{"id":31900,"date":"2017-01-06T23:44:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-07T03:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=31900"},"modified":"2017-01-06T23:44:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-07T03:44:52","slug":"review-of-23-minutes-by-vivian-vande-velde","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=31900","title":{"rendered":"Review of 23 Minutes, by Vivian Vande Velde"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>23 Minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

by Vivian Vande Velde<\/p>\n

Boyds Mills Press, 2016. 176 pages.
\nStarred Review
\n2016 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #3 Teen Fiction<\/p>\n

I loved this book. Yes, there\u2019s an unlikely assumption at the beginning, but since it\u2019s the set-up and they never tried to explain it, it\u2019s very fun to think about what you would do in that scenario.<\/p>\n

15-year-old Zoe has the ability to turn back time for 23 minutes. She doesn\u2019t know why she has this ability or how it works, but she\u2019s figured out what she can do. She has to put her arms around herself, without touching anyone else, and say out loud \u201cPlayback,\u201d and she will be put back to 23 minutes earlier.<\/p>\n

Once she has done this, she can keep redoing those 23 minutes, keep resetting to the same time \u2013 for ten tries. But if she once lets 24 minutes go by, or if she uses up her ten tries, she\u2019s done and can\u2019t go back.<\/p>\n

Zoe has found that 90% of the time, trying to redo things makes them worse.<\/p>\n

But the book starts with a situation Zoe has to try to change. She gets caught in a downpour and goes into a bank to get out of the rain. The people in the bank look at her askance because of her blue hair and the way she\u2019s dressed. One youngish man, though, is kind to her.<\/p>\n

But then a bank robber starts holding up the bank, and he ends up shooting the kind man in the face. Zoe has to try to fix this.<\/p>\n

Her first try, she borrows a cell phone from someone on the street and calls the police. (Teens who live in a group home aren\u2019t allowed to have their own cell phones.) A lot more people end up getting shot that time.<\/p>\n

Next she tries warning the bank guard. That doesn\u2019t go well, either. Eventually she figures out she needs to get the kind man\u2019s help. But what can she say to win his confidence?<\/p>\n

This book reminded me of the movie Ground Hog Day, except that Zoe knows the number of iterations is limited. I like the way she learns things in one iteration to use in the next.<\/p>\n

The book is dedicated \u201cto those who try to make things better for at-risk children and teens,\u201d and Zoe is indeed one of those teens. I like the way the book shows her trying to do what\u2019s right, despite the reactions of people around her. I also like the way the kind man\u2019s character is revealed to be consistently kind, even though different things happen in each go-round, and he\u2019s tested in different ways.<\/p>\n

Of course, totally apart from the wonderful story, it\u2019s fun to speculate what you would do if you had that power. What moments would you be able to fix? It\u2019s easy to understand Zoe\u2019s perspective that it\u2019s usually not, actually, a good idea.<\/p>\n

She found out about her ability when she was thirteen. That was when she learned the rules. Here\u2019s why she was somewhat slow about changing things when the bank robbery started:<\/p>\n

But she has not had good luck with this sort of thing in the past. She spent way too long on it at thirteen \u2013 she thinks she may have spent years<\/em> playing back various moments when she was thirteen, trying to fix things, despite the fact that, really, nobody can fix being thirteen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the two and a half years she\u2019s had this ability, playback has cost her more than it\u2019s gained, and Zoe has come to think of her life as being like one of those choose-your-own-adventure books \u2013 one where it\u2019s best to read through once and settle, because the choices only go from bad to worse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most of all, this is a thrilling, dramatic story with a life-or-death puzzle to solve and characters you come to love.<\/p>\n

VivianVandeVelde.com<\/a>
\nboydsmillspress.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/23_minutes.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on my own copy, sent to me by the publisher.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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