Tunnels of Time: A Moose Jaw Adventure

Tunnels of Moose Jaw #1

by Mary Harelkin Bishop

Designated an Our Choice title by the Canadian Children's Book Centre.
Thirteen-year-old Andrea Talbot doesn't want to go to Moose Jaw for her cousin Vanessa's wedding. She's going to miss a really cool bike trip and she's not taking it very well.
At a family dinner party in a local restaurant, Andrea agrees to look at what she thinks is just a phony tourist attraction: the tunnels beneath the streets of Moose Jaw. Legend has it that in Prohibition days the tunnels sheltered crooks, maybe even the notorious Al Capone! Andrea scoffs, until she has a small accident at the tunnel entrance and wakes up in another time.
Unable to return to the present, Andrea is caught up in a dangerous underground adventure. A teenage boy, Vance, finds her a job: working as a courier for the very criminals whose existence she dismissed - including their menacing leader, a man she knows only as Scarface. When she overhears information about a police raid, Andrea has to decide what to do. Should she help Scarface escape? Or should she help Vance, running for his life after a run-in with Scarface? And whatever she decides, will Andrea ever get back to the present?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Canada, Young Adult, School, Childrens, Time Travel, Historical

264 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Mary Bishop is a teacher-librarian in the Saskatoon public school system. Writing has always been a very important aspect in her life. Mary knew she was a writer when she was nine years old. Mary has had a few poems and a short story published in local publications, as well. She is a wonderful reader of her own work and is in great demand for writing workshops to help young people begin to write their own stories. In her spare time, she loves to spend time with her family and friends walking, biking, and skiing.

Reviews

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gangsters used tunnels under Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the 1920s! The government denied them for 75 years, until a street caved-in, in the 1970s. Old-time residents, who used to be child tunnel-messengers, filled-in the details! Mary Harelkin Bishop wasted no time publishing this historically-accurate début in June 2000. That is when “Tunnels Of Moose Jaw” started tours!

I gave four stars because “Tunnels Of Time” is a fantastic story, wonderfully-unique to Saskatchewan, with unusual subject matter. I can think of numerous children and adults who would love its variety of elements. The only demographic turn-off was several pages of Andrea whining about having to go to Moose Jaw, before we like her. We end up admiring that young lady, who had to immediately learn the role of tunnel-messenger for gangsters, while posing as a boy. I have respectful criticisms of aspects that could have been honed or enhanced for poignancy.

For example, it should have been highlighted and cherished, that Andrea was given the gift of meeting a Great-Grandma. Not a peep was said about that wonder, after she returned. It would have been thrilling and profound, if Andrea had clued-into identities while she was in the 1920s; which are obvious to all but her. Surely we know relatives’ names and home locations. As for there being three sequels: wouldn’t present-day relatives warn Andrea about ending up in the tunnels thrice more? Finally, time-shifting via a banged head is inadequate, like the amnesia gimmick. I hope the sequels explain a way to time-shift freely.

Mary utilized historic details to a tee. I had heard of the tunnels but this adventure has served me educationally. Nothing is sweeter personally, than literature of the middle of our country; my turf! I will watch for books #2 and #3. I already have #4.

[Erin Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book over 15 years ago and absolutely loved it!! I highly enjoyed reading the 20th anniversary edition and it took me back to my childhood! Highly recommend this book to people of all ages!

[Susan Rocan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I love time travel tales, this was right up there with some of the best. It was thrilling, lots of adventure, traveling the dark dangerous tunnels beneath Moose Jaw. The character was a bit whiny at the beginning but she learned a lot through her journey, encountering gangsters and working with those willing to take chances with the law during Prohibition times.

[Samanthadouan]

this is an awesome book

[ASleepDeprivedTurtle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book!! As someone who’s been to Moose Jaw and toured the tunnels multiple times over the years this was very interesting.

Something I really liked about this book was that it’s historical but also uses easy enough language and is interesting enough that kids in elementary can enjoy it but also older people. I read this book when I was 10 but comparatively my sister read it when she was 19 and enjoyed it equally.

This book is a staple read for all Saskatchewanian’s but I also definitely recommend if you live elsewhere in Canada, want an easy educational read or are planning to visit the tunnels!

[JK.Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading this book I had instant regret that I read the 4th book in this series before I bought and read the first 3 because one of the big "reveals" I already knew, but I still enjoyed this book very much. I am actually surprised at the lower rating this book has on here. I think people need to remember this is book is aimed to be a middle grade read. I, reading this at 22 years old, loved it and I know I would have loved it just as much when I was younger. It is a cute novel, but yet carries enough heavy content that it is still interesting. Mary captured the mystery of the tunnels and their use and "Scarface" so well. I have been on the tour you can go on in Moose Jaw of the tunnels and perhaps that allowed me to enjoy this book that much more, but overall this is a fantastic, fun and captivating read and I would recommend this series to any young reader.

