Rewind

Rewind
Lisa Graff
Philomel, 2023
256 pages
Grades 4-7
Fantasy

Twelve-year-old McKinley is excited for this year's Time Hop, a yearly event celebrated in her sleepy Pennsylvania town. Against her strict single dad's orders, McKinley designs an outfit for the yearly fashion show and is determined to participate. Further complications ensue when she has a fight with her best friend and must find help caring for her ailing grandmother. Once the show is underway all heck breaks lose and McKinley finds herself traveling back in time to the year of this year's Time Hop: 1993. After throwing off her disorientation, McKinley does the only thing she can think of to do. She finds her best friend's mother, now twelve years old, and throws herself on Jackie's mercy. Luckily, Jackie believes her crazy story and becomes determined to help McKinley find out what happened and get back to her own time. The new friends discover that others have time traveled during the Time Hop, some bringing unexpected results. McKinley learns about friendship and family, especially after meeting her obnoxious tween dad and healthy grandmother, and tries not to cause too much damage in the past. Will McKinley ever get back to her own time?

Lisa Graff always writes interesting books and this one is no exception. I am a sucker for time travel and, therefore, had to crack into this one. Rewind felt very Back to the Future in that McKinley meets her current adults as young people. We see the rough edges and immaturity of the folks that present McKinley relies on and realize, just as McKinley does, that our parents are actually "people". The cover felt dated to me, but that is because it is set to reflect 1993. I don't know if this will help or hurt the book, but it does make it stand out. Having lived through 1993 (as an adult!), I think that Graff did a great job nailing the time period. Each chapter heading is a song from the year, which is a fun addition and cultural references abound. Today's readers will have a hard time wrapping their heads around a world with no cellphones or internet. The setting of the present is actually 2018, which I thought was weird, but Graff pops in a surprise detail at the end that brings it all full-circle. There is a lot of humor, crazy situations, and gentle fantasy in this story. Kids will think about what their own parents were like as kids and it could lead to a great conversation starter or a great choice for a parent-child book club. Loads of wacky nostalgic fun!