Shadow on the Dial - Softcover

Anne Lindbergh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380705451 ISBN 13: 9780380705450

Publisher: Camelot, 1738

Synopsis

Twelve-year-old Dawn and her younger brother, Marcus, find themselves traveling to the past and to the future when they enlist the aid of a mysterious moving company in order to help their crotchety great-uncle find his "heart's desire."

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-7 A light time-fantasy with so many shadows that readers may feel left in the dark. Dawn, a young girl given to daydreaming, and her younger brother Marcus, are left with Great Uncle Doo (short for Doolittle), whom they have never met, while their parents take a week's vacation. Mother is sure that they will like her 81-year-old bachelor uncle. The children, however, find him to be a grumpy old man whose life has been unsuccessful. At the story's end, the returning parents seem unsurprised to find that Uncle Doo is now a happy, successful, retired flutist, married for years to an old friend. During the intervening week, the children have drastically changed their great-uncle's life by manipulating his past and future in a series of often bewildering time travels and other fantastical events. They wanted to ``bring him back to life'' by helping him get his heart's desirethe ability to play the flute. They add marriage as a bonus. The story's moral appears in Dawn's recognition that she shares with Uncle Doo the trait of daydreaming instead of working. She goes home resolved to work on her flute playing. The events just don't add up. When does Uncle ``do little'' become Uncle ``do''? The manipulation of so many events to accomplish such astonishing changes is not convincing. For a less bewildering time-fantasy, try Winthrop's Castle in the Attic (Holiday, 1985). Virginia Golodetz, St. Michael's College, Winooski, Vt.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

This fantastic romp by the author of The Hunky-Dory Dairy features Dawn and Marcus, who travel in time in a magic moving van in order to alter the course of their crotchety uncle's life. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Camelot
• Publication date: 1738
• ISBN 10: 0380705451
• ISBN 13: 9780380705450
• Binding: Paperback