Kits and Cubbyholes

by Loralee Evans

After two adventures into the past, Ani is sure she, her big brother Jax, and their friend Julie are time-travel experts. But when Will Taylor, an old friend from 1781 shows up in their backyard, Ani and Jax don't know what to do! Julie's on a mysterious errand of her own, so it's up to Ani, Jax, and their other friends (including Will's own descendant!) to get Will home. Can they do that with the help of their time-traveling raccoon friends? Maybe. But it would be a lot easier if the raccoons' babies didn't act so mischievous!

203 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2020

About the author

Some of Loralee Evans’ earliest memories are of sitting with her mom or dad while they read her stories like The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, or Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. These memories, along with many great teachers who got her excited about reading, are what helped her develop a love of books, and of writing. She has lived in Missouri, Texas, and Utah, and even spent a year and a half in Japan.

Reviews

[I.M. Redwright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story for kids! This was a really enjoyable read, while it's addressed to children it can be enjoyed as an adult as well.

An adventure book that teaches us history by showing us the adventures of the siblings Ani and Jax,together with their friend Julie. There is a moral lesson in this story, and that is always great (even better when a book is addressed to a younger audience as is the case).

In this story, the siblings will have to get back their friend William Taylor to his own time. Loved how William's speech was different,a nice touch that made me smile (well done!)

This is the third volume of a series, but it can be read as an standalone.

[Dorothy Mbori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining

I read this book with my son, and he really enjoyed it. I liked that the author subtly included real-life lessons in a way that didn't feel preachy or forced, but in a gentle way that kids could understand. I liked the time travel aspect of the story and the inclusion of bits ad pieces of history. I also enjoyed the adventure and the friendships between the characters in the story. The only thing I would say is that I wish the adventure could have started earlier in the book. Great book for kids. I recommend it.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read each of the books in the adventures of Jax and Ani series and enjoyed them all. The latest installment is another charming, delightful trip back in time where our young heroes get to show their courage determination and wit while learning some valuable lessons about history and about themselves. In Kits and Cubbyholes, the children travel back to the 1700s where they experience what life was like in this time and discover some surprising personal connections. Filled with humor, history and fun, Kits and Cubbyholes is perfect for any young reader and a must-read for fans of the series.

[Neil Carstairs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book in the children’s time travel series but the first one that I have read. This didn’t cause any problems as it stands alone as an adventure but has enough information as a back story to fill in any knowledge gaps, although the initial appearance of the racoons left me scratching my head. The aim of the book (and I assume the series) is to introduce children to history, and not just the good bits about a nation’s past but also the parts that can leave people feeling uncomfortable. The cast of characters, primarily children, are from a diverse background, and this will make the books more accessible to younger readers who may not always find characters in books who are comparable to their own heritage.

In this adventure, we meet Will, from 1781 Britain, who finds himself falling through a chimney based time portal to end up in modern-day USA. I liked the way the author used dialogue to show Will came from a different time and country. As I am from the UK I was able to easily hear his speech (think East End of London - or Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins) and his confusion when coming across everyday objects adds humour to the story. Will meets up with Jax, Ani, Amy, and another Will (one of the old Will’s direct descendants). They team up, seeking an answer as to why Will the Old has been transported through time that leads to an encounter with an adult who may know more than they do about time travel and eventually end up in post-Civil War USA.

The book explores, in a not-in-your-face way, racial discrimination and shows that sometimes this comes from ignorance that can be overcome by education. The author introduces real people from history, both from the USA and the UK, that will hopefully spur children’s interest in not just the subject of history but also family trees. What did our ancestors do as jobs? Were they masters or servants?

Kits and Cubbyholes will pull children in to make new friends with the characters and delight them in the time-travelling adventure.

[E.M. Swift-Hook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Time Travelling Children Return

Ani and Jax are surprised when Will Taylor, a lad they met on one of their previous time travel adventures suddenly arrives in their time - and he is so very like their British friend Will who moved in a short time ago. They are then faced with the problem of trying to get him back to his own time, and meanwhile, Julie has been behaving very oddly and Ani has a feeling that could be about time travel too.

