2023 NAIWE Young Adult Book Winner
Find Me in the Time BeforeAuthor: Robin Stevens Payes
In Find Me in the Time Before, the author Robin Stevens Payes has succeeded in the challenge of writing in the language used by teenagers as well as in first person and in present tense—and also finding ways to weave in history lessons!
Being that this is book 4 in the series, the reader may not have read the prior three books, but enough information is shared through the storyline to keep the reader from being lost. Also, the references to previous adventures will intrigue readers to enjoy all of Charley’s time travel books.
Payes keeps the plot in her book very close to real life. Charley wants to experience high school life by attending home coming, while Billy would rather be taking college courses, though his parents won’t let him. Charley and Billy are both highly intelligent students, leading them to have some difficulties in school with their peers, teachers, and parents, as well as even more adventures.
Through their time travel, Charley and Billy visit famous happenings of the past. Payes uses an entertaining plot to bring history to life to educate youth on some important events. To enhance the history, Payes uses images throughout her novel. She includes photos of statues, locations, and famous people that are visited or discussed by Charley and Billy. These photographs allow the reader to better understand what or who Charley and Billy are discussing and seeing.
Because Charley and Billy are highly intelligent, sometimes when they speak about time travel the story can become hard to follow, but the passages are never long, and they reinforce the intelligence of the characters.
Even at 400+ pages, this is a quick and entertaining read, in part because Charley speaks as a typical teenager in fragments and with a lot of hashtags and abbreviations. This informative read would be a nice supplemental book to accompany a student’s history lesson. It is representative of the joy of loving learning—being entertained while learning!
Congratulations, Robin Stevens Payes’s Find Me in the Time Before for being a NAIWE 2023 Book Award winner!
Leave a Reply