Countdown to Yesterday

A boy seeks to time travel and prevent his parents' divorce, but discovers his past may not be as perfect as he remembers.

3.9/5 Goodreads · 180 ratings

272 pages

$17.99Save 6%

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Bookroo's summary

James is desperate to mend his fractured family by traveling back in time. With the help of Yan, a girl with a unique perspective, he embarks on a quest through time. As they navigate retro birthday cakes, old computers, and futuristic rideshares, James must confront the truth about his cherished memories. Can he change the past, or will he find that his idealized history is more complex than he thought? Join James on a journey where science and emotion collide, and the past holds unexpected revelations.

From the publisher

Rebecca Stead’s The List of Things That Will Not Change gets a “Space Oddity” sci-fi twist in this moving middle grade novel about one boy’s journey to go back in time to prevent his parents’ divorce. The present is the last place James wants to be. Since his parents have separated, he’s been living two different lives and neither of them add up to the great one he used to have. He thinks about his Top Six memories and wonders if he can go back. During National Science Week, James meets the enigmatic Yan, a girl who looks at the world with x-ray eyes, and discovers that time travel might be possible after all. The two budding scientists’ quest to restore James’s lost past brings them into contact with retro Australian Women’s Weekly birthday cakes, old Commodore computers, chaotic rideshare vehicles of the future, and spacemen. But as they get closer to their goal, James is forced to consider that his favorite moments from his personal history may not be as perfect as he remembers them.

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