Werewolves and Broccoli - Are They Really So Different?

Me, not a Werewolf or a Ghost!!

Two recently-published books came home in a bag last week.  Here's what I noticed right away:  Smiling mushrooms and a wolf on one cover, and a penguin and pajamas on the other.  The penguin wasn't wearing the pajamas, and the wolf wasn't laughing along with the mushrooms, but the juxtaposition of those images sure caught my attention.

So what did I do?  I grabbed a biscuit (or two), and lay on the couch I'm not supposed to by lying on, and started reading.  I was so engrossed I hardly had time to get off the couch and jump crazily at the door when my family got home.

Later that night, as I lay at the foot of the bed worshiping my Dad I started to think about those two books and what they had in common.  If I could have drawn a Venn diagram I would have.  Without opposable thumbs it's almost impossible!

The Astounding Broccoli Boy (Frank Cottrell Boyce) and Return to Augie Hobble (Lane Smith) both tell the stories of two underdogs, if I may use that expression.  They get thrown into unusual circumstances, one because he inexplicably turns bright green and the other because he has a close encounter with a werewolf. 

Rory, the broccoli-colored one, has to join forces with his enemy, who also turned green!  They decide they must be green for a reason, so they set out to do astounding things.  Astounding things do happen, but not quite in the way they expected.  However, they both grow and change - their lives will never be the same.  Would yours be, if you had turned bright green?

Now let's discuss werewolves.  Furry, drooly, badly behaved...  I've never liked them.  Augie Hobble is spending the summer working at Fairy Tale Place, the run down amusement park his dad manages.  He also has to go to summer school, since he failed his Creative Arts final project.  He's being bullied and his best friend is going away all summer.  Then the worst thing happens - his best friend dies while away!  And another really bad thing - Augie has a run-in with what he thinks is a werewolf, and soon his journal entries become very scary.  Is he turning into a werewolf?  The truth is even stranger, and let's just say it's possible for best friends to always be with you, no matter where they've gone.

These stories have humor, adventure, mystery, weirdness... but their power is friends, both new and old!  Now it's time for me to go pee on a bush, and for you to pick up a good book.

There Will Be Bears, and There Was a Sandwich

I'm going to review two books tonight, even though it is after my bedtime.  They both have bears in them, although I'm not sure about one of them.  It seems there might not have been a bear after all!

 

Let me explain.  The first book is called "The Bear Ate Your Sandwich" and it is written and drawn by someone called Julia Sarcone-Roach.  The pictures are delicious!  It is an easy book to read, and small people and their dogs can really enjoy it together.  There are sandwiches, enough said.  The plot is this:  Bear wakes up, smells berries, climbs in truck, travels and explores, finds delicious sandwich and eats it, travels home.  But there's a surprise ending, and it involves ears.  They are good ears, and this is a great book.  Can we believe that the bear really ate the sandwich?

The second book is for bigger people and definitely has a bear, a pretty big and scary one.  This book, called "There Will  Be Bears", doesn't have pictures, but as you read it your brain will be supplying some pretty vivid ones to go along with the story.  There is a family of people but the two most important ones are the boy, Tyson, and the Grandpa, Gene or "Gramps".  They have a special bond that gets tested in some interesting ways.  You wonder for a little bit if they'll be able to keep their love strong, and then you wonder if they'll be eaten by a bear!  I really thought this book was going to have an unhappy, and very messy, ending.  Before the bear there were some other bad things for Tyson to deal with, and the author does a good job of putting in some funny stuff to go along with the hard stuff.

You really want things to work out for Tyson, he is a good guy and his story is a good story.  Once you start you want to keep reading, and there's a lot of action to keep Tyson's story exciting.  You might never have a chance to go tracking elk, and you may never have a huge bear charging down a hill at you, but you probably have had trouble with a friend, and you might have had some girl (or boy) trouble.  Maybe your grandparents are growing old, too, and you might have felt sad and angry at things happening in your family.  You'll be rooting for Tyson and hoping that bear doesn't get him! Thank you Ryan Gebhart for creating an adventure that made the four walls of my suburban home melt away for an afternoon.  Now I'm going to lick my tail end and go to sleep.

Grace Lin, Rabbit-Toads, and True Magic: Starry River of the Sky

I am magical!

So is this!!

