The Sky Over Rebecca

by Matthew Fox

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Combining time travel with elements of historical fiction, this inventive debut is sensitive and empathetic, engaging with the perennially important themes of refugees, allyship and taking action.

In this breath-taking debut novel, two worlds—and timelines—collide when ten-year-old Kara discovers mysterious footprints in the snow that lead her to another place entirely, perfect for fans of When You Reach Me and Echo. 
 
When mysterious footprints appear in the Stockholm snow, ten-year-old Kara attempts to discover where they’ve come from and who they belong to. They lead Kara to Rebecca, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, and her younger brother Samuel.  
 
Before long Kara realizes Rebecca and Samuel are refugees from another time—World War II—who are trying to find their way home. Kara discovers that her friends are trapped in a time loop, and they must make it to the British plane that lands near their hideout in order to make it out alive. With unexpected help, Kara travels into the time split to help save her friends.  
 
Matthew Fox’s lyrical prose—both haunting and uplifting—invites readers into an otherworldly setting grounded in history. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454951919
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	11/14/2023
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	71,677
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Matthew Fox grew up in Wiltshire, UK and now lives in Stockholm with his partner and child. He studied at the University of Oxford and the Northern Film School. The Sky Over Rebecca won the Bath Children's Novel Award in 2019 and is his first novel for children.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/02/2023

In Fox’s historical fantasy debut, set in contemporary Stockholm, a lonely girl must help strangers from the past find their way back to their time. Eleven-year-old Kara Lukas, an only child being raised by a single mother absorbed in her work, relies on her elderly star-gazing grandfather for companionship. She soon notices odd details in her community and its surrounding woods, such as a snow angel with no footprints nearby and a coin from 1942 marked with a swastika. The clues lead her to Rebecca, a Jewish teen hiding with her younger brother Samuel on an island in the middle of frozen Lake Mälaren that Kara comes to realize is a “gateway to another time, another place.” She also learns that the siblings are from 1944 and they’re hiding from Nazis. The youths’ friendship and Kara’s family relationships are sensitively depicted, and the pervasive ambiance of the dark Swedish winter is captivating. Through Kara’s understated voice and the novel’s thrilling, quietly building suspense, Fox delivers a thoughtful meditation on the expansiveness of time, melded with Holocaust history and a solitary girl’s personal growth, making for an enthralling read. Major characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Sky Over Rebecca

“Fox crafts a spectacular novel that explores family and friendship—and their importance throughout history and across time . . . . A great read for those intrigued by a unique, genre-mixing exploration of the era and friendship.”—School Library Journal 

"The exquisitely crafted story feels like gazing into a snow globe, focused on a small slice of one momentous winter. Spare, direct language captures the bleakness of the freezing natural setting and deep loneliness, but it also summons the life-giving warmth of new friendships and tendrils of hope. Readers are quietly given a real sense of danger and high stakes of the situation, and though the premise involves mind-bending time slips and eerie occurrences, it’s also gorgeously grounded in the tender relationships between family members and new friends. An edifying exploration of human connection and compassion.”—Booklist 

“[An] evocative debut . . . . Fox’s spare yet lyrical prose is well-suited to The Sky Over Rebecca’s haunting, austere setting and atmosphere. The novel’s stylistic restraint and vividly drawn characters will intrigue young readers and help them easily follow narrative shifts between the horrifying, wartorn past and the less deadly but still frightening present . . . . Fox introduces the terror of persecution in an accessible manner for young readers who may be reading about the Holocaust for the first time. A poignant final twist leads to a resonant conclusion in this memorable first novel.”—Book Page STARRED Review

"Through Kara’s understated voice and the novel’s thrilling, quietly building suspense, Fox delivers a thoughtful meditation on the expansiveness of time, melded with Holocaust history and a solitary girl’s personal growth, making for an enthralling read."—Publisher's Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“[an] uplifting story of compassion and courage.” —The Daily Express

“A highly atmospheric time-slip adventure with resonant themes of loneliness and courage.” —Fiona Noble, The Bookseller

“A sensitively written time-slip debut from an exciting new voice in children's fiction.” —Waterstones
 

“A time-travel story filled with friendship and compassion.”—Kirkus Reviews

 Winner of the 2019 Bath Children's Novel Award

From the Publisher

11/01/2023

Gr 4–7—This magical book grabs readers from the start as a young girl learns the fantastical possibilities of faith, love, and relationships. The novel opens with Kara, who spends much of her time alone, witnessing unusual occurrences during the long, cold winter in Stockholm. Strange things start happening, like footprints in the snow with no owner. While investigating these oddities, Kara discovers Rebecca and her brother Sam, two lost children who just might be World War II refugees, lost in time—or are they? Kara has to confront Lars, whose actions toward her new friends lead her to step up and be brave. Fox crafts a spectacular novel that explores family and friendship—and their importance throughout history and across time: "Time is … a frozen river on which we walk. But the layer of ice that separates us from the past is paper thin." Water as metaphor threads the multiple genres together into a cohesive result. Short sentences, paragraphs, and chapters enhance the depth and pace of this engaging story. VERDICT A great read for those intrigued by a unique, genre-mixing exploration of the era and friendship.—Jennifer Seebauer,

School Library Journal

2023-09-22
Kara Lukas, a contemporary Stockholm girl without friends, spends her time alone or with her beloved grandfather, who is enthusiastic about astronomy.

Kara lives with her caring, hardworking single mom; her father left when she was a baby. One day, observant Kara notices a strange snow angel, one without any footsteps around it. Later, she finds a coin in the snow, stamped with a swastika and the date 1942. Then, a third odd thing happens: She meets the coin’s owner, a resourceful Jewish girl named Rebecca who’s trying to escape the Nazis with her younger brother, Samuel, who has a disability and cannot walk. For the siblings, it’s 1944, and they have managed to survive on an island in the middle of a frozen lake that Kara can only see when Rebecca’s hand touches her bare skin. The three children begin a relationship that crosses the decades dividing their existences. Kara has an empathetic desire to help her two new friends, and she has the help of Lars, a bully who eventually becomes a friend. The book provides limited information about the Holocaust, and some readers may not fully understand the overall situation. Kara’s abilities to enter the past, interact with the siblings, and even bring Lars with her are hazily explained, but her compassion and mature understanding are admirable, and readers will want to engage with her.

A time-travel story filled with friendship and compassion. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews