Week 51: Torn

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Torn, by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The is book #4 in Haddix' latest book series, a time-travel adventure with a whole cast of characters. Here, the brother-sister duo of Jonah and Katherine are thrown into 1611, onto Henry Hudson's voyage searching for the Northwest Passage. It's June, everything is frozen, everyone is starving, and time has broken down enough that the kids aren't sure what to do. And Captain Hudson seems kind of on the delusional side, and some of the crew are planning a mutiny...

I've liked this series so far and am looking forward to the rest of the series; there are going to be 7.

Haddix uses a device here that seems to be getting increasingly common. I'm noticing more boy/girl pairs as double protagonists--they may split up and have separate storylines, or stick together and work to solve their problem. I think it's a strategy to try to get more girl heroines in without breaking the common "rule" that boys won't read books about girls.

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