Rewind [Hardcover]

Jan Page (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2005

What if you could press the rewind button on your life?

Time is a funny thing. Some people believe it only moves in one direction— forward.

But others think time moves forward and backward simultaneously. Of course, no one really knows the answer.

No one, that is, until Liam is killed by a falling speaker at a Battle of the Bands contest. Suddenly Liam travels back in time and soon finds himself in the middle of his teenaged parents’ band rehearsal, and an unseen observer of a love triangle between bandmates.

Would his mother be happier ending up with the drummer instead of his father? Would that choice save the drummer from a fatal accident that is about to end his life? And if Liam helps them along, will he be canceling out his own existence? If only he can figure out how to use time to his own advantage.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–Liam Condie, 16, feels like he's going nowhere. His dad is on the dole and spends a lot of time at the local pub, and his mom struggles to keep her son and husband from fighting. Then one day an idea strikes Liam like a bolt of lighting–he and his three mates should start their own band. Soon, Salamander is going to perform in the Battle of the Bands. But as Liam is playing the drums during their performance, a terrible accident sends his spirit spinning back through time to witness another band–one that his parents and a friend started when they were teenagers in 1986. He learns that the drummer, his father's best friend, died that night, and tries to prevent this tragedy. He also uncovers secrets about his own past. Page creates an interesting time-slip novel that addresses questions of what happens when a person meddles in his family's past. As complicated as it is, the author keeps the sophisticated story from being muddled and confusing. The dialogue is peppered with British slang that may not be instantly understandable to American readers, but the unfolding events and revelations Liam makes about his parents will keep older teens hooked.–Anna M. Nelson, Collier County Public Library, Naples, FL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Sixteen-year-old Liam Murphy lives in a depressed and depressing small English town. Out of boredom, he starts a rock band with some friends and enters a "Battle of the Bands" competition. At the contest, a speaker falls and hits Liam on the head, killing him--or so we think. His ghost travels backward in time 17 years, and he finds himself observing his teenaged parents, who have their own rock band and are also entering a "Battle of the Bands" competition. As in Pete Hautman's Mr. Was (1996), Page explores the fascinating prospect of a teenage boy changing past history to improve his mother's future life--at the risk of canceling out his own existence. Themes of unrequited love, mistaken paternity, lives sacrificed for one mistake, and the curse of psychic intelligence will engage readers, as will the fast-moving, uncomplicated plot. Suggest William Sleator's Rewind (1999) for another time-slip adventure or Gary Soto's Afterlife (2003). Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802789951
• ISBN-13: 978-0802789952
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,575,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rewind Review, March 19, 2006

By 

mad hatter "MAD HATTER" (Johnson City, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rewind (Hardcover)

This book is about a young man who decides to start a band with his buddies on a whim. After much hard practice he performs his first show and during it things got a little wild in the crowd. Things commenced to get out of control and an amplifier falls over and hits the main character in the head. As he loses consciousness he sees his soul leave his body and he travels back in time where he meets an old friend and tries to change the future through him.
I thought that Rewind had some good and bad points to the book. Jan Page used an ingenious plot which was very captivating and gave great food for thought. She also did a good job creating characters that were interesting yet realistic, down to Earth people you and I might meet or be around every single day. This book is ideal for students in middle school or early high school. Not a difficult read and great for leisure reading.
A part of the book that seemed weak to me was in instances it seemed as if the author had not revised what she had wrote and just threw situations together that didn't quite make sense. Considering this book is about time travel, as a ghost, I thought that some of the laws this would require were neglected and therefore render the idea somewhat impossible and not well thought out. I thought it would have been really neat if she would have elaborated on this extraordinary idea convincing the reader more of its possibility. Another point that seemed weak were the themes. They were not easily identifiable and even when they were found they weren't important themes that make profound statements to the world which is what a theme is entitled to do.
Overall I thought this book was a good leisure read and even a better for younger kids to read as a beginner novel. Nothing was extremely catchy and this book will probably never become a classic, however, the ideas were quite intriguing very intelligent.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is awesome, February 18, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Rewind (Hardcover)

Rewind is a great book that any teenager can relate too. When it begins you meet Liam a normal British skater boy. His father is abusive and just an all around angry man Then one day Liam is looking for a drum set, because him and his friends have a small band, when he goes to the junk shop the man inside acts as if he's known him his entire life. Liam finds out that his parents used to be in a band with the junkman, Welly. Liam learns all about the band even how the drummer Liam Murphy died, it tore everyone up. Then one day Liam has an unfortunate accident but he does not die he finds himself in is own neighborhood but he sees a newspaper and realizes it 1986, before Liam Murphy, or Murph as they call him, dies. Liam tries to save Murph but in the end he dies but he does realize that Murph is his real father not the one he is used to. When he wakes up again he realizes that he was in a coma, and everybody missed him even his father he tells his parents that he knows who his father his. In the end everything goes back to normal, except his father, and Liam gets his real dads old drum set.
The book has great detail most scenes have such nice detail I think I'm there. Such as when Liam first goes back in time he explains the street in great detail describing every single house. He also explained a swamp type area as he walked by, he described it so well that you even knew what was on the floor of the junked car there. There were numerous other scenes that were described perfectly.
Not only the detail was great but the scenes were also pretty cool. Like when they were at the battle of the bands it seemed like a cool place and just like people actually are in real life. Also the whole book seemed like a real place and like the way people would actually act. All the scenes seemed so real that I thought if I walked outside I would see Liam walking down the street.
The twists and turns in this book were also very good they came in the plenty and were interesting. Such as when Liam finds out that Murph is his real dad I was shocked and amazed. Also when Liam is sent in to the coma I thought he was dead, and I was wondering why they killed the main character so soon.
So all in all this was a great book that I would recommend to anyone at anytime. I say this because it was very interesting through the whole thing adults would compare to real life from 1986 and kids would just find it cool. So go out and buy or borrow a copy today, right now.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars rewind, February 5, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Rewind (Hardcover)

this was a really good book cuz i love music and drums and stuff so i liked the band parts but even if ur not it keeps u hooked. it wasnt the best cuz of the couple boring parts but i readit in a day so it is good nontheless :)