Throwback: The Chaos Loop

by Peter Lerangis

Overview

Peter Lerangis, the New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Wonders and Max Tilt series, returns with the second installment of his electrifying trilogy about a boy who discovers that he alone can alter the course of history.

Ever since Corey Fletcher found out that he’s the world’s first “throwback,” with the power to not only visit history, but change it, he’s been spending as much time in the past as possible. Corey loves using his skills to fix problems and help his friends and family. But as Corey becomes more and more addicted to rewriting history, he learns that time travel might change him in ways he may never be able to reverse.

Aware now that he can’t keep going into the past forever, Corey decides to use the trips he still has to change history in the most meaningful way he can imagine: by stopping Adolf Hitler. But when Corey travels back to World War II-era Germany, he quickly learns that the forces of history are strong and that it’s going to take a lot more than his good intentions to turn back the tides of evil—or even to survive them. 

Get ready for time-warping adventure with a historical twist in the second book of the Throwback trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Peter Lerangis, whose books have sold over five and a half million copies worldwide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062406415
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Series:	Throwback , #2
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than one hundred and seventy books, which have sold more than six-and-a-half million copies and been translated into thirty-five different languages. These include the five books in the New York Times bestselling Seven Wonders series, The Colossus Rises, Lost in Babylon, The Tomb of Shadows, The Curse of the King, and The Legend of the Rift; two books in the 39 Clues series; and the Max Tilt and Throwback trilogies. He lives in New York City with his family.

Editorial Reviews

"Throwback: Chaos Loop proves even more fun than the first book in the series, with more action, crazy antics, time-travel shenanigans, and a meaningful exploration of history." — Booklist

“With this exciting adventure, Lerangis (the Seven Wonders series) captures the diversity of New York throughout the decades….the thought-provoking concept and Corey’s own heartbreaking attempts to prevent tragedy should easily draw readers.” — Publishers Weekly

“[A] light, fast-paced adventure full of lively dialogue and action… a welcome addition to time-travel literature” — School Library Journal

"Corey and Leila... are likable, genuine, and brave, just the kind of kids that readers would want to join on an adventure." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

"Corey and Leila... are likable, genuine, and brave, just the kind of kids that readers would want to join on an adventure."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Throwback: Chaos Loop proves even more fun than the first book in the series, with more action, crazy antics, time-travel shenanigans, and a meaningful exploration of history."

Booklist

05/01/2020

Gr 4–7—In the second Throwback book, 13-year-old Corey uses his time- and space-traveling abilities with his friend Leila in tow, this time in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler—first in 1939 Munich, then in 1908 Vienna when the future Führer was still an art student. The danger of time travel–induced transmogrification becomes more pressing as Corey starts to feel some physical effects. Lerangis keeps his protagonist, and the pace, constantly pushing forward with lots of action. Some may cringe at the attempt to humanize and turn Hitler into a character, albeit with inescapable references to his malevolence and bigotry (e.g. poor hygiene, "cold, bloodshot" eyes, outbursts of anti-Semitic rhetoric). As an ostensibly Jewish character, who also identifies as Puerto Rican and Greek American, Corey's own lack of Jewish generational trauma seems questionable; he "freezes" and "gulps" but seems to feel little personal terror or hatred for the figure, upset only at the larger situation. Dialogue is stilted, with German phrases awkwardly and too liberally poured into conversations, (Leila just happens to be fluent in German), and characters are shallow throughout. The plot ends on a cliffhanger, anticipating the next volume. VERDICT While not worth the purchase as a standalone title, readers who enjoyed the first of the series will be glad to go along for the ride.—Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC

School Library Journal

2020-02-26
A young time traveler decides to “go big” with his ability by killing Hitler.

Corey, 13, learned in trilogy opener Throwback (2019) that changing the past has unpredictable consequences both historical and personal, such as the small but real chance of returning from a jaunt transformed into an animal. Nevertheless, he figures it’s worth the risk. Much as she disagrees, fellow traveler Leila tags along, serving as both voice of reason and translator as the two repeatedly hop back to the early 20th century. For better or worse, though, the past turns out to have a certain resilience…to the point that Corey’s efforts to kill Hitler in Munich in 1939 or at least kick-start his artistic career in 1908 Vienna utterly fail. In the end Corey does manage to work a lesser change by saving the lives of a group of Polish resistance fighters, including his own great uncle, in the last days of World War II—at disturbingly great cost. In this fast-paced follow-up, Lerangis brushes on a light wash of credible period detail based on actual events. He also casts Hitler as a lost (but resolutely anti-Semitic) young man who winds up in a final, lurid encounter as a mad-eyed monster, demonstrating that writing him as a character may be as hard as stopping him. Corey is of mixed European and Puerto Rican heritage; Leila’s is European Jewish.

A provocative scenario with twists painful and droll make this sequel worth the…time. (Fantasy. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews

"Corey and Leila... are likable, genuine, and brave, just the kind of kids that readers would want to join on an adventure."

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"Throwback: Chaos Loop proves even more fun than the first book in the series, with more action, crazy antics, time-travel shenanigans, and a meaningful exploration of history."

Booklist