Time and Time Again

Gr 9 Up–Phoebe Mendel has long been stuck in a time loop where she’s forced to live out the same mind-numbing day over and over again. When Phoebe gets side-swiped by a car driven by her estranged friend Jess (they/them), the monotony is finally broken. Suddenly, Jess and Phoebe find themselves trapped in time together. While Phoebe feels imprisoned within her predicament, Jess sees the loop as a possibility for adventure. As they try to fill their days with exciting and meaningful experiences, long-buried romantic feelings surface. Phoebe and Jess discover that, while the day remains the same, their relationship evolves with every second. Phoebe’s chronic pain due to IBS is often trivialized due to external fatphobia, while Jess has oligoarthritis and uses mobility devices. Both characters are Jewish; Greenfield’s debut is a disability narrative that also explores the experiences of non-Christian queer teens living in predominantly Christian neighborhoods. Phoebe and Jess’s strong connection lies beyond mere attraction, as they also rely upon each other for a sense of community and belonging that they can’t find elsewhere.