One if by Land, Two if by Submarine

April 15, 2020
In Schnabel's YA debut, four kids go on an amazing time-travel adventure to foil a saboteur who's trying to make sure that the United States never comes to be. In the present day, four youngsters are enrolled in a peculiar Wisconsin "Revolutionary War reenactment camp," where they're forced to endure authentic re-creations of hardships that people faced during the American Revolution. Thirteen-year-old Kep Westguard and his younger brother, Max, are mainly there to win a monetary prize for "best historical skirmishing" so that Kep can attend a swim camp instead. Adolescent animal rights firebrand Tela has more enthusiasm for the Revolutionary War camp--and skill with firearms--but she refuses to wear fur or leather or eat meat. T.J., who's African American, doesn't like that the reenactors, like Kep, Max, and Tela, are disproportionately white, as many free people of color took part in the historical fighting. He's also sure that the place is actually a hidden-camera reality TV production. Then camp authorities tell the four kids that they're being groomed to be time voyagers to head off an incredible crisis. A rogue, adult time traveler named Fox, they say, aims to sabotage events on the key night of April 18, 1775, when the famed "midnight ride" of Paul Revere took place (as well as a similar ride by the lesser-known William Dawes). Without foreknowledge of approaching British troops, the Colonial uprising in New England will be crushed--and the United States will never be conceived. The four kids possess the proper DNA for time travel, so they're America's best hope to go back in time and carry out the crucial warnings themselves. A short particle-accelerator-assisted trip later, the kids are outside Boston in 1775, bewildered and facing a seemingly impossible challenge. In this hybrid of YA historical classic Johnny Tremain (1943) and Michael Crichton's popcorn-SF tale Timeline (1999), Schnabel sacrifices gee-whiz science-fictional awe in favor of semicomic bickering over whether time travel is real or not. She follows this with cliffhanger after cliffhanger as the kids eventually realize that their anachronistic adventure is actually happening. The author particularly scores points by focusing on some somewhat lesser-known players of the Revolutionary War, such as British Army Gen. Thomas Gage, the poet Phillis Wheatley, and black Freemason Prince Hall. More familiar figures, such as George Washington and Revere, barely have walk-ons, but John Hancock and John Adams do take part, with the former amusingly portrayed as a brave but rather clueless figure. Perhaps most strikingly, the novel has its young characters argue over whether the United States is worth saving given that its birth guarantees a continuation of slavery--as well as animal abuse, Tela points out. This move certainly takes the story out of Esther Forbes territory, and young readers may find that this discussion makes the American Revolution more relatable. There are a few loose ends at the story's conclusion, especially regarding the rather weakly defined villains, which leaves open the possibility of a sequel. Rambunctious YA educational entertainment that reimagines the American Revolution as a time-travel escapade.

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