Running Out of Time

By Margaret Peterson Haddix
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
Reviewed by Noelle

13 year old Jessie lives in the village of Clifton, Indiana in the year 1840. Her father is the blacksmith and her mom is the local midwife. It is an ordinary village, although Jessie wonders about some of the odd things that occasionally happen in town. Then people start falling ill; very ill. Even Jessie's little sister Katie is one of the sick. Then Jessie's mother pulls her aside and tells her the unthinkable. It is actually the year 1996 and Clifton is really an authentic 1800's tourist site filled with cameras and microphones so tourists can watch how people lived then. But something has gone horribly wrong with Clifton--no one is allowed to leave and the medicine and vaccinations promised for the villagers isn't forthcoming. People could even die. Jessie is to be sent for help to the outside world. Jessie's mother gives Jessie her old clothes--jeans and a t-shirt--money, and contact information for a Mr. Neely who will hopefully help them. Then Jessie is shown where she can sneak out into the tourist site complex and escape. Jessie must avoid the guards and people who want to keep Clifton the way it is and figure out how to live in the world of the future, filled with things she's never seen or heard of, like telephones, cars, skyscrapers, radios and photographs. This is an extremely exciting story, as Jessie struggles with who to trust and how to get the word out about what is happening in Clifton while trying to elude the bad guys. The pace is nonstop! Those who love a fast-paced adventure with moral dilemmas mixed in will eat up this book in one sitting! Read more about this author at this site.