Time Sight is a time travel or time-slip novel for middle graders in the tradition of Edward Eager’s Half Magic and Nesbit’s Five Children and It. The book is set in Scotland where Will and his little brother are sent to stay with relatives while Will’s father goes to find his mother who has been kidnapped while on a medical mission in a foreign country. Will discovers that in the country of his ancestors he has a special ability to see into other time periods and eventually step into the picture, so to speak, and enter those other times.

There are references to prayer and to God that are orthodox, Christian, and integrated into the plot and characterization in a way that didn’t stick out or seem awkward. The time travel was well thought out, and the rules for the time travel made sense, in a fantasy sort of way. Also, I liked that the writing itself wasn’t overdone or over-complicated. She didn’t try to be Tolkien in a book for ten and eleven year olds. (I love Tolkien’s writing, but I find a lot of middle grade authors trying to import his style and complexity of thought into middle grade novels where it doesn’t fit.) The setting was good, and I painlessly learned some things about Scottish history that I didn’t know before. I thought the historical time periods, settting and characters, were also well done with historical details and characters that seemed authentic. The notes in the back indicate that the author did her research.

Altogether, Time Sight was well written, well plotted, and absorbing. Will and his little brother Jamie and their Scottish cousin Nan are decent, thoughtful children who are coping with situations beyond their years in a way that makes sense and also gives rise to interesting questions and thoughts and growth for both readers and characters. Their adventures are fun to read about and educational to boot. Lynne Jonell tells us in the Afterword that she is related to the Scottish Menzies family that is featured in the book, and the family motto really is, being translated, “If God wills it, I shall do it.” The book is not a religious tract at all, and yet like A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the light of a Christian or Christian-influenced worldview shines through the pages of the story as it ends with the words, spoken by Will’s father, “That’s good to know. Light wins.”