The Jewel and the Key

Gr 8—10—Addie, an aspiring actress, discovers a trunk full of beautiful antique clothes in her father's Seattle bookstore and learns that the building's previous owner was the director of the legendary Jewel theater. Soon after she tries on a vintage dress and examines a lovely silver mirror, an earthquake hits the city. Addie agrees to go across town to see if her neighbor's elderly friend, Becky Powell, needs help. After a glimpse in the mirror, the teen finds herself in a strange version of her city; here she meets Mrs. Powell and her son, Reg. She is confused by their apparent lack of awareness of the earthquake, but agrees to meet the woman at the theater. It takes her a while to realize that the mirror is a key to the past. Gazing into it lands her at a time when the Jewel was a successful enterprise, Meg Powell was its famous director, and people demonstrated against the United States entering World War I. The past parallels Addie's own world: Whaley, her best friend who lives with her family, contemplates enlisting to fight in Afghanistan while Reg considers joining the ranks in Europe. Addie returns to the past over and over, in an attempt to preserve the theater. Saving it, she believes, will prevent Whaley from leaving in the present. This erratic tale is an interesting take on the time-travel genre but fails to satisfy. Characters come across as stand-in figures rather than fleshed-out people with reasonable motivations. Spiegler takes on too many issues, including pacifism, Addie's self-discovery that she is meant to direct rather than act, and the unresolved and confusing relationship between the protagonist and Whaley. The ending wraps up Addie's relationship with Mrs. Powell and Reg tidily, but the present remains uncertain.—Tara Kehoe, Plainsboro Public Library, NJ