Bridge of Time

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail

Fire and Ice: Spirit Animals

The Fate of the Yellow Woodbee (Trailblazer Books)

A Horse Named Sky

Amulet Keepers: TombQuest

All the Answers

Explorers on Black Ice Bridge

It’s been two months since Travis’s family moved to a development so new that it seems totally unreal. His parents are working harder now, to pay for it all, and Travis is left to fend for himself. There’s one place, though, where Travis can still connect with his old life: the Salinas library. Travis and his family used to go there together every Saturday, but now he bikes to it alone, re-reading his favorite books. It’s only natural that Travis likes the work of author John Steinbeck—after all, Salinas is Steinbeck’s hometown. But that can’t explain why Travis is suddenly seeing Steinbeck’s characters spring to life. There’s the homeless man in the alley behind the library, the line of figures at the top of a nearby ridge, the boy who writes by night in an attic bedroom. Travis has met them all before—as a reader. But why are they here now? And how? As Travis struggles to solve this mystery, budget cuts threaten his library. And so, he embarks on a journey through Steinbeck’s beautiful California landscape, looking for a way to save his safe haven. It’s only then that he begins to sort out fact from fiction, discovering the many ways a story can come alive—and stumbling into a story Steinbeck might have started, and Travis needs to complete. Here is a mystery that delves deeply into the ways that books take us, one at a time, out into the vast world.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Bridge of Time

Lewis Buzbee, 2012

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail

Richard Peck, Kelly Murphy, 2013

Fire and Ice: Spirit Animals

Shannon Hale, 2014

The Fate of the Yellow Woodbee (Trailblazer Books)

Dave Jackson, Neta Jackson, 1997

A Horse Named Sky

Kirbi Fagan, Rosanne Parry, 2023

Amulet Keepers: TombQuest

Michael Northrop, 2015

All the Answers

Kate Messner, 2015

Explorers on Black Ice Bridge

Alex Bell, 2019