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Running Out of Time

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 10,864 ratings · 862 reviews

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...more

Paperback, 184 pages

Published 2004 by Scholastic (first published October 1995)

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Jan 19, 2008 Valynne rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book reminded me a lot of an M. Night Shyamalan movie which I won't name, just in case someone thinks I would be giving away too much of the book's plot. The storylines are kind of similar, but I think that I like the plot twist in this book better than the movie.

9 likes · like · see review

Sep 18, 2010 Wendi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My friend is a, well, a kind of guru of the young adult sci-fi genre. She has excellent taste in books. When I saw her review of this one, I knew I had to read it.

If you've seen "The Village" you know what this story is about. Except that this book was published in 1995 and "The Village" was released in 2004. Basically the same plot. The book takes place in a village where all the children think it's 1860 or so. They have no memories of what is beyond their village of Clifton. Then the children...more My friend is a, well, a kind of guru of the young adult sci-fi genre. She has excellent taste in books. When I saw her review of this one, I knew I had to read it.

If you've seen "The Village" you know what this story is about. Except that this book was published in 1995 and "The Village" was released in 2004. Basically the same plot. The book takes place in a village where all the children think it's 1860 or so. They have no memories of what is beyond their village of Clifton. Then the children start getting sick. Our protagonist is a very brave 13-year-old who will do anything to prove her bravery to the other kids in Clifton. So when her mother figures out that the children in town have diphtheria she has to send Jessie out to get help. But first she has to tell Jessie that Clifton is a tourist attraction and that the real year is 1996.

Stop me when this starts to sound familiar.

While Running out of Time does not have the man-made monster that "The Village" had to keep the people within the town's borders, it does has it's own share of human monsters. The owner of Clifton is a rich old guy who hired people to live like it was authentically the 1800s. Raise their children, work, live and play like it was the 1800s. It would be the most authentic flashback to history for tourist possible. Cameras are hidden in trees and children are punished if they find them and try to examine them. There is a large rock that we later find out is the entrance to the "offices" of the Clifton Village incorporated. It's the way that Jessie gets to escape to find help.

The story is pretty good. I enjoyed and I know my 13-year-old self would have LOVED this book. When I lived in Virginia, my parents took me to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and every other historical site they could find in VA. I loved being there and seeing everybody in their old fashioned garb. As an adult I liked the book. Haddix does a good job of understanding the voice of the children, who are the prominent people in the book. I think that's what distinguishes a good young adult author from a bad one: can the author write realistically in the voice of children and teenagers? And Haddix did a good job.

Now let's get back to M. Night Shyamalan and the possibility that he just might have plagiarized his movie "The Village" from this book. Seeing as M. Night is one of my favorite directors and writers (I know his movies all follow the same pattern, I don't mind, he reminds me of a couple of pals from college who were trying really hard to start an improv group, however, I digress), I wanted to make sure that his movie wasn't linked to Running Out of Time. Shame on me for doing some digging.

From Wikipedia: Simon & Schuster, publishers of the 1995 young adults' book Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix, claimed that the film had stolen ideas from the book.[19] The book had a plot which features a village whose inhabitants are secretly forced to live in the 1830s when the year is actually 1996. The plot of Shyamalan's movie had several similarities to the book. They both involve an 1800s village which is actually a park in the present day, have young heroines on a search for medical supplies, and both have adult leaders bent on keeping the children in their village from discovering the truth.[citation needed]

I dug further into that citation 19 and found this: M Night Shyamalan, the writer-director of The Sixth Sense, is facing possible legal action for his latest hit, The Village, from publishers of a children's book.

Reuters reports that publisher Simon & Schuster is "reviewing" its legal options against Walt Disney and Shyamalan over perceived similarities between the movie and the plot of one of its books.

Reports say the story of the Village, and its surprise ending, are similar to Margaret Peterson Haddix's first book, Running Out of Time, which was published in 1995. It sold more than half a million copies.

Haddix told Reuters that fans and journalists had emailed and called her to ask if she'd sold the book to Shyamalan. She said she had never spoken to him, or to Disney.

"It's certainly an interesting situation," said Haddix. "I'm just examining what my options are." Shyamalan's Blinding Edge Pictures, and Disney, have dismissed the claims as "meritless". (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/a...)

According to the info on M. Night's wiki page (which we all know is truth!) Simon & Schuster did not follow up on their threat to sue. Sadly this isn't the first time he's been threatened with plagarism: In recent years, Shyamalan has been accused of plagiarism. Robert McIlhinney, a Pennsylvania screenwriter, sued Shyamalan over the similarity of Signs to his unpublished script Lord of the Barrens: The Jersey Devil.[62][63] Margaret Peterson Haddix noted that The Village has numerous elements found in her children's novel Running Out of Time,[64] and publisher Simon & Schuster had talked about filing a lawsuit;[63] it was never filed.

I really hate to think that M. Night stole the idea from the book. This is one of my favorite movies of his. I thought the movie was so genius. *sigh* I mean, if he did read Running Out of Time, and liked it, and wanted to make it a movie, why couldn't he have just contacted the author and Simon and Schuster and worked out a deal? Jeez, that would be better than having your fans and critics think you were a story thief! (less)

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 06, 2008 booklady rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2002, all-ages, adventure, children, sci-fi, youth, fantasy

Riveting story about a world within a world. My in-laws live near Conner Prairie, Indiana which is an outdoor living history museum; we had just returned from visiting there when we read this book. The frontier village of Clifton, Indiana which Haddix describes seems much like the tourist attraction, Conner Prairie, a mid-American country town frozen in 1836. But what if there were real people in the living history museum? Wouldn't that make it much more interesting? And what if those people did...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Emma Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s

This is probably one of my favourite books ever. I love the innovative idea behind it, the pace (which is FAST), and the drama.
Basically, it's the story of a girl who lives in a village in the 1800s. Only it's not really the 1800s. It's a kind of living museum and none of the children know that. Except something's gone wrong and they're all trapped. Jesse escapes and on her own and has to move through this strange modern world to find help for her village.
The only thing I can think of to complai...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Ben rated it 4 of 5 stars

Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about a girl named Jessie Keyser who lives in Clifton Indiana with her family. She thinks it is the1840’s but in reality it is 1996. There is a deadly disease that is going around and making everyone in the town horribly sick. It is a devastating time for the kids and adults in Clifton. This disease is life threatening and highly contagious. Everyone is trying to cure it by medicine that they have in their village but it is not working. Jessie's...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Running out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix follows Jessie who lives in a frontier village in the year 1840. At least that's what she's grown up believing. When a massive Diphtheria outbreak hits her village she learns the truth from her mother. She has been living in a tourist attraction and the year is actually 1996. She must escape from the village and expose the problems so that she can get help for the sick in her village.

This is a terrific story of a girl leaving everything she's known...more

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May 24, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: yal-sis-gee-1-12

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

Oct 15, 2011 Colleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens

This book, for about 10-14 year old girls, reads like a rebuttal to the pioneer-girl fantasies those same girls likely had a few years earlier if they read The Little House Collection or played Oregon Trail -- at any rate, those fantasies stand a chance of giving the young reader a better chance of understanding this surprisingly sophisticated and action-packed novel. The driving motivation behind the book's set-up is the lure of old-timey charm on tourists, which has been perverted in a twist b...more

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Apr 24, 2011 Julya K rated it 5 of 5 stars

Do you ever wonder how people lived in the 18 hundreds? Do you ever wonder how life would be if people were spying on you without you even knowing? Do you ever wonder how life would be if you were behind glass? The book Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about how Jessica finds out that she’s not really in the year 1840.
Jessica lives in Clifton, a peaceful place. She does her chores and knows all the presidents names by heart. That’s not what an average 13 year old girl would...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Lars Guthrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

M. Shyamalan’s ‘The Village’ has a plotline suspiciously close to Margaret Peterson Haddix’s ‘Running Out of Time.’ A nineteenth century backwoods settlement is completely artificial; we’re actually in the present. When a medical emergency prompts residents to seek a twentieth century cure, a young girl is asked to escape the guarded perimeter of her make-believe world.

Despite the striking resemblances, the film’s producers called charges of plagiarism ‘meritless.’ Haddix and her publishers con...more M. Shyamalan’s ‘The Village’ has a plotline suspiciously close to Margaret Peterson Haddix’s ‘Running Out of Time.’ A nineteenth century backwoods settlement is completely artificial; we’re actually in the present. When a medical emergency prompts residents to seek a twentieth century cure, a young girl is asked to escape the guarded perimeter of her make-believe world.

Despite the striking resemblances, the film’s producers called charges of plagiarism ‘meritless.’ Haddix and her publishers considered litigation, then didn’t bother suing, probably because ‘The Village’ was less than wildly successful, to put it charitably.

All a fascinating sidelight, but not one that really matters when you’re reading Haddix’s debut novel. The author of the fabulous ‘Shadow Children’ series has written a novel far superior, not to mention slightly more plausible, than Shyamalan’s humorless clunker of a movie.

Since ‘Running Out of Time’ is written for an audience that is willing to suspend disbelief, readers might excuse the lack of planes flying overhead. Or the children of the ersatz 1840s Clifton, Indiana, not wondering about the cameras in the trees.

Unlike ‘The Village,’ the town in ‘Running Out of Time’ is not a thought-control experiment. Instead it’s a tourist attraction that’s morphed into a study of immunology. The conspiracy, and conspirators, behind the artifice are more down-to-earth and realistic.

What really distinguishes ‘Running Out of Time,’ as in the ‘Shadow Children’ books, is its utterly true and finely drawn child protagonist. Jessie Keyser is a resourceful, yet vulnerable, kid, with the same sources of strength, and the same insecurities, as seventh and eighth graders in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Her encounters with adults and other children carry a straightforward verisimilitude.

Jessie runs into all kinds of suspenseful action as she, like all children coming of age, searches for truth in an untruthful society imperfectly managed by its elders. And, like all childhood heroes should do, she saves the day.

Recommended for fifth graders on up. (less)

6 likes · like · see review

Nov 30, 2010 Avel rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading Running Out of Time. To see the world from the point of view of a girl who believed herself to be living in the 1840's. Her world was viewed through one way mirrors by tourists. They got modern antibiotics for illnesses, but suddenly, when a diphtheria epidemic strikes, the medicine dries up. Is it a coincidence? Most adults still remember the modern world, and they choose a messenger to go out and call help. Jessie is frightened. In her town you could trust people, but...more

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Oct 17, 2010 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 02, 2010 Telka rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: grade-8-ir-books-senorita

This novel is about a girl named Jessie, who lives in Clifton, Indiana.
Everything in Jessie's life is going well, until the disease Diphtheria, breaks through across the town. Once children start dying, Jessie's mother asks her to go on a very dangerous mission. When Jessie finds out that she is really living in the year 1996 instead of 1840, she is very surprised. In this book, Jessie faces many challenges to suceed her journey. Through bravery and determination, the harships that Jessie faces...more

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May 27, 2010 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, current_issues, scifi-fantasy

In 1996, one of the top vacation and “school-trip” attractions in the US is Clifton Village, hidden away in forests outside Indianapolis. A well-made road carries yellow school busses to the entrance station, and barbed wire fences keep the “wild animals” of an authentic 1840s environment safely separate from local farmers. They also make it hard for young Jessie, wild human rather than wild animal, to escape on her quest to find help and medicine for her family and friends.

Running out of Time,...more

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Jun 30, 2009 Talia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-books, j-sci-fi, j-fiction

Jessie lives with her family in the pioneer village of Clifton. When children, including her little sister, start getting deathly ill, Jessie’s mother summons her to the woods to drop a bombshell on her: Clifton is a historical tourist village surrounded by the modern 1996 world AND Jessie must go out into this modern world and get help for the sick children. Now Jessie must escape the village and find help in the strange world that is the 20th century, where she everything is confusing and noth...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Noelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Engaging and thoughtful, Haddix's Running Out of Time is one of the only books I was forced to read in middle school that actually resonated with me. Haddix's novel pulled me out of myself and my pre-teen notions of the world and forced me to question the nature of things. The tale has a well rounded protagonist, engaging plot and direct style. Haddix is well equipped at layering her tale and building the plot at a moderate pace while incorporating facts and events harmoniously. This is relates...more

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Dec 15, 2008 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jackie by: Saima K.

Shelves: children-fiction, mystery, science-fiction, rebecca-caudill-1998, strong-female-character, virus-diseases, 5013

It's 1840 and Jessie Keyser lives in Clifton, Indiana, a small rural community. When the children of Clifton start to contract diphtheria, panic ensues and Jessie's mother, a local midwife turned healer, is frantic to find a way to cure the children. Jessie's mother arranges for the two of them to meet at a secluded spot. There she tells Jessie an unfathomable secret. Thus begins the unraveling of a devious and dangerous mystery. Clifton is an experiment gone awry with voyeuristic 'tourists' wat...more

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Nov 02, 2012 awesomness added it · review of another edition

The fear of getting caught was over whelming, Jessie just wanted to go home but the stakes are high of death; this is Jessie's whole life in running out of time. Just to help her home village but it was only the children getting sick!

This book is about Jessie running away for her village but she's been through a lot of hard ship. If you like a good action and mystery book this is the book for you. But it was kind of dry in the first chapter; after that I couldn't put it down.

Over time you'll f...more

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Jun 05, 2007 Annie Abbondante rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I got this book at the Book Fair in grammar school!

I read it and LOVED it so much that I made my mother read it. She also loved it.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the movie "the Village" is totally based on this book??

Having read this in te 8th grade, when the M. Night Shyamalan movie came out, I felt I already knew all the twists and turns because it was so similar to this book.

1 like · like · see review

Apr 22, 2013 Chandra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, kids-young-adult, mother-daughter-bookclub

April 2013 Mother-Daughter book club selection.

As soon as she heard the plot description my daughter was super excited about this one and it turns out she pretty much loved it from start to finish. I think her only complaint is that she wanted more. As soon as she finished she asked if there is a sequel - there isn't as far as I know. Truth be told, most of the girls in the group really loved this one. The plot is unique and fast-paced and we had a great discussion.