[Neill Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

While on a family visit to a wedding in Moose Jaw, Andrea finds herself transported back in time to the time when Al Capone and his mob were using the tunnels under Moose Jaw as a secret way of moving around to avoid the law. Andrea is mistaken as a boy and becomes a messenger for the mob through the tunnels.

[Katherine]

I initially got this book as a child after doing the tours at the tunnels in Moose Jaw. It was nice to take a trip down memory lane revisiting this story, and it was just the level I needed while in an anxiety flare.

[Bcs (Sarah. B) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tunnel's of Time by Mary Harelkin Bishop

Content Rating Four Stars
Romance 2 None (Though the bag guy is implied to have several women) and at the end the woman is said to have a baby out of wedlock.
Violence 2 very mild
Faith 0 None
Profanity/Language 0 mentioned but not written + gee + Sheesh + hurts like the devil
Youth Appropriate 1 Young Adult

Personal Rating: Four Stars
Mention of a kid's magic wand; also mention of a side character being the witch in a Handsle and Gretel play.

[Pigeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read all of this series as a child in elementary school and I'm still hooked on all of them. They're my entire memories and I'd die to get all of the books for my own self instead of library ones.
If you're thinking of reading these books, I 100% recommend them, lots of scary parts, and lots and lots of amazingness and mystery to it all.

[Bev Walkling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think my grand-daughter will enjoy this one! Andrea finds herself inadvertently going back through time to the prohibition era in Moose Jaw. She finds herself pulled into criminal activities but learns the value of true friendship and all that entails. My son-in-law will love that this is a "character bulding" story. One night changes Andrea's life, but will she ever get back to the future?

[saryn t · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good book because there are fact and thing that happens in real life and I do recommend this book to anyone it is a really good book and I hope that if you do read the book that you like it like me so I Rate it a 5 stars

[Blue Sapphire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been so much better but the language and and the speeches seemed really forced. It wasn’t fluid and the characters didn’t seem to be very realistic. It’s a shame. I really enjoyed the idea and the plot but the characters were too 1 dimensional.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 2 out of 5]

In present, Andy is mean to family. In 1920s, Andrea screams, cries, imagines worst in small dark tunnels in 1920s. Scarface Al is bad, she helps him with Vince- is he a relative? - maybe the only jobs.

[Dareka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in the eight grade and really loved it. It was one of the first book’s I read that actually took place in Canada. As a Canadian myself, I really enjoyed the representation and enjoyed this fictive take on Canada’s Prohibition.

[Emina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was great!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gabriel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is absolutely the worst piece of literature I have ever had the displeasure of reading.

[Remi Bumphrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Morag Riddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid story of a twelve year old girl who goes back in time to the 1920s in Moose Jaw becoming a tunnel runner. Many twists and turns. My grade 7 class enjoyed the novel.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a remarkable book, though perfectly fine. It was about prohibition and gangsters, and mostly took place in tunnels, so not really my cup of tea.

[Maddison Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tunnels of Time is a wonderfully researched book that completely takes you away into the story!

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series when I was 11 and loved it! Reread it today, as an adult. It's definitely not the same, but I'm still giving five stars for the way it made me feel when I was young!

[Harper Kinash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not think that I would like the book as much as I did. It's cool and make you ask a bunch of questions. Since it ended on a cliff hanger, I will definitely have to read the next one.

[Auryn Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't enjoy this book as much as I remember enjoying it when I first read it in grade 5. I think one of the reasons hat I enjoyed this book so much then was because it takes place in Saskatchewan and the Moose Jaw tunnels. I'm not even sure if I should give this book four stars even, since I don't like it nearly as much as most of the other books I have given four stars. But its getting four stars since there isn't anything between three and four stars. I read it really quickly, even for a book that is less than three hundred pages that doesn't have an old fashioned writing style.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this was a very heart warming book, and it had a lot of exciting moments. My favorite part of the book was when Andrea was escorting to men through the tunnels, and the tunnel caved in. Then when the too men started to dig Andrea ran away from them in the pitch black darkness. I would rate this book a 100,000,000/10 that is how much I love this book. I would recommend this book to people around the ages of 12 to 16. I loves it, and I hope you do to.

[Mel healy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. I read quite some years ago, and still do every now and then. It kept me guessing till the very end.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanna see the tunnels...

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this series! I pretty sure I read this book in a couple of days as a kid.

[Adrianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for school... it was pretty good but I guessed right away who everyone was from the past...

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter got this out of her library for me "because you like time travel books" :) It's a kids book, reminded me a lot of the Root Cellar, so I enjoyed it.
7/10