This is the third book in the delightful series about time travelling children which explores issues of race and how slavery was experienced and eventually suppressed. It shares with the other books a strong moral core but with enough adventure woven around that so there is never any feeling of being preached at. I did like that this time we find one of the grown-ups getting involved too.

The story is a very simple one, but engaging and educational as always. The author is simply a master of such books and all are enjoyable for adults as well as their young target audience.

My only caveat for this book is that this time there is a big focus on the children meeting their ancestors and whilst that was a compelling approach for those readers who are invested in them, it did lack a little of the sense of 'big history' which moved the previous book along. The shift means we are much more in moral territory (and a great message it is too) and further away from learning about history than before. For me, this was a bit of a shame as I would see the point of using time travel to be for important historical events to be experienced ‘first hand’. As such, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the previous book in the series that I read.

All in all an excellent book for children to learn about the relationship the present has with the past. It can stand alone but would lose something of its impact, I feel, as a lot of the interest in the book for a reader is from knowing these characters well and wanting to know more about them. And besides, this is a delightful series - so start at the beginning and work through!

[Bethany Salway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture an enchanted museum littered with portals to other points in space and time, where young people are led on adventures of destiny, guided by a pack of wise raccoons. Who wouldn't want to visit?

This book is lighthearted and child safe, but it takes itself seriously enough to try to make sense, which I really appreciate. It has a nice set of mechanics for preserving timeline integrity. When people who come into contact with elements from their future, the encounter fades from their memory like a dream. It sets up a great scope of plot possibilities - as our characters are able to meet and influence famous figures from history.

I adore time travel stories of all kinds, and my absolute favorite is an uncommon little subgenre of people from other times coming to visit the present. I loved seeing Will, a boy from the 18th century, try to understand a plastic water bottle.

I have one complaint, which is that the antecedent relations in this book are physically mirror images of their modern day descendants. I've never seen or heard of anybody who looked exactly like their parents, much less a distant ancestor. After nine generations, there are 512 people who can all be called your "seven-greats" grandparent, and each one of them is only contributing 0.002% of their DNA! To suppose you would look like all (or any) of them is quite absurd. I don't know why that bothered me and not the precognizant raccoons, but somehow it did.

Anyway, back to my praise. I thought this book was a delightful romp. A great length for kids and thoughtfully written. When my son gets a little bit older, I would like to read this series with him. And I hope the author writes more too!

[Lynn Helton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This third book of the Raccoons and Rabbit Holes series sees Jax, Ani and Julie, along with some other friends, trying to find a way to get William Taylor, a friend from the past, back home to 1781. The story refers briefly to events from the previous books without giving too much of their stories away - a nice reminder for readers who are already following the series and a great bit of context to help orient any new readers.

Like the other books of the series, this one touches on the themes of historical slavery and abolition, but it takes a different approach. Rather than focusing on important historical figures, it's more concerned with historical familial connections to the main characters and subtly shows how even changing a few minds can make a difference. I particularly liked how the kids figured out some of the "rules" around their time travels. The story's references to other good books for this age group are a bonus, and a nice, gentle hint to read more.

This book smoothly meshes some history teachings with good life lessons, all wrapped up in a delightful and fun tale. It’s a grand time-travel adventure - an entertaining and enjoyable read.

(I read this book through Kindle Unlimited.)

[E.K. Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting book about time travel

In 1781, 12-year-old Will Taylor chases some ‘giant rats’ (raccoons) through the house where he works. Following them up the chimney, he’s transported to the twenty-first century. From there, he meets children who know him, but he has no recollection of him. His new friends help him to return home and return their other friend to the correct time period.

This was an exciting story with lots of action. I liked the diverse cast of characters. The book touched slightly on difficult themes like slavery, but its main focus was around the funny coincidence that brought ‘Old Will’ to meet his many times great-grandson with the same name. I found Will’s reaction to familiar objects from our world amusing, particularly the treehouse.

Overall, a fun story that should appeal to the audience.

[Kelly Channick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time Traveling Adventure

As a former teacher of little ones, I can say this book would not only hold the interest of any child, but also inform them of some important history as well. Though this was a part of a series, it can be read as a standalone, as I jumped into it easily. I really enjoyed the characters’ friendships and the underlying morality lessons of anti racism and, in general, just doing the right thing.

[D. Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kits and Cubbyholes is a fun, whimsical book well suited to young readers who enjoy time-travel fiction. As I read it, memories of reading Alice in Wonderland arose—only this time, the animal who leads the unwitting human characters into fantastical adventures is a raccoon, or rather a family of raccoons, instead of a white rabbit. But magical impossibilities abound, as they do in the Lewis Carroll classic. Kits and Cubbyholes is the third book of a series but can be read as a standalone book. However, the reader may be at a disadvantage if he/she hasn't read the first two books, as this one refers back to adventures in the previous stories—and may well forecast events in future books in the series.

The writing is polished with very few grammatical errors, which is refreshing. For the most part, the dialogue and descriptions are authentic, even while mixing characters from different times, settings, places. It's not as easy as most stories to pinpoint which of the several child characters in the story is the main character. It all begins with 12-year-old William Taylor, a young orphan in 18th century England with less than illustrious roots. After he travels forward a couple of centuries and meets one of his descendants (and a group of children whom he previously met in the first or second book of this series, when they traveled back to his time and place and helped him in a street altercation), his role is comparatively minor, as he follows his new-found 21st-century American friends around in a strange and foreign world, stymied by such inventions as confounding twist-top plastic water bottles. The children, united in their mutual effort to help the lad get back home, participate in the book's main adventure, which climaxes in a trip to 19th century Maryland, where one of the group members and a frequent time-traveler, Julie, has linked up with her ancestor Julia, but the rendezvous nearly ends in a double fatality.

The main characters in the series, the contemporary group of five children (Ani, Jax, Amy, Will, Julie) who regularly experience these time-travel adventures, represent a mixture of races (black, indigenous, caucasian) and nationalities (American and British). If any one child stands out and from whose perspective much of the story is told, it is Ani, a seven-year-old multi-racial girl.
Two themes compete with each other in this novel: meeting ancestors through time travel as well as the tragedy of racism. The latter is stressed in the story's most harrowing scene when the children nearly lose their lives to a raging river current but are saved by a heroic black man. Julia (one of Julie's ancestors) must endure her own father's racist blindness until he finally acknowledges all that the "colored" man did for his family by saving his daughter's life. Later in the book, we find that a couple of the children, Ani and her brother, are descendants of the black hero and his son.

Meeting ancestors is an interesting theme but may be overdone in this story. I didn't find there was a clear reason for "old" William Taylor to make the journey and wondered why the super clever raccoons led him to do so, other than to meet one of his descendants, "young" William Taylor, and the children whom he'd encountered in a previous book, although his memories of their time together are sketchy. He doesn't really take anything back with him, except perhaps a lesson from one adult in the book (museum employee Mr. Kemp: "You are the one who decides your future. You, William Taylor. No one else. It will be what you choose to make it") as well as confirmation of who his future wife will be. However, it is because of their hunt to find the way for "old Will" to return to his own time that leads them to help Julia and Julie escape certain death.

The reader will pick up some historical names, which may lead him or her to discover interesting facts, such as that British political figures William Wilberforce ("old" William Taylor's benefactor) and his friend Prime Minister William Pitt were united in their stand against the slave trade and were as effectual in abolishing it in England as President Abraham Lincoln would later be in the United States.

All in all, this is a fun, light read that may have overemphasized the ancestor-descendant-encounter theme at the expense of helping young readers learn more about historical events, which time-travel stories for children can easily exploit by sending them back into the thick of incidents that shaped the course of history. The anti-racism moral message woven throughout the story has a happy ending, at least in one man's life, who learns that bigotry is not written in stone. As we see in the story, even the most diehard racist can change if he allows reason to invade the barriers he has thrown up and his entrenched biases and misconceptions to be reformed.

Kits and Cubbyholes is a good and enjoyable read for kids, especially those interested in history and how the past has shaped the present. Readers should start with the first book in the series and follow them in sequence to fully enjoy them.