I think most of the moms wer...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Cassa M. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Running ou of time
Margret Peterson haddix
Fiction
184 pages

Running out of time is about a girl named Jessie who lives with her family in a village called Clifton in 1840. But it's not really 1840 on the outside world of the village it's really 1996. But all of the children who live in the village don't know that. Clifton village is a historical site and tourists come to watch them every day. Jessie's mother needs Jessie to go on a dangerous mission to the real world to get medicine for the people...more

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Jul 14, 2009 Bethany rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, juvenile, sci-fi, thriller

I am somewhat ashamed to say that this is the first Margaret Peterson Haddix book I've read. It was a fast moving, fast read. Now, I have actually seen The Village (and I think M. Night should probably be sending some of the $$$ he made off that movie Ms. Haddix's way), and so I saw the twist coming from page 1...but since the twist was revealed on page, oh, 20? or so, that didn't ruin the book. And it had entirely different characters and a different plot, filled with nefarious schemes and evil...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Read this in a single two-hour sitting. While it is for a younger audience and the writing and plot are fairly simple, it was a page-turner that I didn't want to put down. This was the book that the movie The Village basically ripped off -- a young girl lives in a village in the 1800s which is undergoing a diphtheria epidemic -- only for her mother to inform her it is not the 1800s, it's 1996, and she needs to escape the village and find someone who will help them, before all the children die. T...more

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May 25, 2012 Maria Contreras rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-2012

This book was pretty boring to me. It's about a girl name Jessie, she lives in Clifton. it's 1839 where she's living at the moment, but outside of Clifton, It's 1996. A lot of children are becoming sick and unhealthy so Jessie goes to a journey to the "future" to get some medication fast for all the children including her little sister. Everyone is counting on her to save them, unless she runs out of time. I didn't really like this book because one how is it 1839 in a little town and then the re...more

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Jun 15, 2010 Ethan Samowitz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ethan Samowitz 707 Max the Mighty

In the story, I'm starting to realize that Worm and Max are close to their destination. Max was a on a mission to get Worm to Montana so she can see her real dad.

It took them weeks to get across the U.S.A and they made it. Max and Worm got along together just fine as they left and they've been through a lot.

I'm also starting to realize that Max is thinking twice about all the wrong stuff that he's done.

When Max was going to sleep, he's been worrying more abou...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Fred Kirchner rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction

Another fine book by M. Haddix. this time, the protagonist, Jessie, is told by her mother to go get help for a dying friend. Jessie thinks she's leaving their small village in 1840 to journey to the big town. But mom dresses her in strange fashions. slowly, it dawns on Jessie--it's not 1840! her community's adults have been duping all the children. it's really the mid 1990s!

Jessie is the human anachronism, walking down a highway trying to make it to Indianapolis. She gets in touch with some fol...more

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Jan 09, 2009 Runa added it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 04, 2011 Jenna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, chapter-book, contemporary-realistic-fiction, mystery, adventure, indiana, diptheria, 1990s, own

I heartily enjoyed this book because it had so many different elements in it. Running Out of Time has the historical as well as the contemporary because Jessie believes she lives in the quiet world of 1840, but she comes to find out she actually lives in a recreation of 1840 and it's really 1995. Jessie lives in a reality where there are one room school houses and being a blacksmith is an occupation in high demand.

There is a huge element of mystery as Jessie learns that the year is 1995 and she...more

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Dec 07, 2009 Karalee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: winter-09-challenge, young-adult

What a great book! Jessie lives in a small village in Indiana in what she believes to be the 1830s. When the children in the village become ill with diptheria, Jessie's mom sends her on a emergency errand into the "real world" to get help and medicine for the children. The major problem is that, in the "real world" it is 1996. Jessie is stunned to realize that the town of Clifton is a tourist attraction for people that want to see folks living in olden times. The adults in the town chose to "go...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Karen by: Alissa

Shelves: young-adult, fiction

4.5 stars

I'd consider this a 4-star book when compared to the novels I usually read (geared toward adults), but a solid 5-star book in young-adult fiction. It will especially appeal to those who enjoy the era of the Little House books and those who appreciate some villainy countered by a strong, resourceful heroine. Although it's not technically a time-travel plot, it works in some similar ways--the young protagonist, for example, is totally unaware of anything that has happened over the past 15...more

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About Margaret Peterson Haddix

Margaret Peterson Haddix grew up on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio. She graduated from Miami University (of Ohio) with degrees in English/journalism, English/creative writing and history. Before her first book was published, she worked as a newspaper copy editor in Fort Wayne, Indiana; a newspaper reporter in Indianapolis; and a community college instructor and freelance writer in Danvil...more

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