When Charlie discovers he can travel back in time, he’s determined to reverse the tragedy that rocked his family’s world eight months ago. But what if saving a life has too high a cost?
It’s been eight months since Charlie caught a foul ball from his favorite baseball player. Eight months since his younger sister, Ruthie, died in a car accident the next day. Now it’s the start of a new Little League season, the maple tree where he and Ruthie spent so much time has to be cut down, and Ruthie’s best friend Mei keeps trying to talk to him. It feels like everything is moving forward — except for Charlie.
Then Charlie discovers that the baseball he caught all those months ago, the source of one of his greatest regrets about Ruthie’s death, can take him back in time to the moment of the accident. He sets out to save his sister’s life, but soon realizes that changing the past is a complicated business with ripple effects that he can’t predict. Lives are at risk, and he’s running out of chances to get it right — for Ruthie, for Mei, for himself.
Written by Tziporah Cohen, whose debut novel No Vacancy was named a Sydney Taylor Award honor, a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and winner of the Jean Little First-Novel Award, Again’s sensitive portrayal of grief also reflects the author’s work as an oncology/palliative care psychiatrist. Tziporah’s heartfelt story shows that when it comes to grief, you have to keep moving forward — even if it’s possible to travel back in time.
Key text Features
chapters
dialogue
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
When Charlie discovers he can travel back in time, he’s determined to reverse the tragedy that rocked his family’s world eight months ago. But what if saving a life has too high a cost?
It’s been eight months since Charlie caught a foul ball from his favorite baseball player. Eight months since his younger sister, Ruthie, died in a car accident the next day. Now it’s the start of a new Little League season, the maple tree where he and Ruthie spent so much time has to be cut down, and Ruthie’s best friend Mei keeps trying to talk to him. It feels like everything is moving forward — except for Charlie.
Then Charlie discovers that the baseball he caught all those months ago, the source of one of his greatest regrets about Ruthie’s death, can take him back in time to the moment of the accident. He sets out to save his sister’s life, but soon realizes that changing the past is a complicated business with ripple effects that he can’t predict. Lives are at risk, and he’s running out of chances to get it right — for Ruthie, for Mei, for himself.
Written by Tziporah Cohen, whose debut novel No Vacancy was named a Sydney Taylor Award honor, a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and winner of the Jean Little First-Novel Award, Again’s sensitive portrayal of grief also reflects the author’s work as an oncology/palliative care psychiatrist. Tziporah’s heartfelt story shows that when it comes to grief, you have to keep moving forward — even if it’s possible to travel back in time.
Key text Features
chapters
dialogue
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
| Published By | Groundwood Books Ltd — Mar 2, 2027 |
| Specifications | 224 pages | 5 in x 7.5 in |
| Written By |
TZIPORAH (TZIPPY) COHEN was born and raised in New York and spent eighteen years in Boston before landing in Toronto, Ontario, where she now lives with her family. Many years after graduating from Harvard Medical School, she received an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She now splits her time between writing and working as an oncology/palliative care psychiatrist. Tzippy’s debut middle-grade novel No Vacancy won the Jean Little First-Novel Award and was a Sydney Taylor Award honor and a National Jewish Book Award finalist. Her picture book Afikomen, illustrated by Yaara Eshet, was a Sydney Taylor Award honor and a Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year. |
| Written By |
|
TZIPORAH (TZIPPY) COHEN was born and raised in New York and spent eighteen years in Boston before landing in Toronto, Ontario, where she now lives with her family. Many years after graduating from Harvard Medical School, she received an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She now splits her time between writing and working as an oncology/palliative care psychiatrist. Tzippy’s debut middle-grade novel No Vacancy won the Jean Little First-Novel Award and was a Sydney Taylor Award honor and a National Jewish Book Award finalist. Her picture book Afikomen, illustrated by Yaara Eshet, was a Sydney Taylor Award honor and a Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year. |
| Audience | ages 8 to 12 / grades 3 to 7 |
| Key Text Features | chapters; dialogue |
| Common Core |
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3 |