Zoe, traveling back to the time when her mother was a child, intervenes in the past in order to save the future Grade 5-8-As she did in Stonewords (HarperCollins, 1990), Zoe slips through the cracks of time to prevent a disaster, this time involving her fragile and estranged mother. Zoe, 14, is off to Camp Cedar Ravine with her best friend, Jed. Their lovely summer days are shattered when a fellow camper learns that his parents have been killed. The news sends Zoe into another out-of-body experience. Traumatized, she heads home to the island where she lives with her elderly grandparents to see how they are faring without her and is shocked to realize that she can control these experiences. She stumbles onto a family secret during one of these outings, which provides the climax of the story. This is not a stunning thriller though some parts, particularly the epilogue, are beautifully written. Plotting tends to drag through the first half of the story, really only picking up when Zoe attempts to rescue her five-year-old mother from a frightening neighbor. Dialogue does not always read well and most of the characters are thinly developed. There are several mentions of Zoe Louise, the "ghost" character from Stonewords, but prior knowledge of events in that book is not crucial to understanding this one. The overriding theme here seems to be that today needs to be cherished more than tomorrow or yesterday. Although Zoe comes to that conclusion sooner than most of the intended audience probably will, it is a valid point that needs to be made. An unusual and haunting addition. Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Gr. 4^-7. Several years have passed since Stonewords (1990), when Zoe pushed herself back in time to save a ghost that was her childhood friend. This time it's her troubled mother as a child whom Zoe must rescue from the jaws of history and disaster. Logic is more tenuous here than in the first book, and the structure is loose, with some obvious contrivances and at least one incident that seems oddly unnecessary--Zoe and her friend Jedediah are (wrongly) suspected of sexual hanky-panky at the camp they are attending. The time-travel fantasy is convincing, however, and the writing is splendidly atmospheric, with Conrad beautifully guiding readers through Zoe's misty corporeal changes and into a riveting, terrifying climax that brings her close to death. The jacket is attractive but looks young: it appears to be a picture of Zoe's child-mother's legs and feet rising into the air, a rather puzzling image, since time-slipping 14-year-old Zoe is, of course, the real focus of things. Although the book can stand on its own, it will probably be best appreciated by children familiar with Zoe's previous adventure. Stephanie Zvirin Zoe's special ability to be called back in time affects both her present life at camp and her family's past, as she is called upon to witness the effects a neighbor holds on her vulnerable mother. Zoe's journey to the past, to a place she is 'not supposed to go', involves her in issues which could affect her present life in Conrad's satisfying supernatural mystery. -- Midwest Book Review