(4) 4-6 Time Travel Mystery series. Connor, a thoroughly modern California boy, time travels to 1926 to save his mother and break the magical ties that bind his family to an evil fifteenth-century painter. Though its pro-family subplot leans too heavily on obvious ironies (wholesome pleasure of the 1920s vs. electronic pastimes of the modern era), this tightly plotted novel moves swiftly through three distinctive time periods as it deftly presents a large cast of memorable characters.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn