THE SILVER TREE

Micki Silver must go back in time to stop a wish she has made from coming true--one that could destroy her family.

Grade 4-6-- This first novel by a promising new author will not disappoint those fascinated by time-travel stories. Micki, 11, is disagreeable and determined to spoil the day for her family when rain ruins their picnic plans. Her father takes them instead to a toy museum, where Micki runs off by herself, uttering a fateful phrase: ``I wish I had never been born.'' That wish launches the plot to its satisfying, full-circle conclusion. She discovers a dollhouse, and through the attic window can see and hear miniature, real people, who are expecting a visitor. The next morning Micki wakes up among the dollhouse inhabitants, now a full-size family living in a large Victorian house in 1891. Somewhat marred by a slightly stilted style in the early chapters, the story picks up momentum when the time travel begins and as Micki's struggles to adjust to the details of daily life 100 years ago are sharply delineated. Her growth from a petulant whiner to a young girl who can accept the consequences of her behavior is quite believable, and her intricate relationship with the past is well developed. A fine debut. --Connie C. Rockman, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When Micki Silver--a moody 11-year-old--stands in what she discovers too late is a magic room and wishes she'd never been born, she's cast back 100 years to when Gregory, a boy who would become her great-great-grandfather, lies dying from an accident. The author weaves a complex tapestry here; shepherded by a mysterious old egg-woman (or maybe more than one) who utters cryptic warnings about branches and trees, Micki passes back and forth between the 1890's and the present, meeting several of her forebears and trying to figure out how to save Gregory and keep her wish from coming true. In the end, a small magic ritual plus a firm new wish do the trick. Williams ties up most of the loose ends but leaves a major one dangling by never revealing the old woman's identity or the source of her interest in the Silvers. Still, though its internal logic is not as well developed as the varied, likable cast, this simply-phrased time-travel fantasy will please fans of the genre. Meanwhile, the point about responsibility for unforeseen consequences of rash acts is gently but firmly delivered. (Fiction. 10-13) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.