There are lots of different magics, many of which I don't really get since I am a dog, and supposedly not a very super-intelligent one.  There's tricks done by experts, which I sometimes see on TV, and tricks done by my little person, which involve a lot of hands-behind-back action.  Then there's the magic of new dog food. Garbage left unattended can have a magic of its own, as can cats caught in a corner.

This weekend I discovered the true magic of story.  It started with a thick book with some gold on the cover, which caught my eye.  Then I saw a rabbit, and a tiger (really just a large cat, right?), and a boy carrying a sack that might contain some kind of food.  When I used my tongue to flip over the pages I saw colorful illustrations and words that were not too hard for me.  Being between meals, I flopped right over with the book resting on my furry belly.

Link to book in SAILS Network

Hours later I was brought back to reality by my family coming through the back door.  I had spent the afternoon in the wonderful world of the Village of Clear Sky.   The name makes the village sound beautiful, but it is not.  It is dry, and poor, and on one edge is "the stone pancake", a long stretch of barren stone, not a real delicious pancake.  Rendi is a boy who has run away from his rich home, hurt and angry, and has become a chore boy at the village Inn.  Every day he does his chores in a fog of anger, every night he is haunted by wails of misery that only he can hear.

I had become immersed in the world of Rendi, and the little girl Peiyi and her father the inn keeper, and the beautiful Madame Chang and old Mr. Shan with his long beard and lost eyes.  There are mysteries in the story:  Where is the moon, which has left the sky?  Why does Rendi hear sounds of pain and suffering each night?  Who is the mysterious Madame Chang who tells the amazing stories?  Why does Mr. Shan love the toad he calls "Rabbit"?  I mean really, can anyone really love a toad? They taste terrible!

I had to share this book with Mom, because she was the one who brought it home from the Library.  So I had to wait until Sunday to finish this book.  In the meantime I watched her read, and smile, and look sad, and cry, and get cranky when others bothered her while she was reading.  When she finished I could tell she was still in the Village of Clear Sky in her mind, and for quite a long time.  I had to sneak the book off the table and go back down to the basement to read it.  I think they all thought I was eating the kitty litter again!

What a story!  It is a story with other stories woven in, and you can't put it down!  Mom kept going on about "universal truths", whatever that means.  All I know is it fills your heart and soul with beauty.  It is a mystery and a fairy tale, and you want to lean up against the characters and get your ears scratched and give them doggy comfort in return.  Even I cried in parts, but I guess it sounded as though I were just whining, because Daddy took me out to pee.

This is a book of magic for everyone, but is special if you are from China or have Chinese family.  Grace Lin has created beauty in a work filled with pain and hope, and toads and snails, and rabbits and tigers, and love and regret- but most importantly with peace and forgiveness and a Moon and a Mountain!

Trying to read together - not so easy

Tom Angleberger Has Become Part of Our Bedtime Routine

Link to book in SAILS Network

You may know Tom Angleberger as the author of the Origami Yoda books, but I know him as the famous author of Crankee Doodle, by far the best book that I have ever found under the bed with all the dust bunnies.  You need to read this, but before you read it make sure you remember the song, which is extremely silly in my opinion.  It turns out that this book is even sillier, but dare I say also brilliant!  The very toothy Pony is trying to get Crankee Doodle to go to town, and Crankee will have none of it.  You have never heard anyone complain so much over a simple request!  At the suggestion of buying a feather for his hat he is positively waving his arms around in consternation, and that is where our bedtime routine comes in.  The Little One yells down the stairs, "Daddy, be Crankee Doodle!"  and Daddy waves his arms around like spaghetti and yells things like, "You want a glass of water?  Why would you want a glass of water, you'll just have to pee!  Water just goes right through you, and you can't possibly expect me to go get you a glass and then turn on the faucet and run the water into it and then carry it upstairs..."  Anyway, you get the idea.  I'll just say that both the Pony and the Little One get what they want through tears, but first there is a lot of hilarity and arm-waving.  Don't miss this one, it will make you laugh outright, and make sure you read the Pony's version of the song's history on the last page.

Link to book in SAILS Network

If you happen to be a little older, and a girl, you will love this other book I found under the bed, right next to a piece of popcorn.  First I ate the popcorn (stale) and then I opened up this book with my tongue.  It is called Heaven Is Paved with Oreos and it is written by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, who happens to be the sister of Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote Eat, Pray, Love which I have never read, but I would if it were called  Eat, Pee, Love.
So first there were some books about cows and football, the Dairy Queen trilogy, which Mom says are great.  The characters of those books are in this one, too, but the most important person here is Sarah.  She is best friends with Curtis, but maybe he is more than a friend.  Or maybe he isn't.  It is so confusing, for her and for me.  Luckily her somewhat flaky but lovely Grandma wants to take her to Rome, and that seems like a really great idea since everything at home has gotten so awkward.  The trip is full of surprises, some good and some bad, sort of like discovering a mouse in the house and then realizing the cats have already removed its tail.  Sarah learns a lot and also eats a lot, which I especially liked, although I can't really eat Oreos.  They look yummy, though.

Even better than Oreos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book made my heart swell because the most important thing Sarah learns is that love is amazing in all its forms, which I already knew.  I don't even have to go to Rome to understand the power of love because I'm a dog, the embodiment of love!  If I do say so myself.

Me giving love and getting it in return

PSY, Gangnam Style, and the Power of Music

How am I going to tie this in with this blog about books?  Keep reading to find out!

Mom wants me to write about "The Barely Controlled Chaos That Is Our Life", or "Why Are the Pets and Children Making Such a Mess?"  I told her, "No!, this is my blog about BOOKS!"  Although it sounded like, "woof, woof, woof!!"

So I am going to ignore her and tell you about some books that I love, ones that show how music can change your life.  I know, because in my previous life down in Georgia I only got to listen to Country and Western, which made my skin itch.  Then on the van up to Maine they played only what I think they call "pop music", which I did not like as much as I like what they call "popcorn'.  Now I get to listen to all sorts of music on those magic discs!  Some make my Dad do what Mom calls "interpretive dance", some make my Mom practically jump up and down!  Some are just so beautiful that I can feel my heart beat faster. 

Mole Music is a book that gives you something new each time you look at it.  David McPhail uses watercolors and ink for his pictures, and they go deeper than his words, which are few and perfectly chosen.  This seems like a simple book at first, but then you realize that it is so powerful.  It is like the layers of a Dingo Stick, that you chew and savor, forgetting that you are really controlling the tartar on your teeth.  Mole Music has layers, too, the underground where Mole lives, and the above ground where the World is unfolding, unseen by Mole.  The instrument of change is the violin, which Mole orders through the mail and then learns to play.  Boy, does that take a long time!  He is so determined, and while he is learning a whole oak tree grows! Also, he changes the world, but the beauty of the book is that he doesn't know it - all he knows is the internal power of music and the joy that doing something you love brings to your own world, no matter how small.

Link to book in SAILS Network

                                                            Link to book in Amazon

Speaking of which, my world is pretty small.  A comfy couch, cats to annoy, squirrels to chase, a little neighborhood.  Those are good things, but I know from my book reading that the world is an amazing and huge place!  Also, the little one has forced me to watch something called YouTube.  Her favorite is some guy named PSY who does a silly dance.  I wouldn't think much of this, but if you were to mention him or do the dance or sing part of the song every child under 11 would join in or get excited.  That is the power of music, no matter how silly it seems to me, it can touch people from all different parts of the world, and that can connect them across cultures and borders.  I suppose YouTube is good for that, but I still prefer books.

This is not in English!  Oops, my paw hit the wrong button.  Luckily music is the universal language.

The Cello of Mr. O, by Jane Cutler, is another powerful picture book.  It takes place during a war.  A girl tells the story of her neighborhood where the people are struggling to get by.  They are surrounded by ugliness, burned and bombed buildings, no dogs to admire...  A grumpy man lives upstairs in the girl's apartment building, he does not like it when the children make noise.  He does not greet the other people with words or tail-sniffing when they are in line waiting for supplies.  The girl and her friends do not like him.  But Mr. O has a cello, and one day Mr. O creates beauty in the midst of all the ugliness.  The sound of the music and the courage of Mr. O bring hope where there has been none.  Then his cello is destroyed!  I will not tell you about the last few pages, but they are gorgeous and amazing and catch your heart.

I am going to just mention two books for older readers that are funny and make you feel good, just like my fuzzy ears and soft fur.  Too bad you can't feel them through the computer!

Notes From An Accidental Band Geek, by Erin Dionne, tells the story of Elyse who wants to be an orchestra superstar like her dad and grandad.  Somehow she ends up in the school marching band, complete with an ugly polyester band uniform.  She can't seem to get anything right!  But music transforms, no matter what form it takes.

That is true also in A Crooked Kind of Perfect, by Linda Urban.  Zoe wants a baby grand piano so much, but what her family can afford is an old wheezy organ. She has to learn how to play it from a lesson book called "The Hits of the Seventies".  This book can make you laugh out loud.  It is very inspiring, too, just like all the others I've written about.

When you read any of these books you want to get up on all four feet and sniff out an instrument, or touch your nose to the play button on the CD player and listen to some music that travels through you and comes out your fur tips.  And maybe you also want to spread that joy to your neighbor, next door or down the street or in the next town or across the ocean!  Even if that neighbor is a cat.

Holly Black, or, "Where Have My Bones Gone?!"

Do you like books about friends?  What about books with kids doing adventurous things, maybe things that  are a little dangerous, things that could happen only in books?  Do you like spooky?  Well, if you're hankering after a book that contains all of those things you need look no further than Holly Black's new book, "Doll Bones".  I shiver just thinking about that doll, and the way she moves on her own.  9 and up is probably a good age to read about what happens in this book.
What does this have to do with bones?  You'll never guess, so I'll tell you just a little!  A girl in the past met a tragic end (it involved a squishy, flattening experience - much like the mole from my last entry).  Her heartbroken father did something really gross and she ended up becoming a part of this doll that three friends, the hero and heroines of this book, find years later.  They have a dangerous and crazy adventure without parental permission, which you should never do!  It makes for a great, adventurous, and spooky story though.

Well, I for one am never going to do that to any bones, no matter how beloved!  It's downright frightening!  I like to sniff at bones, and chomp on them, and dig holes for them, maybe taunt the cats a little...

I guess besides chewing on bones you can also use them to help solve mysteries and crimes!  I didn't know this until I read, "Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History's Mysteries" by Elizabeth MacLeod.  I didn't even know history had mysteries.  Gosh, I don't even know what history is!

Anyway, this book is so interesting for extra-intelligent dogs and children ages 9 and up.  There's lots of pictures of bones and body parts, and true crime stories involving famous dead people like Napoleon and King Tut and Grand Duchess Anastasia.  How did they really die, and who probably killed them?  Find out about what amazing technology is now being used to solve old cases and new.  I think I'd become a dog detective if I had opposable thumbs.  Maybe I can help just by sniffing and gnawing at the bones.

Don't worry, you can still enjoy books about bones if you are 7 and younger.  Lisze Bechtold wrote a book called "Buster & Phoebe: The Great Bone Game".  This one is not scary, but it does have a little bossiness, some bullying, some lying, some subterfuge.  Turns out not all dogs are upstanding citizens!  Buster is a good boy, and is my favorite color for a dog.  Phoebe is older, with super curly ears, and she does not behave in a virtuous way.  The 'bone game' is not very fair, and let's be honest, Buster is not the brightest bulb in the dog universe.  However, he has heart, and he wins the game in a very satisfying way at the end.  I love the pictures, and there's lots of them.

If you are in preschool and you feel like being spooked just a little try "Skeleton Hiccups" by Margery Cuyler.  Skeletons are definitely a little scary, but seeing one trying to drink water upside down to get rid of hiccups is hilarious.  You also get to bark along to the silly hiccup sounds.  This one is a good read right before Halloween, which I just know is probably one of your favorite holidays because of all the candy.  I like Thanksgiving, you can probably guess why - turkey bones!

These Are a Few of Mom's Favorite Things

Remember how I told you I live with two librarians?  Dad does some boring computer library stuff - whenever he tells me about it I just glaze over.  But Mom is the one who brings home all these great books and reads them herself after The-Little-One-Who-Plays-With-My-Ears has finally gone to bed. These are some of her recent favorites:

"Crooked Kind of Perfect" by Linda Urban.  Girl desperately wants piano, gets organ instead.  Learns to play anyway, enters crazy organ contest, meets amazing people and has funny, fabulous time.  Does she finally get her piano?  Read it and find out!

"Eight Keys" by Suzanne LaFleur.  Elise lives with her Aunt and Uncle because her parents died when she was young.  Now she is twelve and mysterious keys are appearing in strange places.  They go to eight locked rooms in the barn.

"Hidden" by Helen Frost.  Darra and Wren end up at the same camp.  Years before Darra's father stole Wren's family car while Wren was in it.  What happened then, and what will happen now?

"One Year in Coal Harbor" by Polly Horvath.  Sequel to "Everything on a Waffle".  Quirky characters fill up this little town that Primrose now calls home.  Will Uncle Jack and Miss Bowser ever get together?  What will happen to Ked the foster child?  One of Mom's all-time favorite authors.

"Ungifted" by Gordon Korman.  Donovan Curtis is horribly accident-prone.  When he mistakenly ruins the Middle School Gym (read the book and find out how) a lucky mistake sends him off to the Gifted School and away from the very angry School Superintendent.  Donovan's story is so funny.   Good read for boys.

"Guitar Notes" by Mary Amato.  Tripp Broody, the disgruntled, rebellious guitar player, exchanges notes in a shared music practice room with Lyla Marks, the "perfect" cellist.  An unlikely friendship develops.  Good read for boys.

"One for the Murphys" by Linda Mullaly Hunt.  Carley Connors leaves what she knows for a foster family.  Emotional and affecting, with no easy answers.

"Three Times Lucky" by Sheila Turnage.  Mo was found floating down the river during a hurricane.  She is raised by the Colonel and Miss Lana in the tiny town of Tupelo Landing, NC.  Detective Starr comes to town, there is a murder, and the trouble begins.  Lots of eccentric characters make this a touching and funny story.

"My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece" by Annabel Pitcher.  An unusual book, beautifully done.  Jamie's family falls apart after one of his older twin sisters is killed in a terrorist attack.  Five years later Jamie hardly remembers her and feels guilty for not feeling the pain the rest of the family is feeling.  When he meets Sunya she is like a ray of sunshine, but she is muslim and therefore his family's "enemy".  Cathartic end that made Mom cry and cry.

"The Bully Book" by Eric Kahn Gale.  Eric Haskins is "chosen" as the 6th-grade Grunt, or victim.  It turns out there is a Bully Book and Eric is the first Grunt to try to stop the cycle.  Find out how he makes it through the year and ultimately outsmarts the book.  Good book for boys.

"Road Trip" Revelations

It was hard not to be drawn to Gary Paulsen's "Road Trip", as it was on a table next to a plate of sausage and potatoes.  While I tried to get my nose onto the plate, which was just a little out of reach, I noticed that this book had two dogs on the cover, although one seemed to be upside-down.  I don't get that at all, the drool would all go the wrong way!

Gary Paulsen wrote this book with his son, Jim, who I guess is not even a writer.  He sure did a good job, because the book is definitely up to my high standards.  The main characters are a teenage boy and his father, and they are on a road trip to get a Border Collie puppy who needs a home.  The dad is most decidedly unpredictable and things start going wrong right away.  Two wrongs don't make a right, but maybe a lot of wrongs do because this road trip snowballs into an adventure that will not be forgotten.

A man and his son and the family dog in a truck become a "family" that soon includes a tattooed friend trying to turn his life around, a lonely mechanic willing to take a chance, and a smart, tough girl getting away from a bad thing.  Oh, and the truck breaks down and they end up traveling in a big refurbished school bus, which seems to be always driving over the speed limit.

People only show the parts of them they want others to see.  I bet you have things you hide inside, even from your parents and best friends.  Can you ever really know another person the way you know yourself?  You people need to stop blah-blah-blahing and be still.  Take time to use your senses.  Smell the other human, watch for body language, really listen with your fur-free ears.  This school bus is full of people who are caring about each other, but they are hiding their problems and misreading the people around them.  The one who understands it all is Atticus the dog, and every few chapters he gets to have his say and let the reader in on the truth of what is going on with these people he loves.

Gary Paulsen sure knows dogs, and he also knows how to tell a good story that is funny and triumphant all at the same time.  This one is extra special because Jim helped write the story and because there are bits of sausage on the spine
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The Aviary, but why not the Squirrellery?

It's no secret that I prefer squirrels, but given the boring nature of my Friday afternoon alone I had to find something to read, no matter what it was about.  The book on top of mom's pile was "The Aviary".  The cover is great, dark green and black with all sorts of birds (yummy) and a girl in old-fashioned clothes.   When I read the inside of the cover it told about a crumbling mansion, a magician from the past, an old lady and a girl named Clara. Also an aviary full of some screechy, scary birds.  One day the mynah bird squawks, "Elliot, hurry!" to Clara.  That leads Clara into a mystery with villains and danger and old secrets and lots of birds(!), but sadly no squirrels.

