A first entry in a planned trilogy by the best-selling author of the Seven Wonders series finds a 13-year-old boy accidentally transported back to 1917 New York City and struggling to return to his own time without changing history. 50,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)

When Corey learns that he has the ability to save lives while time traveling, he is determined to go back in time to save his grandmother who died on September 11, 2001. - (Baker & Taylor)

2019 Bank Street College of Education's "Best Children's Books of the Year" 

Peter Lerangis, the New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Wonders and Max Tilt series, returns with an electrifying new trilogy about a boy who discovers that he alone may be able to alter the course of history.

Corey Fletcher has an active imagination. He sees things no one else does. Cracks jokes no one else gets. And goes places few would ever dare go. Like the past.

All he needs is a metal artifact from a point in time, and Corey can go there. Although hundreds of time travelers live in secret throughout the world, including Corey's own grandfather, none has the ability to change past events.

But when Corey accidentally saves a life while time traveling, he realizes that he is the first-ever “Throwback,” with the power to alter life as we know it. Which means his own life is now in all sorts of danger.

This is the first book in a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat adventure series from New York Times bestselling author Peter Lerangis, whose books have sold over five and a half million copies worldwide.

2019 Bank Street College of Education's "Best Children's Books of the Year" 

Peter Lerangis, the New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Wonders and Max Tilt series, returns with an electrifying new trilogy about a boy who discovers that he alone may be able to alter the course of history.

Corey Fletcher has an active imagination. He sees things no one else does. Cracks jokes no one else gets. And goes places few would ever dare go. Like the past.

All he needs is a metal artifact from a point in time, and Corey can go there. Although hundreds of time travelers live in secret throughout the world, including Corey's own grandfather, none has the ability to change past events.

But when Corey accidentally saves a life while time traveling, he realizes that he is the first-ever 'throwback," with the power to alter life as we know it. Which means his own life is now in all sorts of danger.

This is the first book in a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat adventure series from New York Times bestselling author Peter Lerangis, whose books have sold over five and a half million copies worldwide.

Booklist Reviews

After 13-year-old Corey discovers that he has inherited the ability to journey into the past and change the future, he sets out on his first mission: saving his grandmother from the tragic events of September 11, 2001. It was not part of his plan, however, to end up stuck in the year 1917. In order to get back home, he puts his faith in a new friend and soon learns that things in the past aren't as simple as he'd thought. Lerangis takes readers through time with humor and action, capturing the grittiness of the different settings and putting Corey through realistic struggles. While the story weaves through three time periods, the plot centers around 9/11 and its impact on Corey's family, and despite the sf trappings, this is an emotional journey, full of heart, about family and wanting to change the past. It's the kind of story that stays with you long after reading, and it will resonate with many. Grades 4-7. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Booklist Reviews

The second installment of the Throwback trilogy sees Corey diving deeper into a time-traveling habit, and as he successfully makes an impact through a number of smaller changes, he hopes to do something bigger. With the help [of] his best friend, Leila, he decides to go back and stop Hitler. Their trip to WWII Germany doesn't go as planned, however, and Corey is finally forced to face a growing addiction to rewriting history—and the consequences involved. This new adventure explores more of Corey's abilities as it hits upon another devastating time that changed the course of human history. Through the perspective of a 13-year-old, Lerangis infuses a hopefulness through the genuine belief that individuals have the power to make the world better. This time, Leila's presence adds a fresh dynamic to the adventure, and Chaos Loop proves even more fun than the first book in the series, with more action, crazy antics, time-travel shenanigans, and a meaningful exploration of history. Grades 5-8. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

A fledgling time traveler learns that changing the past—or even just visiting—can have...disturbing consequences. In a tale that twists its way to an unexpectedly light ending after a string of wrenching incidents, young New Yorker Corey Fletcher discovers that, like his beloved grandfather and a small community of others, he can travel in time. Better yet, Corey just might be one of the legendarily rare Throwbacks who can actually alter the fixed past...albeit at a cost of unpredictable changes up the line. Nevertheless, he recklessly slips back to 2001 to watch Papou Gus repeatedly fail to steer his wife away from her job in the World Trade Center, then tries his hand at it—and finds himself temporarily stranded in Lower Manhattan in 1917. Lerangis gives Corey two redoubtable female foils. In 1917, "Quinn Roper" has disguised herself as a cowboy, causing Corey to reflect, rather clumsily, on changing attitudes toward gender assumptions and presentation. In the 21st century, fellow time traveler Leila also gives the 9/11 rescue a go. The author crafts a white default cast but ably evokes the stews of old New York's Bowery and, while leaving his biracial protagonist's Puerto Rican mom in the background, does slip in markers for Corey's Greek American ancestry. A trilogy opener with all the makings of a grand tale...in time. (Fantasy. 11-13) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Reviews

