Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

Ben is a high school basketball star player. In other words, he’s a bit of a jock, a sports snob. He’s smart, too, but he doesn’t want his teammates to know that. He doesn’t want to be classified as a nerd. He knows who they are. They include people like Isabella, who was once his friend, but lately they really don’t get along very well. The English teacher has figured him out, though. In spite of Ben’s attempts to look dumb, to keep his marks well below the A range, Mrs. Johansen sees great potential in the boy. So, when the class is given a scavenger hunt assignment that leaves clues all over the school, with some hints from their past reading assignments, she advises Ben to keep the treasures he finds close to him and to keep following the hunt. Ben manages to solve the first four, but when he’s solving the fifth riddle, he’s sucked into a book that takes him into the past, to the years during the American War of Independence. What makes matters more complicated is that Isabella is also sucked in with him. One has to hide while the other has to help out on the farm where they end up. The two youngsters finally realize that they have to solve the remaining riddle to return to their own time and place. But will they be able to? There’s a war on and there’s evil lurking everywhere.

L.G. McFerren’s young adult novel, Lost in Time, is an adventure in time travel, American history, and learning how to help others. It’s a coming-of-age novel as the main character, Ben, must learn to be more considerate to others and help, instead of being self-centred, dwelling on the last game and how he can improve his moves. The plot develops with lots of adventure, as the two teens from the twenty-first century, along with Josie, the boy they meet up with in the past, learn how to help each other. The historical part of this novel is well presented and will certainly give the reader a good sense of time and place. Believable characters, setting and plot. A great read.