[Mary Elizabeth Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kits and Cubbyholes is Loralee Evans' third book about the adventures of a handful of engaging kids somewhere in the southern USA. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two but found this one, although it's better written, somewhat less satisfying.

Siblings Jax and Ani and their mates have slipped into the past before, as frequent references to the earlier books explain. In this one, time travel is reversed, when an old friend suddenly arrives from the late 18th century. Twelve year old Will Taylor is a servant in the household of William Wilberforce, the abolitionist. Will has chased two kits, (baby raccoons) up a chimney and found himself flung into the 21st century. Why the kits led him up the chimney in the first place wasn't clear. From the moment Will arrives, the kids focus on sending him home. Naturally he's agog at contemporary inventions, like cars and aeroplanes, but his anxiety to get home dominates the narrative.

There is one thrilling episode of time travel and Evans contrives to have three of the children meet their ancestors in the past. In fact, there's already a Will Taylor in their neighbourhood, and the two Wills look exactly alike. This could be confusing for the reader, but Evans does a good job of keeping things straight. The situation spawns discussion about the etiquette of time travel, and all the children come to understand what they must not do.

Aspects I quibbled about in the previous books are no longer evident. In this one the writing is skilful - as when young Ani flops into a bean bag chair and Evans writes, “the scrunchy beads inside crackled and whispered”. The editing is thorough and the pacing excellent.

In Raccoons and Rabbit Holes and in Tabby Cats and Trap Doors, I enjoyed the historical and educational content, and admired how Evans incorporated a valuable learning experience into a fun kids story. This is not so much the case with Kits and Cubbyholes, and that was a trifle disappointing.

[Mary Markstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will appeal to both children and adults. The book is the third in the serious but can be read as a stand-alone. It is a delightful time travelling adventure but also has a strong anti-racism message woven into the narrative without being preachy. There are references to historical abolitionists like William Pitt, William Wilberforce, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas. The story begins with two orphans, William Taylor and Nellie Smith and their cat, Jolly. They were rescued from street life by Wilberforce and Pitt for whom they now work. Will travels forward to the twenty-first century where he meets inter-racial brother and sister Jax and Ani and their friends Julie. Jax and Ani have to help Will to get back to the seventeenth century. I loved the raccoons who help the children to travel between times. Will was baffled by the modern gadgets and clothing and American accents of the present day children. Jax mother works in the museum and they set up a play area for children to learn about slavery and the Emancipation Declaration. I was intrigued by the title of the book but it turns out to be the name children's play area and the raccoon babies are also called kits which I didn't know. Mr Kemp the museum curator helps the children through the time lapse. The highlight of the story is the nail-biting scene when the bridge breaks and the children fall into the water. I was gratified how the children from the present manage to change the racist attitude of Julie's Pa towards Mr Freeman who rescued his daughter in the past. An enjoyable read.

[Margaret Standafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kits and Cubbyholes is the third installment in the adventures of a group of time-traveling children. Coaxed once again by a group of friendly raccoons, the children go back in time to 1781, but not before an ancestor of one of the children finds himself transported forward in time.

This cute tale teaches lessons on what life was like in the 1700s, and includes a look at the prevalent racial bigotry. I very much enjoyed the first book in the series where the children encounter Harriet Tubman, but found this book to be a bit lacking in the historical education that is included in the adventure with Harriet Tubman. It takes quite a while for the children to get around to their journey as much of the first part of the book is devoted to backstory and is a bit slow. While I understand the need to give a synopsis of the children’s past adventures, it seemed to me that too much time was spent on this aspect. Once the children embark on their adventure, though, there are harrowing moments, moments that require their courage and fortitude, and plenty of moments to make the reader smile.

As with the other books in the series, Kits and Cubbyholes is a delightful tale sure to charm younger readers while providing a bit of a history lesson at the same time.

[Stephanie Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun children's time-travel story with a moral. The story was novel and layered, though I found the narrator's change in perspective somewhat jarring. It stayed consistently in a third-person-limited point of view except for a few chapters, in which the perspective shifted to another character. I wondered at one point if this was actually an omniscient narrator, but no - the narrator was clearly limited in its perspective when the time-traveling boy was the focus.

