It tells the story of thirteen year old Jessie Keyser, who all her life has believed that she lives in the nineteenth century frontier village of Clifton, Indiana. When diphtheria starts claiming the lives of the village children, her mother tells her that it is not really 1840, as Jessie has been led to believe, but 1996. It appears that the village in which Jessie has grown up is actually a historical preserve, which its inhabitants are forbidden to leave. Jessie, however, is entrusted with a very important mission. She is to leave the preserve and seek help for their village in the outside world, avoiding capture by those who would seek to silence her in order to maintain the status quo and the secret that they are harboring in Clifton.

This book is AWESOME. Haddix is my new favorite "tween" author! Anyone who likes some intrigue/a little sci-fi but NO scare or gore, it's PERFECT!

Excellent book about time travel and a girl who has to take risks to save her family.
(reading level = ages 8-12)

Jessie lives with her family in the frontier village of Clifton, Indiana. When diphtheria strikes the village and the children of Clifton start dying, Jessie's mother sends her on a dangerous mission to bring back help.

But beyond the walls of Clifton, Jessie discovers a world even more alien and threatening than she could have imagined, and soon she finds her own life in jeopardy. Can she get help before the children of Clifton, and Jessie herself, run out of time?

This book was copyrighted in 1995. It is freakishly similar to the movie "The Village." I wonder where M. Night got the idea for the movie.

Was a good book i read it after my son did, i liked it. Although mine has a different cover.

Great beginning to a great series -- time travel and historical fiction in one!

Read All Book Reviews of "Running Out of Time"

Haddix’s first novel, and still one of my favorites of hers. Everything is just perfect in this book. The pitch-perfect narrator, on the fence between naïve childhood security and scary adolescence. The suspense that will keep you reading breathlessly until you find out what happens at the end. The world-building that makes you wonder if this couldn’t be happening right next door. RUNNING OUT OF TIME is a beautiful blend of the speculative and the probable, and earns its title as one of the best speculative juvenile fiction novels out there today.

The book I have, has a different cover.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Jessie lives with her family in the frontier village of Clifton, Indiana, in 1840 - or so she believes. When diphtheria strikes the village and the children of Clifton start dying, Jessie's mother reveals a shocking secret - it's actually 1996, and they are living on a reconstructed village that serves as a tourist site. In the world outside, medicine exists that can cure the dread disease, and Jessie's mother is sending her on a dangerous mission to bring back help.
But beyond the world of Clifton, Jesse discovers a world even more alien and threatening than she would have imagined, and soon she finds her own life in jeopardy. Can she get help before the children of Clifton, and Jessie herself, run out of time?

Read All Book Reviews of "Running Out of Time"