A Plumfield Kids Review written by Greta Masarik, age 15
We did a crazy thing. We purchased a locker full of nearly 200 mystery book boxes. We kept about 400 books and discarded the remaining 8,000. Emptying that locker—in three days—is one of my favorite memories from this summer. In the many children’s boxes, we found multiple copies of Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Our immediate reaction was to discard them, seeing they looked like trashy YA fiction. But after reading the back cover, we were interested enough to take a copy or two home with us to preview. A task I took on.
Jessie Keyser is a 13-year-old girl living in the 1840s frontier village of Clifton. Or so she thinks. There are odd things about her village though, words you are never allowed to say like “okay” or “shut up,” trees you get into trouble for climbing, and those odd shiny things in their branches that you aren’t allowed to ask about. But, all things considered, her life is pretty happy.
That is until a diphtheria epidemic strikes the town. Soon there are empty chairs in the schoolroom as one child after another falls ill, including Jessie’s little sister, Katie. One day Jessie’s ma tells her to meet her at a particular rock outside the village after dark. When Jessie gets there her ma tells her that it is not 1840, but actually 1996, and that Clifton village is a “Historic Preserve” where cameras and one-way glass allow tourists to watch everyone and everything there.
When Clifton was founded, everyone chose to live there and were promised modern health care and the right to leave whenever they wished. They were instructed to tell their children the truth on their twelfth birthday and allow them to decide when they wanted to live. But then guards were posted at all the entrances and allowed no one to leave. And just six months ago, health care stopped. Ma had wisely kept one set of modern clothes, but after having children they no longer fit her or any of the other women in town. In fact the only one who could wear them was Jessie. And so she must go on a dangerous mission in the outside world to get help for everyone in Clifton Village.
When I preview a book for our library, I choose which of three categories it fits in. KEEP, DONATE, and BURN. Worthy books go to the first pile, books that are fine but not good enough go to the second, and trash ends up in the third. In the end, I put Running Out of Time in DONATE. I am going to split this next section into two parts: positive and negative.
First the positive. Running Out of Time is a fascinating thought experiment. This book is, in a way, an exploration of ethics. The real reason for the founding of Clifton Village is morally wrong, there is no denying that, but it explores a very interesting question, one I can’t say without spoiling. Also, the writing is quite fair, I would say a little better than Jennifer Nielsen’s books. The plot was enjoyable and interesting.
I was pleasantly surprised by a religious theme throughout the book. Having grown up with a fire-and-brimstone traveling pastor coming to Clifton from time to time, Jessie never really thought about God. That is, until she is in danger over and over again, and finds herself praying. It isn’t huge, but it is present. All in all, I found Running Out of Time to be surprisingly better than most of its contemporaries.
Now for the negative. It took me about half the book to realize that I never wanted to read it, until, every time I actually sat down and picked it up, I didn’t want to stop. I think that is because it is soaked in adrenaline, one dangerous or exciting scene after another. Also, the language leans modern, with words and phrases like “shut up” for example, and at one point someone mentions having “ex-wives.”
Now onto the more concrete problems. Jessie’s father is weak and not present. For example, this is a quote from the book: “‘I won’t even tell Pa the truth. Pa’ —Ma’s voice cracked— ‘I love him very much, but I think he’s forgotten this isn’t 1840. At first I thought he was protecting me, not letting me speak of, of anything else. Now… it’s different.”
My last concern is later in the book. Jessie is walking along a highway, when a car with two teenage boys, definitely drinking, pulls over thinking that she is a hitchhiker. They try to get her into the car, including grabbing her arm, clearly intending her harm. Nothing happens, she figures out their intentions very fast and is able to get away, but nonetheless, it felt totally wrong and unnecessary.
I did enjoy this book and am glad to have read it. I found the ethical questions to be fascinating. However, I don’t think the good parts of Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix outweighed some of the bad ones enough to justify keeping it in our library.