The Power of Un

by Nancy Etchemendy

Everyone knows that a computer's "undo" command can erase a mistake. Gib Finney has been given a device that allows him to do the same thing - in real life. At first, the possibilities seem endless. Flunk a test; take it over again. Keep swinging at the same pitch until you finally hit the winning home run. But when his younger sister is gravely injured in a traffic accident for which he feels responsible, Gib has to figure out which events in a two-day period should be changed in order to ensure that the accident never takes place. Did it all begin when Gib and his friend Ash set out for the carnival? Or when he argued with Rainy Frogner about the salt in their science experiment? Or when he shot the spitball at his math teacher? Gib finds himself "correcting" far more than he intended to, and the consequences quickly become impossible to predict.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Childrens, Young Adult, Fantasy, Middle Grade

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Nancy Elise Howell Etchemendy is a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Her novels, short fiction, and poetry have appeared regularly since 1980, both in the United States and abroad. Her work has earned a number of awards, including three Bram Stoker Awards (two for children’s horror), a Golden Duck Award for excellence in children’s science fiction, and an International Horror Guild Award. Her fourth novel, The Power of Un, was published by Front Street/ Cricket Books in March 2000. Cat in Glass and Other Tales of the Unnatural, her collection of short dark fantasy for young adults, was published in 2002, also by Front Street/ Cricket Books and appears on the ALA Best Books for Young Adults list for 2002. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts and English Literature from University of Nevada, Reno. She is a former officer of the Horror Writers Association, and currently serves on the board of the Clarion Foundation. She attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop in 1982 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. She lives and works in Northern California and is married to John Etchemendy, Provost of Stanford University.

Reviews

[Katie Lalor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sci-fi/fantasy story is heartwarming and action packed! My students really enjoyed it as a read aloud. This quick read aloud was great for the students because of the descriptive language it uses, but also the connections we all can make to Gib Finney and his family. It was very difficult for us to put it down while reading it.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Synopsis: A boy named Gin Finney’s life is completely changed when he receives a device from a creepy old man. The Device is called The Unner, and it allows the person possessing it to go back in time to try and change the course of history.
Classification:

Audience: Kids/early teens
Purpose: entertainment
Medium: Book/Novel
Genre of setting: Science Fiction
Genre of style: Idealism
Genre of plot: Action/Adventure

Criticism: When I was forced to read a science fiction novel for my reading enrichment class, I was vey unhappy. I’m so hooked on my Twilight saga books. So since I had to read a science fiction book, I have to wait to read Breaking Dawn and Midnight sun. But this was a pretty good book. It was a lot better than I thought it would be, especially since it is a science fiction novel; which is not one of my favorite genres. I mainly like the idea of The Unner. If I had a device that allowed me to go back in time, it would make my life so much better, not necessarily easier, but better. Because if I did not like the way something went, I could keep doing it over until I got it right. Of course there are consciences to using the Unner too much, but I would be too stubborn to care about them. So, even though you’re supposed to only use the Unner when absolutely necessary, I would use it all the time. So I don’t know if I could be trusted with it. But the point is that I liked the Unner in the story. I also absolutely adore Madam Isis. The idea of a real fortune teller, not just a fake like all the rest, but one who actually knew what she was talking about is something that would come to many humans’ advantages. Therefore, since I liked the main devices and some of the important characters of the book, I also really liked the book itself.

[Andreia]

I definitely think Gib and Rainy got married in the future.

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gib is clearing his mind before dinner. Rainy canceled and now he's going to have to babysit his little sister Roxy tonight. He meets an old man in the woods who gives him a little box. The man says it has the power of undo. Before the night is over he is going to have something he wishes he could undo.

Quick fun read. 4.5 stars. It seemed a bit out of character that when he did use the device, Gib had so much trepidation about changing things (obviously he didn't want to make things worse, but it was just one day back, and it was specifically so he could change something.)

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the time travel aspect to this book, and the obvious nod to A Sound Of Thunder. Was it any good though? Come and find me, I’m still on the fence.

This book for me, was like a cross between Groundhog Day and Final Destination, mixed in with something else familiar that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. But at the same time, I found it a very frustrating book. It has some excellent strong points, about not stepping on butterflies, and thinking about how your actions could affect someone else. And it does have a promising storyline. But the book’s biggest problem is that the dull moments far outweigh the exciting, lightbulb-over-your-head moments. I had worked out who the strange man was at the beginning, who gives Gib the mysterious unfinished device, who constantly seems to be in a hurry. (If you can’t work this out, you’re the same people that think The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe has no predecessor and you have no idea how important Professor Kirke is to the story.) The clues are there, if you’re a youngster reading this book. And for it to be so glaringly obvious, it kind of ruins the revelation at the end. Like knowing that he sees dead people, or the boat sinks, or he’s the real killer.

