Don't Know Where, Don't Know When (The Snipesville Chronicles, Book 1)

by Annette Laing

What a nightmare. Hannah Dias, California Girl with Attitude, and Alex, her laid-back brother, have moved from exciting San Francisco to boring Snipesville, Georgia. Life doesn't improve when they... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Perfect Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979476941
• ISBN13: 9780979476945
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Confusion Press
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Although her little brother, Alex, might find their new hometown of Snipesville, Georgia, a welcome change, Hannah Diaz still thinks it's way more boring than California. To curb her whining, her father signs her up for a creative writing camp at the local college. She's so reluctant that, when she can't find the classroom on her first day, she instead finds solace in the student union café. Meanwhile, Alex attends the baseball camp held at the same college. There, he meets Brandon, a local African American kid who only dreams of escaping Snipesville. When baseball camp ends up being a drag, the two boys escape to the student union and run into Hannah. To kill time, the three children head up to the library. An encounter with a woman who calls herself "The Professor" leaves them spooked, and Brandon comes across an old identification card belonging to someone named George Braithwaite. As the kids leave the library, they notice a strange change in their surroundings. They find that they are no longer in present day Snipesville, but in England...in 1940! While the children acclimate to their new lives, The Professor appears, and tells them that they need to find George Braithwaite to go home. This sets them on a long journey through time, one that will familiarize them with events and people that existed long before any of them were born. A fun, educational mystery, this story does a successful job of bringing history within reach. Interesting details--such as the quality of the food and everyday luxuries, such as toilet paper--leave the reader with a clear picture of life in the past, and how people and places change over time. DON'T KNOW WHERE, DON'T KNOW WHEN is the first in a series, and I'll definitely be looking for more! Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

Great Book!

My sister is 13 years old and she despises books. After much begging and pleading I finally convinced her to read Don't Know Where, Don't Know When. Here's what she had to say: That was a really good book. I loved it. I read a lil bit every night. I like those kids in the book. I would so read it again. Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is the first book my sister has read and actually ENJOYED!!

Didn't know how to put this down

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is an amazingly engaging book written very well. A good friend of mine recommended me to read it and after I asked what it was like, she responded that it was a bit like Harry Potter only with history. Now that I've read it, I agree. No, there's no wands or boarding school, but there is the magic of time travel and of characters that take you to another place and time. As I read the book, I marveled at some of the things that the kids, Alex, Hannah, and Brandon, encountered and wondered to myself "could this actually be the way it was then?" I found that these things were true. Annette Laing is a wonderful writer who grabs you with her style. I highly suggest this book for anyone at all.

Time-Travel to the Blitz

This is a real original. The three main characters are American high school kids - two from California, one a native of Snipesville, Georgia, where the others have miserably come to live - who find themselves swept mysteriously into the England of the two World Wars (yes: both of them). What makes the book so good is its fairness towards all the cultures concerned. Unlike most time-travel books, this one explores the differences not just in speech (which is brilliantly done) but in thought-patterns. Californian Hannah, used to analysing her feelings in depth with her family, finds herself living with an old-style, reticent Englishwoman who will protect children from unsuitable subjects but not from brisk physical punishment; Brandon, who is black, faces shocking colour-prejudice from some people but kindness and friendship from others who have never met a black person before and innocently describe him as "coloured". Some of the book is very funny - Hannah, in 1940, disgusted by the cigarette smoke everywhere; Brandon, in 1915, realizing that he will have to use a chamber pot - and there are some heart-wrenching bits too. Young readers will learn a lot from it (the target-audience is 9 and up), but will find it above all an exciting, powerful story. It's a great read. You should buy it.

reading about history really can be fun...!

Anyone feeling some Harry Potter withdrawal would do well to pick up this book. Like the Potter books, this one is aimed at a youngish audience (9-12, or so), but (like Potter) it turns out that this is one of those books that the rest of us can enjoy, too. Some readers might find that it starts a bit slow, as Hannah and her brother try to adjust to their new lives in a small Southern town. But then they meet up with a mysterious college professor and the puzzle of why the kids are time-traveling and what they need to accomplish before they can return home begins to unfold. Laing does a great job of exposing readers to the everyday experiences (such as with eating, toileting, holding conversations, etc.) that the time-traveling kids experience in the different times and places. This is NOT an "educational" book, and yet anyone who reads it ends up learning quite a bit about life in England during both of the world wars. Perhaps the best part ... even though the kids solve the mystery (great ending -- but I won't give it away!), there are hints of more adventures yet to come. I can't wait to read about their next adventure, wherever it ends up taking them....