Westfallen

Gr 3-7–Renowned “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” author Brashares teams up with her brother to craft an exciting historical novel with time travel, wormholes, and a dystopian alternate reality. Westfallen: a modern-day place that used to be known as the United States before the Nazis won the war. It’s 2023, and three middle schoolers have just discovered they have the power to meddle with time. They stop something sad that happened 79 years ago to three new friends whom they’ve just met through an old scratchy radio signal and a magical shed. Things are better, right? What about stopping something really monumental, like World War II? What’s the downside of making the world a better place? The kids from 1944—Alice, Lawrence, and Artie—and the kids from 2023—Henry, Frances, and Lukas—come face to face with unexpected consequences when they disrupt the fabric of time. Young readers will be caught up in the chilling events as seen through the eyes of the six friends, but so will adult readers. Teachers should get ready for book two and start thinking about book discussions that promise lots of conversations (and arguments!) when students get their hands on this page-turner with a cliff-hanger ending.