A young time traveler decides to "go big" with his ability by killing Hitler. Corey, 13, learned in trilogy opener Throwback (2019) that changing the past has unpredictable consequences both historical and personal, such as the small but real chance of returning from a jaunt transformed into an animal. Nevertheless, he figures it's worth the risk. Much as she disagrees, fellow traveler Leila tags along, serving as both voice of reason and translator as the two repeatedly hop back to the early 20th century. For better or worse, though, the past turns out to have a certain resilience...to the point that Corey's efforts to kill Hitler in Munich in 1939 or at least kick-start his artistic career in 1908 Vienna utterly fail. In the end Corey does manage to work a lesser change by saving the lives of a group of Polish resistance fighters, including his own great uncle, in the last days of World War II—at disturbingly great cost. In this fast-paced follow-up, Lerangis brushes on a light wash of credible period detail based on actual events. He also cast s Hitler as a lost (but resolutely anti-Semitic) young man who winds up in a final, lurid encounter as a mad-eyed monster, demonstrating that writing him as a character may be as hard as stopping him. Corey is of mixed European and Puerto Rican heritage; Leila's is European Jewish. A provocative scenario with twists painful and droll make this sequel worth the...time. (Fantasy. 11-13) Copyright Kirkus 2020 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

After learning that he is a Throwback, who can travel back in time and alter the past, Corey Fletcher, 13, vows to do what his grandfather couldn't: prevent his grandmother from dying in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Things go awry, though; he ends up robbed and stranded in New York City in 1917, and he must retrieve his possessions and avoid myriad dangers if he wants to return to his own era. With this exciting adventure, Lerangis (the Seven Wonders series) captures the diversity of New York throughout the decades, and Corey's own heritage (his mother is Puerto Rican and father is Greek-American) plays a small but important role along the way. The narrative works best when it focuses on the personal stakes; elements of the worldbuilding—such as the long-term side effects of time travel—are less successful, while related subplots are left dangling for future installments of the planned trilogy to address. Nevertheless, the thought-provoking concept and Corey's own heartbreaking attempts to prevent tragedy should easily draw readers. Ages 8–12. (Oct.)

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 4–7—Lerangis's novel takes the intriguing premise that some people can time travel simply by concentrating on an object from a certain time. Thirteen-year-old Corey time-hops around New York City's history with the guidance of his Greek American Papou (grandfather) and the support of best friend Leila. September 11th features prominently, but Corey also goes back to the 1860s and spends some time with track-clearing "West Side Cowboys" in 1917. Of course, time-jumping has dangers that lend themselves well to a forward-moving adventure tale such as this; in this case, losing an object means losing the ability to go to that period, frequent time-jumpers find themselves turning into weird animals, and convincing people to change their behavior to change the future is frustratingly difficult. Lerangis avoids delving too deeply into the paradoxes of time travel or describing period accoutrements, leaving this a light, fast-paced adventure full of lively dialogue and action with not-very-perceptive yet colorful time-locals. Corey is ostensibly half Greek American and half Puerto Rican. VERDICT A welcome addition to time-travel literature for middle grade readers, especially those who love New York.—Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 4–7—In the second Throwback book, 13-year-old Corey uses his time- and space-traveling abilities with his friend Leila in tow, this time in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler—first in 1939 Munich, then in 1908 Vienna when the future Führer was still an art student. The danger of time travel–induced transmogrification becomes more pressing as Corey starts to feel some physical effects. Lerangis keeps his protagonist, and the pace, constantly pushing forward with lots of action. Some may cringe at the attempt to humanize and turn Hitler into a character, albeit with inescapable references to his malevolence and bigotry (e.g. poor hygiene, "cold, bloodshot" eyes, outbursts of anti-Semitic rhetoric). As an ostensibly Jewish character, who also identifies as Puerto Rican and Greek American, Corey's own lack of Jewish generational trauma seems questionable; he "freezes" and "gulps" but seems to feel little personal terror or hatred for the figure, upset only at the larger situation. Dialogue is stilted, with German phrases awkwardly and too liberally poured into conversations, (Leila just happens to be fluent in German), and characters are shallow throughout. The plot ends on a cliffhanger, anticipating the next volume. VERDICT While not worth the purchase as a standalone title, readers who enjoyed the first of the series will be glad to go along for the ride.—Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC