Frozen in Time

BOOK NAME: Frozen in Time
AUTHOR: Ali Sparkes

Ben and Rachel are sure that their summer is going to be horribly boring and rainy. They’ve been forced to stay with their somewhat eccentric scientist Uncle Jerome. The final straw comes when the TV, the only entertaining device in the entire house, breaks. Devastated, Rachel and Ben decide to explore the garden and woods on the property, despite the foul weather. While trudging through the mud, they unearth a secret chamber. Inside, they discover something astonishing, two children, sleeping inside of a pair of torpedo-like chambers.

When Ben and Rachel awaken Freddy and Polly Emerson, they discover that the children have been asleep for more than fifty years! Shockingly Freddy and Polly haven’t aged at all; in fact, they still believe that they are in their own time. When Ben and Rachel tell them that five decades have passed, the horrified Emerson children complain that their genius father left them in hibernation. Apparently, Mr. Emerson had found a method to preserve the human body for extended periods of time, but it seems strange that he would abandon his children while they were in a state of suspended animation. Ben and Rachel want answers, but first, they have to get Freddy and Polly used to the 21st century. As Freddy and Polly marvel at fast food, modern fashion, and internet, an agency that has been lying in wait for their revival begins to push its own agenda. They want Mr. Emerson’s secrets, and Freddy and Polly are the best way to get what they desire.

Frozen in Time was a fairly good book. It was a little slow in parts, such as when Freddy and Polly were explaining their father’s work and their old lives, or when Ben and Rachel introduced the Emerson children to twenty-first century trends and technology. The excitement picked up toward the end, when the secret organization attacked. The storyline also had some humor thrown in. Freddy and Polly’s interpretations of and reactions to 21st century life were often quite funny to read about. For example, Polly thought a website was an area full of cobwebs. I thought that the prospect of placing someone in a state of hibernation to prevent them from aging was pretty cool, and I enjoyed reading about how the process worked. The book made me wonder what it would be like if I fell asleep and woke up fifty years in the future. How would I react to the new time and all its wonders and troubles?