Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix

 

What in The Village was THAT?

I read this book for the first time when I was in middle school, I think. It used to be one of my favorite stories. Maybe this is the lens of nostalgia speaking, but one of the things I love about older YA is that I feel like it was allowed to be crazier. Social media wasn't dictating trends and tropes back then, so authors could come up with the craziest concepts without worrying about how well it would do in the Goodreads Choice Awards or on TikTok.

I don't want to say too much about RUNNING OUT OF TIME, but basically, the heroine, Jessie, lives in an 19th century frontier village. A very minimal kind where they live hand to mouth, learn in a one-room schoolhouse, and forage and farm for their food. It's a hardscrabble life with the usual ups and downs until kids start getting sick, and her mother reveals to her a devastating truth that explains some of the other weird shit going on: haunted trees, strange tablets, and forbidden words that nobody else is allowed to speak.

I read this in less than a day. It holds up pretty well. Jessie is a strong and relatable female protagonist and she isn't too perfect. Sometimes, she's allowed to be mean or cowardly. I liked that nuance. There's some pretty obvious plot holes but then I remind myself that this was published in the 90s, and social media has made us all purveyors of the information super highway. Also, it was published in the 90s, so there's a lot of really random fat shaming that doesn't seem to serve any purpose. The 90s, ammirite?

3.5 out of 5 stars