Sally Nicholls’s A Chase in Time is a time-slip adventure for 8 year olds about a brother and sister who tumble through a mirror into 1912.<\/p>\n
Alex and his big sister Ruby spend two weeks every summer at Aunt Joanna’s old house. This summer is the last. The house has to be sold, and Alex minds so much it hurts.<\/p>\n
He’s always loved the huge gold mirror in the hall. (Years ago he once saw a strange boy in it, brushing his hair.) Then one night the glass simply isn’t there, and the two of them land with a thump in the same hallway, more than a hundred years earlier.<\/p>\n
The hallway is theirs, but everything in it is wrong. Dora and Henry, who might just be their great-great-grandparents, are screaming at them. Uncle Atherton is getting married tomorrow and has just come home with a Saxon gold cup for his exhibition. Then the stables catch fire, and when everyone gets back from fighting it, the cup has gone.<\/p>\n
It’s really funny about the past. Ruby is FURIOUS about petticoats and black stockings, and Alex is horrified to find boys have to wear stockings too. Henry nearly falls off his chair laughing at the idea of carrot cake. Everybody smokes. The children notice the grubby hair and the coal smoke as much as the grand staircases, which feels very true.<\/p>\n
It moves fast, too. There’s a bucket chain at the fire, a bit of packing straw on a stranger’s sleeve and a car about to drive off with the thieves. Ruby tries to stall them by collecting for missionaries (it goes about as well as you’d expect).<\/p>\n
Just so you know, Ruby says “holy hell” when they land, and Uncle Atherton swears too. One of the thieves pulls out a leather-wrapped club and taps it at the children. And because it’s 1912, the gardener’s son is called “a bit simple” and a character talks about “savages”. Most readers will simply enjoy the danger, but some might want a chat about those old-fashioned words.<\/p>\n
Underneath the chase there’s a sweet wish. Alex wants his aunt to keep her house, and Ruby wonders if the missing cup is somehow the key to getting home. Can two children from the future really solve a crime in 1912?<\/p>\n
If they love the idea of their own house having a secret past, The Secret Lake by Karen Inglis is another brother and sister adventure. Stella and Tom follow a disappearing dog down a hidden ladder and end up in their own garden, long ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sally Nicholls’s A Chase in Time is a time-slip adventure for 8 year olds about a brother and sister who tumble through a mirror into 1912. Alex and his big sister Ruby spend two weeks every summer at Aunt Joanna’s old house. This summer is the last. The house has to be sold, and Alex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12856,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":9373,"lr_next_read_anchor":"The Secret Lake","lr_seo_hook":"Petticoats, a stable fire and a stolen Saxon cup, back in 1912."},"book_tag":[1050],"age_group":[26],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[878],"class_list":["post-6645","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-action-books","age_group-books-for-8-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-sally-nicholls"],"yoast_title":"A Chase in Time by Sally Nicholls | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Petticoats, a stable fire and a stolen Saxon cup, back in 1912. For ages 8+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n