But what made this story shine was its treatment of historical racism without being preachy or didactic. The plot unfolded to allow some of the characters to learn acceptance, gratitude, and love for one another, despite differences that had prejudiced them earlier. This is a great lesson for kids to experience, and the twist of time travel is a perfect plot device.

[Jolly Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute kid's story that starts out very fun with a pests in the kitchen drama as we meet Will and Nellie. That leads to several mishaps. It has a great pace and held the attention of the kids. On a technical note the dialogue is distracting, but as I read it to the kids I fixed the dialect as not to distract them and that worked. Less is more is usually the rule of thumb for dialect. Once or twice to establish is enough.

After the opening, we are in another time. The kids in this section are modern and there is a bit of mystery concerning where Julie is and we find out they can travel through time. In this section I noted a lot of repetition in word choice and odd dialogue tags. Comma placement is an issue that might throw children as flow issues result.

That said, it really is an adorable story that would benefit from an editor's eye.

[J.E. Rowney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travel. Sweet book.

The book was fine. I didn’t engage with the characters early on because their dialogue was a little annoying, with the way the accents were written, but this became less irksome as the book went on. I found some of the descriptions (like the Hello Kitty T) a bit twee too. Overall it was okay. I guess I’m not the target audience for this book really. It’s innocent fun, and pretty much what you’d expect from the cover. Not for me, but by no means a bad book.

[Suey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute time travel story along the lines of Magic Tree House, but different.

[Carro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a children's book, but as an adult I found it readable, if a little young in tone for me. I do read some books intended for a younger audience, depending on the author, so it is on the edge of my reading tastes. I am not sure what age it is aimed at.
This is the third book in the series and I read it as a stand-alone. It mostly worked as that. There was a sprinkling of information in the start which allowed you to pick up on the previous books, and I was aware of starting part way through a series so perhaps did give this a little more leeway than if I hadn't known and it was fine at that level. At the start the viewpoint character is suffering from memory loss and struggling with fragmentary pictures that are hinting to him that maybe his memory isn't working properly and that was not entirely helpful, though would be more amusing to someone who'd read the previous books and knew what it was the author was hinting at.
This is a time travel book, on this occasion with a child from the past coming through to the contemporary world. I did very much enjoy the reactions of the child on his arrival, that was very well done. I did living history re-enactment for a number of years, with public presentations where you limited your knowledge to the date of the re-enactment – if you were in June 1642 then you didn't yet know what had happened in July 1642 – and all modern technology was a mystery, from satellite dishes to screw top plastic bottles. Answering the public's questions while staying in period was always a test of your wits and it is fun to see this being done the other way around.
The question of accents is always an interesting one in writing dialogue and the author has gone for a cockney accent on the child from the past. I actually found it a fraction wearing with the apostrophe's for dropped “h” and the like, but that is my taste. As the book progressed, I either got used to it, or the author used it less.
The author a nice job of dropping in details – they are very much part of the story rather than weighing it down. These would give a child some feel for every day life of the eighteenth century and what would seem remarkable to someone visiting from the eighteenth century. I've always liked informative fiction.
However, speaking as someone who watches a lot of history documentaries, I did think that in places the author perhaps lacked detailed knowledge of some aspects of 18th century life, in particular the comment on “the cool clean air of the 18th century”. Mm, in Britain in cities they had serious air pollution from wood and coal fires in every house that could afford them, the vast numbers of horses left lots of pongy reminders behind, and worse than that was thrown on the streets. Depending on where you were, the furnaces of the industrial revolution could add their contribution. A minor thing but I am a bit of stickler for getting living history details right and one of the aims of this book does seem to be to educate.
This was well written in terms of prose and story telling, had likeable characters and moved along well. There is a theme of opposing racism, and I gather that the first two books had a theme of opposing the slave trade. All of this is admirable and I support it, but it bordered on being heavy handed as it was such a major focus in the story. I'm not keen on overtly moralising stories, but maybe being more overt is needed for younger children, it's not something I can comment on. I think this was more a 3.5 star book for me, but that not being available I decided to round up to 4 as overall it has a lot of charm.