-year-old Dawn and her younger brother, Marcus, find themselves traveling to the past and to the future when they enlist the aid of a mysterious moving company in order to help their crotchety great-uncle find his "heart's desire."

Grade 4-7 A light time-fantasy with so many shadows that readers may feel left in the dark. Dawn, a young girl given to daydreaming, and her younger brother Marcus, are left with Great Uncle Doo (short for Doolittle), whom they have never met, while their parents take a week's vacation. Mother is sure that they will like her 81-year-old bachelor uncle. The children, however, find him to be a grumpy old man whose life has been unsuccessful. At the story's end, the returning parents seem unsurprised to find that Uncle Doo is now a happy, successful, retired flutist, married for years to an old friend. During the intervening week, the children have drastically changed their great-uncle's life by manipulating his past and future in a series of often bewildering time travels and other fantastical events. They wanted to ``bring him back to life'' by helping him get his heart's desirethe ability to play the flute. They add marriage as a bonus. The story's moral appears in Dawn's recognition that she shares with Uncle Doo the trait of daydreaming instead of working. She goes home resolved to work on her flute playing. The events just don't add up. When does Uncle ``do little'' become Uncle ``do''? The manipulation of so many events to accomplish such astonishing changes is not convincing. For a less bewildering time-fantasy, try Winthrop's Castle in the Attic (Holiday, 1985). Virginia Golodetz, St. Michael's College, Winooski, Vt.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lindbergh's seventh novel is entrancing, a believable fantasy like The People in Pineapple Place and her other witty tales. Dawn and her brother Marcus are visiting their sour great-uncle Elroy Doolittle, "Uncle Doo," an old bachelor in Florida, when the boy turns a sundial. Instantly Mr. Bros appears with his van, marked "Bros Removers . . . Your Heart's Desire: JUST DIAL." Defying predestination, the children go backward on several time trips to 1903 and later years, where they conspire with loving Mollyanna to change their uncle's path in life from loneliness to his twin heart desires: a career as a flutist and a lasting marriage to a dear wife. When Dawn and Marcus are projected into the 1990s, they meet themselves as adults and learn a priceless lesson that will help them become caring grown-ups. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.