The Window
Grade 6-9-Mandy, blinded in an automobile accident that killed her mother, goes to live with her two great uncles and a great aunt whom she has never met. Once on the family homestead in northern Texas, she travels to her grandmother's teenage years when she leans out of her attic bedroom window. Through her travels into the past, she pieces together the tragic story of the family she never knew existed and learns much about herself. In the present-day world, Mandy is adjusting to a new school, new friends, and being blind. She makes friends with ease, and their support helps her adjust to all of the other changes she is experiencing. There is no real conflict in this novel. The only real tension arises in the past world and transfers to the present day when Mandy tries to piece together the mystery of her mother's and grandmother's lives. By placing the protagonist in the home of her great uncle and aunt, and by making Mandy's adjustment to her new life relatively smooth, Ingold avoids many of the weaknesses of the YA time-travel genre. Mandy is not running from anything; however, the knowledge she gains through her journeys into the past allows her to see her own life more clearly and to adjust to her new circumstances more easily.Lucinda Lockwood, Thomas Haney Secondary School, Maple Ridge, BCCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.