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374th out of 886 books
—
482 voters
Time at the Top (Time at the Top #1)
It's strange enough when Susan Shaw disappears without a trace on a wintry March afternoon. It's stranger still when her uninformative note is found in the hallway of her apartment building, along with a black cat that no one has seen before. And it's strangest of all when she suddenly appears again, wearing clothes that are eighty years out of date, and tells a wild story...more
Hardcover, 191 pages
Published
October 1st 2003
by Purple House Press
(first published 1963)
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May 13, 2007
Lisa Vegan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
girls 9 & up up up
I loved this book. It’s about an intelligent, imaginative, dramatic, kindhearted, and resourceful New York girl named Susan and her adventures “at the top” This takes place in New York in the early 1960s and goes back about 100 years. It’s an adventure tale for girls. Interesting that in the early 60s the author and Susan were talking about how the pace of life was too fast and there seemed to be longing to long ago more peaceful times. This is a fun read and I’ve read it many times. One of my f...more
Warm and fun, this tale of a time-traveling girl and the adventures she has in the past is set off brilliantly by the author's wry presence as a character. Delightful.
3 likes · like · see review
This 40th anniversary edition tells the tale of Susan Shaw, who lives in an apartment building with her widowed father. When she goes missing, the whole complex is thrown into a tizzy, and it's not an better when a note appears in Susan's handwriting, telling her father not to worry, and that she will be home soon. After meeting and helping a strange old lady on the street, Susan has been able to travel from 1960 back to 1881, and has met a very nice family. Victoria and Robert are at first take...more
Fresh off of a YA book where the author self-inserts himself into the narrative in a smug and obnoxious way comes a YA book where the author self-inserts himself into the narrative in an adorable way that made me want to fist pump and leap for joy and shriek, “This, obnoxious authors, this is how you avoid sounding like a tool!”
I love Edward Ormondroyd.
And I love this book.
It’s yet another one I wish I’d read when I was more age-appropriate, but even as a sort of adult it was epic.
Susan-Shaw...more
I love Edward Ormondroyd.
And I love this book.
It’s yet another one I wish I’d read when I was more age-appropriate, but even as a sort of adult it was epic.
Susan-Shaw...more
I truly love this charming book. Originally published in 1963 and including the author as a character (a non-intrusive one, an interested neighbor), this book was republished in 2003.
The story begins on a blustery winter afternoon when Susan Shaw is headed home to the apartment she shares with her widowed dad. An odd encounter with a mysterious older lady on the street leads to adventure when she is given "three" as a reward for helping the strange woman. Three turns out to be the number of time...more
The story begins on a blustery winter afternoon when Susan Shaw is headed home to the apartment she shares with her widowed dad. An odd encounter with a mysterious older lady on the street leads to adventure when she is given "three" as a reward for helping the strange woman. Three turns out to be the number of time...more
I read this some years ago and remembered it particularly for the unusual ending--very unlike most time-travel books for children, and I appreciated the difference. It was the ending that, as a child, I would certainly have chosen for the book, though of course as an adult I can see all the issues! But the book was not intended for me, so it's pointless to comment on those.
I will take a bit of issue with how the book was written, though--my last writing teacher would have flayed me for doing it...more
I will take a bit of issue with how the book was written, though--my last writing teacher would have flayed me for doing it...more
I discovered Edward Ormondroyd's charming time travel fantasies, Time at the Top and All in Good Time, years ago when I was eight or nine; then I forgot about them for a long time until I happened upon a used copy of the first book (leading me on a long search for the second, which was much harder to track down). Upon rereading them for the first time in a few years, I find that they still hold up very well. Susan Shaw is having a bad day, but when she stops to help an elderly woman with her fly...more
1 like · like · see review
Aug 30, 2012
Kathryn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Kathryn by:
Lisa Vegan
Shelves:
children-s-novels,
fantasy-sci-fi
A charming, breezy read perfect for a summer's afternoon. Here is the story of Susan Shaw, a tween in the early 1960s, utterly disgruntled with just about every aspect of her life (except her dear father). Susan has a penchant for acting and a yearning for something more interesting than taking a chorus role in the school play and waking up to the annoying blare of the neighbor's television every morning, and her imagination runs wild when an old woman promises her "Three" (three what, though?)...more
7 likes · like · see review
Aug 11, 2008
Matthew Gatheringwater
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
childrens-literature
Oddly enough, I've read far more children's books as an adult than I have as a child. As a young person, I was offended by the very idea of a children's book or a special part of the library for children. I was a Reader and I didn't want any babyish books, thank you very much. The idea that the best children's books (and, indeed, the best books of any genre) can transcend their target audience and be enjoyed by all sorts of readers had not yet impressed itself upon me.
Still, children's books are...more
Still, children's books are...more
I didn't read this until I had seen the movie over and over and over again about a hundred times during my childhood. So of course there were differences, and since I was so young, I liked the movie better than the book because I'd seen the movie first. However, the plot is still compelling and enjoyable and the ending still had be wishing I could time travel. A must read for all little girls!
I read this as a child from the elemetary school's library and re-read it 2-3 years ago. It must have some staying power. Great time travel story of a lonely girl and father who find happiness in the past as they travel up their apartment bulding's elevator to another time.
I read this book some thirty years ago in elementary school and it lit a spark inside of me about time travel that has yet to die. Since then, I have read this book with my children ( six of them ) who have all enjoyed it.
1 like · like · see review
Recommended by my boss who just bought the 40th anniversary copy for the library...a really charming book, a fun read, with really nice moments like when Susan (love main characters named Susan) is back in time and seeing the country sky full of stars in a way she has never seen them before and realizes that the night sky is actually making the same kind of sound a seashell makes ...good stuff.
The fact that the present time is the 1980's in the story did not detract for me, but did give me the s...more
The fact that the present time is the 1980's in the story did not detract for me, but did give me the s...more
I'm pretty sure this is the book that started my love of time travel stories -- I remember getting it from the Book Mobile one summer and reading it in my backyard. It's still one of my all time favorites.
I read this as a child and loved it. I just remembered it the other day and had to look it up and mull over the memories! I was never a big reader growing up, but this was one that caught me.
Another favorite from when I was a kid. It was one of Stacey's, too! As it turns out, we use to check out the same copy at the Grant County Library. Aww!
Aug 24, 2012
Donna (Girl Who Reads)
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
kid-favorites,
young-adult
I read this as a child. I remember I had trouble following it at first but then really got into the story. I'm trying to get my niece to read it now.
I read this some twenty years ago, when first published. Loved it. I'm thinking I should find a copy, just because.
Enjoyed by a 6 and 12-year-old as a fast read-aloud, I liked it a lot when I first read it as a child.
I enjoyed reading this book to my children.
Sep 16, 2012
Amy Masonis
marked it as to-read
I am getting this right now, today:)
I loved this book as a kid :D
3,5/5
Aug 22, 2007
Andrea
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like kid's books
Shelves:
childrensbooks
Sweet little book that I picked up for a dollar at a used book store. It has great drawings in it, and the story is simple and involves: time travel, costumes, buried treasure, romance and tomfoolery (they trick the money-hungry suitor into packing up and leaving by pretending the recently widowed mother has just lost her fortune to a confidence man AND has smallpox... Need I say more?). A very quick read—it took me a lazy afternoon.
3,5/5
Time at the Top would have been better if I was younger. The basic premise was a girl rides the elevator in her building to another time. While back in time she meets a girl who needs her help, and makes a new friend. Cute story.
Lovely story - old-fashioned fantasy. If you like Edward Eager, this is a great choice. I read it because it was mentioned in another book about children time-traveling - not an Eager.
I love the idea of time travel even just for a glimps into the past. A great book and the one that follows it is just as good although at the moment I can not think of the title.
A great tale of time-travel, brilliantly and amusingly told by the author, who places himself as a character in the story. I loved the ending. Nice illustrations, too!
1 like · like · see review
I'm very fond of this book, perhaps not a really great book, but one of those that I read so often as a child that I don't have much perspective on it, even now.
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Edward Ormondroyd grew up in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. During WWII he served onboard a destroyer escort, participating in the invasions of Okinawa and Iwo Jima.
After the war he attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a bachelor's degree in English. Later he went back for a master's degree in library science.
He lived in Berkeley for 25 years, wo...more
More about Edward Ormondroyd...
After the war he attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a bachelor's degree in English. Later he went back for a master's degree in library science.
He lived in Berkeley for 25 years, wo...more
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Sorry I'm so late in posting back. I don't think it ever said specifically how ol...more
Sep 04, 2012 04:46pm
Yes, I'd recommend it for you and Izzy, Chandra.
Sep 04, 2012 05:05pm