A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

(image via goodreads.com)

Citation

Elliott, Zetta. A Wish After Midnight. New York: Rosetta Press, 2008. Print.

Annotation

After making a wish in a fountain, 15-year old Genna is transported back in time to Civil War-era Brooklyn.

Booktalk

What would you do if you found yourself face down in the dirt, beaten and bloody, suddenly 150 years in the past?

Genna is a smart, ambitious 15-year old from Brooklyn, who lives with her mother and three siblings in tiny one-bedroom apartment. While her brother deals drugs from their apartment building, and her sister works part-time at a clothing store, Genna dreams of going to college and becoming a psychiatrist. Even though her classmates make fun of her, there is one boy, Judah, who seems different. One night, after sneaking into her favorite place, the botanical gardens, she goes to the fountain where she has made countless wishes for a better life. That night, though, she hears mysterious voices and sees strange apparitions. She finds a penny on the ground and tosses it into the fountain, and the world around her changes. Genna awakens, but not in the Brooklyn she knows. Instead, she has been taken back in time to the Brooklyn of 1863. How will she navigate life as a young black woman during the Civil War? Will she ever make it back to present day?

(video by elliottzetta at youtube.com)