Tunnels of Time

Tunnels of Time (Moose Jaw Time Travel Adventure #1)
by Mary Harelkin Bishop
Published by Emmbee Ink and DriverWorks Ink
Review by Michelle Shaw
$19.95 ISBN 9781927570579

Andrea and her family are in Moose Jaw for a family wedding and the teenager is not happy. Not only is she missing a school trip, she has to spend the weekend with her family and be the junior bridesmaid at her cousin’s wedding which is really stressing her out.

At the wedding rehearsal dinner which is held in the basement banquet room of a local restaurant, Andrea hears for the first time about the tunnels that run underneath the city of Moose Jaw. Well sort of. She’s not really listening. But later when they are shown one of the tunnels, Andrea gets separated from the rest of the group. She finds herself hurtling back in time to the 1920s when Moose Jaw was a completely different city full of gangsters, gambling and crime. She meets a frightening crime boss known as Ol’ Scarface, is forced into guiding dubious men through the tunnels and ends up having to hide from the gangsters and the police. Andrea wonders if she will ever see her family again.

The first time I read the story I was new to Canada and had never seen the tunnels of Moose Jaw. It was simply a fascinating story. Now ten years later I’ve travelled through the tunnels myself and the story is so much richer for me.

Even though I’d read the story before and sort of remembered how it ended, I couldn’t put it down. I refused to turn the light off until the book was finished. Mary Harelkin Bishop is so good at planting clues and dangling loose ends that don’t seem to make sense that you simply have to keep turning the pages.

This is the twentieth anniversary edition of the original book which has been updated and includes illustrations and new resources.

For anyone who hasn’t already discovered the Tunnels of Time series you’re in for a treat. And for those of us who read it many years ago, it’s so worth taking another trip into the past.

Mary Harelkin Bishop has been a teacher, a teacher-librarian and an educational/instructional consultant with Saskatoon Public Schools and has spent more than half her career working in core neighborhood schools. She is the award-winning author of numerous books including the Tunnels of Time series, Skye Bird and the Eagle Feather and Mistansinîy: Buffalo Rubbing Stone.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM