Emily+Schu.

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=Paint by Magic =

By Kathryn Reiss
Have you ever gone to school, your life being completely normal, and come home to your mother frozen on the couch in old-fashioned clothing, holding a rose, and reading a book you have never seen before? Well Conner has. At first, he just thought it was weird when she suddenly wanted to make him a cake for an after school snack, froze up at the weirdest times, and threw out all their TVs. Things got even weirder when his mom announced she wanted to make dinner and eat it in their formal dining room, and fired their maid, babysitter, and gardener. Then things took a turn for just plain freaky when Connor and his sister Crystal sneak a peak at their mom's mysterious book, and see that even though the artwork was created in the 1920s, the woman in most of the pictures looked really familiar--- way too familiar. With a start, they realized that the woman is their mom.

When Conner discovers a sketch that brings him into another time period, he finds himself stuck in the 1920s. He is exactly where his house would be in the same neighborhood and everything, just back in time. There he meets the Cotton family: Chester, Elsie, Homer Jr., and Betty. He also meets the artist that was painting his mom. There he finds that this family's life style is a lot like the kind of family she had wanted. He learns that while the artist was bust painting her, his mom had actually stayed with them about a year. He then figures out that the reason there seems to be a spell over her is because the paints the artist, Fitzgerald, was using to painting her with were magical. Will Conner fix his mom? Will he ever get back to modern day? Read this book to find out.

This book is about time traveling. At first, it didn't seem like the kind of book I would pick off a shelf. Then I read into it more and surprised myself by enjoying it. What I like about the author's writing style is that she is used to writing books about time travel. It's also funny because they were in a different time period, they had different sayings and different ways of living life. Conner is the main character. He is a typical eleven year old boy in search of adventure. But when he is thrown into the 1920s, he feels like a fish out of water. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants something new to read that's interesting but not weird. If you're anything like me, you'll also read it because it is something completely different from what you usually read. Go for it! Happy reading :)