Webster's Leap

Grade 5-7?A brother and sister, separated both physically and emotionally by their parents' divorce, find a way to reconcile in this intriguing story. Jill Weaver, 11, is visiting her father at Castle Gryffe, Scotland, while Tad visits their mother in London. While their relationship has been strained, Jill now misses her brother, but doesn't know how to bridge the gap between them. Tad's computer provides her with the answer. She finds a file named after the family that owned Castle Gryffe in its 16th-century heyday; opening it, she steps into that world, where Tad is Lord Romanes's page and she is Lady Romanes's maid. The lord's jealous brother is plotting to kill Lady Romanes's child and accuses the disfigured young woman of witchcraft so that he can blame her for the infant's death and regain his lost position as heir. Jill and Tad, learning of Rollo's treachery, must work together to save their beloved lady, and in so doing, they find their way back to one another. The 16th-century scenes, filled with detail about everything from the castle's dirt to the people's superstitious attitudes, ring with authenticity, while the use of a computer as the key to the past is a deft 1990's touch. Jill is a likable heroine; her emotions are believable, and her personal growth is satisfying. Fans of historical drama and time-travel fantasy will enjoy this tale.?Mary Jo Drungil, Niles Public Library District, IL
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Dunlop (Finn's Island) leaves no loose ends in this imaginative, well-wrought fantasy about an estranged brother and sister who go back in time-or do they?-to right a wrong and patch up their relationship. Once again the unwilling participant in her divorced parents' annual summer exchange of offspring, Jill Weaver, 11, is stuck with her historian father in an isolated Scottish castle, while her older brother Tad is with Mum in London. Bored senseless by anything historical, Jill reluctantly views a video that Dad and Tad made about Castle Gryffe, at the end of which she is shocked to see herself and Tad in 16th-century garb. A string of strange events culminate in Jill's being swept back to the 16th century, where she and Tad are servants of Lord and Lady Romanes. Various nefarious schemes imperil Lady Romanes ("Kate"), and it is up to Jill and Tad to save their gentle patroness before an impending visit by Mary, Queen of Scots. Fans of historical fiction will revel in Dunlop's panoramic vision of 16th-century Scottish life in all its splendor and squalor; she puts a neat and satisfying spin on the time-travel conceit to boot. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.