The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick

   

The Time Fetch

Herrick, Amy.  Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers, 2013.  9781616202200

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile 700.  Follet Titlewave lists this as YA but the Algonquin Young Reader’s website says ages 10+ and grades 5+.

Qualitative Reading Analysis:

I would rate this book as Middle Low on the “Text Complexity: Qualitative Measure Rubric for Literary Text”.  This book has a single level of complex meaning.  There are shifts in point of view among the main characters but this is well distinguished by the chapters.  Other than that the language and structure are fairly conventional.  The book is clearly fantasy.  The concept of a time fetch is explained early on in the book but is a bit difficult to understand.  

Summary:

The foragers are only supposed to collect time that will not be missed and then wait until the Keeper calls them home.  But when Emmett accidentally releases them, they quickly get out of control and time starts disappearing.  Can Emmett, Feenix, Brigit, and Dalton, an unlikely quartet, figure out what is going on and against all odds save time from disappearing altogether?

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ysn-iZrbr4

Personal Thoughts:

This was a really interesting book.  It had elements of fairy tales (gingerbread house), fantasy (a time fetch from another world), ancient lore (stories about the winter solstice), and adventure.  I was a little confused by the ending.  The foragers ate a lot of time and things disappeared all over the place but when Brigit was able to call the foragers back everything went back to normal.  That seemed a bit odd to me…no consequences.  Other than that, I enjoyed it.

Subjects/Themes: Chaos and Order, Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Heroism

Character Names/descriptions:

Edward: The main character who lives with his quirky aunt.  He is content to just glide through life until he finds a “rock” which turns out to be a time fetch.  He has to join forces with 3 friends to figure out how to stop time from disappearing.

Feenix: Edward’s next door neighbor and a nuisance.  She finds herself in the middle of this adventure and even gets kidnapped by some creepy old ladies in a gingerbread house.

Brigit: Brigit hasn’t spoken since her baby brother died.  She is befriended by the other three and finds herself in the middle of the quest to save time.  But how much can help can a mute girl be?

Danton: Athletic Danton rounds out the group of four when he befriends Edward and the others.  

High Interest Annotation:  Can four friends save time from disappearing altogether?