The Time Travel Twins

Twins Pew and Basket Church find clues to their pasts and a dangerous foe in a literally Revolutionary setting. Upon leaping through a time portal to escape 12 years of misery in the misleadingly named Sweet Loveliness Home for the Nurturing Development of De-Parented Children, the intrepid foundlings land back in 1777--not far from where George Washington, in the wake of the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn Heights, is on the verge of throwing in the towel. Can they convince him to change his mind? Their efforts are complicated by a hidden treasure lying at the end of a trail of riddles, a megalomaniacal fellow time traveler out to manipulate history rather than preserve it, and the fact that Pew is a Black boy and Basket is a white girl. A second, ill-managed time jaunt results in their hands being swapped on their bodies. Although this mishap leads to sibling strife--"Stop picking your nose with my fingers!"--the course of history is righted by the end of an expertly crafted whirl of chases, betrayals, escapes, and revelations. A flimsy rationale for not asking a grateful Washington to abolish slavery in return for the twins' game-changing help sounds a sour note, but the parade of (more or less) accurately rendered historical persons and events, several tantalizing mysteries, and the smart and resourceful protagonists will be enough to carry readers through multiple sequels. Schweizer's occasional illustrations add humor and liveliness. A promising, fast-paced series opener. (historical notes, bibliography)(Adventure. 9-13)

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