The Power of Un

The Power of Un
by Nancy Etchemendy
Recommended Ages: 10+

Gib is just like any ordinary middle-school kid with a cute little sister and a knack for saying the wrong thing to the girl he likes at school. Then one day a strangely dressed old man materializes in the park where Gib likes to take a shortcut, and gives him an apparently home-made device that he calls an Unner. As Gib learns, the Unner has the power to dial back time, giving him a chance to re-do things he got wrong. He'll sure need it, though, when the carnival comes to town and tragedy threatens either the sister he loves or the girl he likes.

At the outset, this book seems to be on track to become a goofy fantasy adventure. It quickly develops into much more, packing serious emotional power. In it, a kid is given the power to undo a situation that, in the real world, could not be undone; yet he must go on living with the memory of that grief. Ultimately, he pays a steep price to protect the people he cares about. It's high-yield emotional dynamite in a compact package.

This book, published in 2000, is Etchemendy's latest publication other than a book of short stories called Cat in Glass. She also wrote three fantasy books for younger readers in the 1980s, titled The Watchers of Space, Stranger from the Stars and The Crystal City.