Then here's what happened.  Paul came home!!!!  I had to leap all over him and sniff his smelly shoes, and sit on the couch with him so he wouldn't be lonely.  Now my mom has got the book and she's not sharing, so I'll have to tell you about this book later.  She also says that the inside of the cover is called a flyleaf.


Can I tell you a little about another book with birds?  It is "The Apothecary" by Maile Meloy, with lots of illustrations by Ian Schoenherr.  There are three friends - Janie, Benjamin and Pip.  Benjamin's father, an apothecary, vanishes.  The children have to save his sacred book, the Pharmacopeeeeia, or Pharmacopooiea, or something like that.  It's full of spells and some Russian spies are after it, and they are bad.  There's lots of danger, some good chase scenes (again, sadly without squirrels), a murder, and something you won't believe involving birds!  The cover of the book makes you want to pick it up and drool on it.  I definitely recommend it, especially if you are stuck in the house by yourself and can't even open the door or the refrigerator because you only have paws, no thumbs.  It is good for boys and girls and dogs, but too advanced for cats and hamsters - so don't even think about it!

Hilary McKay, English writer and crumpet eater

Do you like English humour?  I do, and I also like English food, like Shepherd's Pie!  Yum, the soft potato topping. Mmmmm, the delicious shepherds inside.  Oh, mom says it's just beef.
Anyway, I have recently discovered Hilary McKay, but I guess mom and her non-furry friend Susan discovered her a long time ago, when they first read "The Exiles".  They laughed and laughed, and have been reading her books ever since.  That's what she told me, and I believe her because she's a librarian and they never lie.
So, there are a few picture books, one about a pirate adventure in the backyard and another about a dragon downstairs.  I was scared about the dragon one because it takes place at night, but guess what!  The dragon is really just a three letter word beginning with "c" and ending with "t".  I don't want to spoil it for the children.
Then there's the first book of the Exiles series, about four sisters who get sent off to spend the summer with their eccentric grandmother.  Their stay is like a visit to the dog park when the wind is blowing and the dogs are feisty and snappish, and keep running into each other.  Then they are all tired out and find special friends and rest happily against their humans' legs.  Except it's a lot funnier.
"Saffy's Angel" is the first book in the Casson family series, and that Casson family is something else!  I would like to live with them because they're the kind of family who would always be dropping food on the floor.  The oldest daughter loves rodents, although not in the same way I love rodents. Everyone is named after paint colors, which I don't really get, but with a name like "Princess" I can't really complain.
"Dog Friday" is the first in another series about two families that live next to each other, and there's a dog in it, in case you couldn't tell from the title.  Also, there's one of the funniest scenes in a children's book ever, and it involves a turkey. 
Her new series is for younger children, and the first book ("Lulu and the Dog from the Sea') also has a dog in it!  It's about a girl, and a dog who needs a family, just like I needed a family!  You can tell from the cover that it ends happily, but I haven't gotten that far because my dad told me it was time for bed and took the book away.  I'll finish it tomorrow.

Time for lights out!

My first book review!

I decided to make a blog because the cats won't run away from me anymore, so I have time on my hands.  My female person left a book called "Beswitched" out on the couch, so I decided to give it a try.  It was really good, even though there weren't really any dogs in it.  It is by Kate Saunders, and is for ages 9 and up.  It turns out that this spoiled girl is getting sent to private school, whatever that is, and she is very mad because it is all because of her difficult grandmother having broken a hip.  On the train to the new school something very strange happens, she is whisked into the past, to a boarding school in 1935!  Boy, she is confused and lost, and her attitude is  pretty crumby (just found some on the floor...).  By the end of the book, though, she has changed a lot, and made friends she will never forget -and changed the life of one very important person.  My fur stood on end with emotion at the end, when she goes back to her own time, and something very special happens.  When I shared my feelings with my female person she told me about another book with a great time travel theme and (had to stop for a moment to try to scare the cat) she said that it had a terrific ending that gave her the same feeling.  Her book was "Tom's Midnight Garden", by Philippa Pearce.