The Yearbook

Gr 9 Up—Lola lives in a group home and battles with the mental illness and poor choices that run in her family. While cleaning a fire-damaged library room, Lola finds a portal that transports her to the 1920s, where she hangs with a cool crowd and falls in love. Masciola clearly defines the eras that Lola inhabits, with unobtrusive references to all aspects of culture. Readers may be confused as to whether the protagonist is truly time traveling or these experiences are the result of her rocky mental state, as Lola hallucinates and acts erratically during a meeting with her present-day psychiatrist. Yet two women in the present, her social worker and a friend from the past, see evidence of Lola's time travel. A yearbook that Lola finds while cleaning the library room provides tangible evidence of her time travel, too. Lola is likable and real in her interactions with a thrift store manager, her social worker and therapists, and Whoopsie, a 1920s friend. Other characters, such as Lola's current roommate and her 1920s benefactors are one-dimensional. Mental illness and its effects are honestly and sensitively portrayed, but the time-travel element muddles the story. Readers will likely overlook the flaws, however, because they care about Lola and want to discover her fate.