Have you ever wondered where the time goes? Why hours seem to leak out of the day? Amy Herrick's (The Happiness Code) charming and clever first book for children offers up an answer: it's because eighth-grader Edward disturbed a Fetch in the middle of December, "a dangerous time." The Fetch collects the stray minutes, the moments you won't miss--and disperses them where they're needed. But Edward's interference puts the Fetch's job in jeopardy.
Edward forgets the rock he was supposed to bring for Mr. Ross's science class, so he grabs the nearest one in the backyard of the house he shares with his kooky Aunt Kit. It offers some resistance, but he tears it away. Aunt Kit, with a sense of foreboding, tells him to come straight home because "it's the short end of the year," when "the curtain between here and there grows thin." As cryptic as her phrases seem, they begin to make sense to Edward. Odd occurrences rise up around this unusual rock. A stranger appears to Edward and wants to take it; a twister spins around him; and his neighbor and nemesis, Feenix, tries (and succeeds in her attempt) to take it during science class. Edward, who's always avoided Danton (a "decent student and Lord of the Inflated Rubber Ball") finds himself accepting Danton's help to reclaim his rock from Feenix. And Briget, a mute new girl to the school, also joins in the effort.
Herrick leads the classmates on a fantastical journey, weaving in ideas about the nature of time. Edward's Aunt Kit first broaches the subject ("Without time everything would happen at once," says she), then Mr. Ross introduces the topic of time as the fourth dimension (along with length, width and height). As the foragers (tiny time gobblers) within the Fetch leak out and multiply, the fabric of the world (which Aunt Kit calls "the Great Web") becomes vulnerable. The author strategically places all the clues needed in the first chapters, and as her story unfolds, their significance comes to light. Sophisticated readers will enjoy the sly allusion to Macbeth and the exploration of time's qualities. All readers will enjoy this novel as an adventure story featuring a team of unlikely friends with an array of talents--each essential to their mission to restore the Fetch to its proper place. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: After an eighth-grader interrupts the ancient ritual of keeping time in balance, he must band together with a scrappy crew of classmates to undo the damage.