Saving Lucas Biggs

by Marisa de los Santos, David Teague

Overview

Perfect for fans of Margaret Peterson Haddix, When You Reach Me, and Savvy, this charming time-travel story from husband-and-wife team Marisa de los Santos and David Teague follows one girl's race to change the past in order to save her father's future.

Thirteen-year-old Margaret knows her father is innocent, but that doesn't stop the cruel Judge Biggs from sentencing him to death. Margaret is determined to save her dad, even if it means using her family's secret—and forbidden—ability to time travel. With the help of her best friend, Charlie, and his grandpa Josh, Margaret goes back to a time when Judge Biggs was a young boy and tries to prevent the chain of events that transformed him into a corrupt, jaded man. But with the forces of history working against her, will Margaret be able to change the past? Or will she be pushed back to a present in which her father is still doomed?

Told in alternating voices between Margaret and Josh, this heartwarming story shows that sometimes the forces of good need a little extra help to triumph over the forces of evil.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062274632
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/28/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	164,392
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Marisa de los Santos is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning poet with a PhD in literature and creative writing. She lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family.

David Teague is the author of the picture book Franklin’s Big Dreams. With his wife, Marisa de los Santos, he is the coauthor of Saving Lucas Biggs and Connect the Stars. Married for over twenty years, Marisa and David live with their two children, Charles and Annabel, and their Yorkies, Finn and Huxley, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hometown:

Wilmington, Delaware

Date of Birth:

August 12, 1966

Place of Birth:

Baltimore, Maryland

Education:

Un. of Virginia, BA in Eng; Sarah Lawrence College, MFA in Poetry; Un. of Houston, Ph.D. in Eng. and Creative Writing

Website:

http://www.marisadelossantos.com

Editorial Reviews

De los Santos and Teague craft a gentle, quiet sci–fi story where the focus is not on the science…love, nonviolence, and social justice are. Give this one to readers who like stories about family, doing the right thing, and standing up to those who don’t.

Booklist

The authors’ graceful use of language and fearless exploration of a more spiritual dimension simultaneously comfort and challenge readers, encouraging deep thoughts. This novel makes a good companion for armchair time travelers and budding philosophers alike.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

This book is hard to put down! Vivid and memorable, SAVING LUCAS BIGGS casts a captivating spell that will keep you turning pages. A heartfelt yarn of family, friendship, and homespun time–travel magic.

Ingrid Law

★ 04/01/2014
Gr 5–8—Margaret O'Malley's father is sentenced to death for crimes she knows he did not commit. She watches as he is taken from the courtroom, his voice calling out to her with a verse from a poem. It is a vow that could carry her to a world gone by, but is not to be used. His clever explanation of string-theory physics and her family's "quirk" of being able to relocate, although briefly, into history sends her on a quest to save him from bitter, vindictive Judge Biggs's sentence and from the people who are still trying to silence him. Margaret goes back to 1938 and witnesses the events that caused Lucas Biggs to become the person he is today. The authors weave a tale of justice and family bonds with threads of historical fiction accented with the fantastical physics of time travel. The heroine begins to realize that the very stuff that makes people who they are—that combination of all their life experiences—can sometimes shift the very fabric of history. At least that's what Margaret is hoping, because the only way to save her father is to first save corrupt Lucas Biggs from himself.—Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

★ 2014-02-12
The authors, a husband-and-wife writing team, seamlessly incorporate heavy social-justice issues—fracking for natural gas in 2014 and a coal-mining protest in 1938—into a riveting time-travel adventure story. Margaret, 13, is devastated when her geologist father (recently fired) is falsely accused, convicted and sentenced to death by the vindictive and corrupt judge Lucas Biggs for arson and murder in the first degree. A whistle-blower, John Thomas O'Malley discovered that due to fracking, poisonous chemicals had leaked into the local water supply: Is he a traitor or hero? Two stories set in the company town of Victory, Ariz., told in alternating voices—Margaret's in 2014 and 13-year-old Josh's in 1938—run parallel and then converge. Desperate to save her father and supported by her best friend, Charlie, and his grandpa Joshua, Margaret breaks the sacred family vow and activates the genetic O'Malley "quirk" to travel back in time to try to change events just enough to impact the present. In 1938, a related narrative of injustice is unfolding, one in which Luke Agrippa's pacifist father is leading a nonviolent uprising for decent working conditions after a mine collapse and a company-led massacre. Who is Lucas Biggs, can he be saved, and why does it matter? Strong storytelling, suspense, lyrical writing, high drama, weighty matters made accessible and a bit of humor add up to a terrific and heartwarming read. (Mystery/fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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