James Parrett, a biracial almost-thirteen-year-old traveling with his parents, would rather be back home in Pittsburgh, but even there he feels lost in his own life and resents the role-- the rule-- of music in the lives of his parents and grandparents, all dedicated musicians. In the middle of one night he stumbles-- in a dream, he thinks-- onto a way from the London of the present into a London that is four hundred years gone, but near enough to touch. He finds it exhilarating-- but the London of the first Queen Elizabeth, rich, vibrant, and squalid, is dangerous and terrifying, too. Time after time James's attempts to return to his own time fail, but a new door opens as he discovers his own musical voice and he grows accustomed to life as one of the Children of the Chapel Royal, choristers to the queen. With success, a new and deeper terror stirs as his longing to return home begins to waver...

BOOKLIST in its starred review of The Black Canary  says that:

          "This is one of the few time-travel fantasies for children with a biracial character, let alone protagonist. ... James is a sympathetic character in both [the present and past] worlds and readers will gladly follow him through the portals for the pleasure of his company as well as the need to know what will happen next. A genuinely good story that conveys a sense of darkness and mystery in the textured backdrop of a storied time and place. " 

Copyright © American Library Association.

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