There are so many unanswered questions as well, almost like the author intended this to be a series. What is the mysterious power of un? Why is the old guy constantly in a hurry/running short of time? He’s a time traveller for god’s sake. Why is the zero missing? Why does it look like a pile of junk and not a sophisticated device like you’d expect, from someone who says they’ve travelled through time to give you this? Why is it unfinished? Why is the time never dedicated to refining this device? Why is my phone determined to auto correct The Power Of Un to The Power Of In? Why is the time not dedicated to answering these questions?

There’s something about this book that feels a little forced at times. I feel like the author was a teacher in a previous life, who wanted to teach children about looking both ways before crossing the road and consequences.

There it goes again. The all important CONSEQUENCES. There are so many consequences throughout this book, that I started looking for things that weren’t there. (The answer to the long division maths problem by the way is 23.41 - completely unrelated to anything in the book.)

There are some good points to this book. It has some excellent framework for a storyline. Strong ideas. It was just poorly executed. And I’m honestly on the fence about what my final feelings are about this. It’s not a long book, but it feels longer than it actually is and feels like such a chore to read. I think I’m being generous giving it three stars.

[Pat Salvatini · Rating 4 out of 5]

On October 27 middle-schooler Gib Finney had big plans. He had saved up for weeks to attend the local carnival with best friend Ash. Only a strange chain of events at school finds Gib’s plan in disarray. Angry and upset Gib finds himself in the nearby woods talking to an even stranger old man who smells like lightening. Gib finds himself drawn to the old man and his unlikely gift, a handmade device that had the power to undo any mistake. At first Gib is excited by the possibilities but soon realizes that every event in life is linked to another, and struggles with the burden of knowing which events to change. Although the story starts slowly it gains speed and ends in a flurry of events that will captivate the readers interest.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite question to ask elementary school teachers is what is your favorite read aloud. My husband sat by a 4th grade teacher recently on a plane and asked her and this book was hers.

I really enjoyed it and could see it working well with a 4th grade class. What would you do if you could go back in time and fix a mistake? It is quick-paced and raises some interesting points.

My going-into-4th-grade-daughter started reading it and found it disturbing. I'll probably see if we can finish it together because I think she'd really like it if she got past the point she stopped at. (Warning: someone dies. Thus triggering the main character to go back in time and fix it.)

[Timbrr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another entry in the "reread to see how my view changed on it and to make sure it's on goodreads" list.

I forgot how short it was, honestly. But that's to be expected for a book aimed at kids. I imagine I thought it was much longer as a kid. Honestly I don't 100% remember exactly how I felt about this book when I was younger. I imagine that, as an adult, the visceral horror and empathy towards the death scenes was more intense. It's just much easier to imagine an accident happening like that, and be more affected by it, even knowing in advance it gets rewound out of existence (for the most part).

Conceptually, it's a very interesting book. How the time travel works, how it creates a stable loop, the problems involved with it. Especially for such a short story, it's done in a very interesting way. Though I'm admittedly something of a sucker for time travel/having do-overs. I probably think about it more than is healthy.
I don't think the book really gets all /that/ deep into it. Which makes sense, because it's a book aimed at kids written from the perspective of a kid. It's not gonna get too deep. Though it does brush against the edge of that depth at times, with Gibs wondering if he should be messing with reality as he does.
And as I said, it does hit pretty hard. Maybe because car accidents are something that's so easy to connect with and visualize, especially with kids. As is the desire to be able to go back in time to correct a mistake (or several).

I don't know who I'd recommend this book too, honestly. I wasn't particularly scarred by it as a kid (though it did leave enough of an impression that I remembered years later to reread it), but I can imagine it being scary to kids. It's hard to say. Especially since I'm honestly pretty out of touch with kids in general. Probably it'd be best to only do it if you're prepared to have a conversation about more serious topics with a kid you show it to.

Having said that, it is a cool book, if a bit aged (I don't think I remember spitballs really being a thing when /I/ was a kid, let alone now), so I'm sure there are plenty of kids who'd enjoy it, as I did.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gib is just like any ordinary middle-school kid with a cute little sister and a knack for saying the wrong thing to the girl he likes at school. Then one day a strangely dressed old man materializes in the park where Gib likes to take a shortcut, and gives him an apparently home-made device that he calls an Unner. As Gib learns, the Unner has the power to dial back time, giving him a chance to re-do things he got wrong. He'll sure need it, though, when the carnival comes to town and tragedy threatens either the sister he loves or the girl he likes.

At the outset, this book seems to be on track to become a goofy fantasy adventure. It quickly develops into much more, packing serious emotional power. In it, a kid is given the power to undo a situation that, in the real world, could not be undone; yet he must go on living with the memory of that grief. Ultimately, he pays a steep price to protect the people he cares about. It's high-yield emotional dynamite in a compact package.

This book, published in 2000, is Etchemendy's latest publication other than a book of short stories called Cat in Glass. She also wrote three fantasy books for younger readers in the 1980s, titled The Watchers of Space, Stranger from the Stars and The Crystal City.

[Jennifer Sommer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a science fiction story about middle schooler Gib Finney who has just had the worst day of his life. He has been in fights with schoolmates, his science experiment went poorly, and his sister’s babysitter has canceled requiring he and his best friend Ash to take her with them to the carnival that night. He is given an “Unner” that evening by a strange man who looks like he might be from the future. An Unner is used to do things over…like if you make a horrible mistake, it can be undone by the Unner and the user is given the chance to redo it...just like on a computer. But Gib is given very little instruction on how to use the strange device and only knows that it is very important that he take it with him that night to the carnival. Unfortunately, he drops it in the woods on his way home and it has become too dark for him to find it again. Very well done science fiction that explores more than just time travel. All the details are woven together perfectly to make a believable story. Fast paced and full of emotion and anticipation. The ending is not what you would expect. Middle school readers will enjoy this one.

[Gina Schaarschmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pretty pumped about reading a Bram Stoker Award-winning Book, but read the first 40 pages wondering why it won the award. Thankfully, it picked up. It is a cute, fun, middle school read. It reminded me a bit of a simplified version of When You Reach Me, and I think that the audiences would be similar.

As a possible all-school-read, The universal theme of consequences is something everyone can relate to. I can see many kids imagining what would happen if they were suddenly given an Un machine. I just had a hard time getting through the first part, due to the lack of real action and tension, and the somewhat hokey voice of the narrator.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on a recommendation from a teacher - she is reading to her students this coming semester. What a great read! To me this is what kids books should be about; kids being kids, making mistakes, learning the value of friendship, family, your word, and what it means to keep all three. Written in 2000, it is virtually impossible to get ahold of, but I am glad I made the effort. What if you had a machine to un-do mistakes and change a terrible outcome?

[Marcie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I value the primary message of the story and the lesson learned, but I had difficulty immersing myself in the story. Maybe it's the genre; I don't read much sci-fi. It took me longer than usual to finish a book the size of The Power of Un; I would read a few pages or a chapter at a time, never really absorbed by narrative.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to locate it must be out of print, I couldn't even find it at the library. My daughter's teacher read it to her class last year and she still talks about how good it is. I finally just borrowed a copy from her teacher. I really liked it. If you can find it, it's worth a read.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

*cheers* this has been a lost book for me since I was a kid! You know those books where you only remember a few details, and you’ve described them to people over and over again, and googled, and wracked your brain? Apparently all it took was trying to describe it on the Goodreads “What is that book” forum. I didn’t even have to post it, it just helped jog enough details to find it online.

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this to my 7 year old (going into 2nd grade), and he was enjoying it until Roxy was in her accident. He isn't ready for this yet, but I bet he'll try again in a few years. I thought it was a really interesting story!

[Brian Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book from my daughter, this is "kids first time travel" in a pleasant little book. It's well developed, poses some clear ethical problems common to the genre and gives the readers a good grounding in how SF rules of time travel usually work. It's good kids SF.

[Red · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book, even rereading it years later, it has a good solid feel to it. I read this as a kid and it's just such a joy to recall. One of those books you don't fully see everything until it all wraps up into a neat little package at the end.

Highly recommend.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I vividly remember reading this book in middle school, so I bought a used copy one year and started reading it to my kids at the end of the year, and they LOVE it! They are always so ready to see what happens. I teach math now, but I still read it every year after state testing.

[Seth Benzell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this book is bad. Terrible plot holes, stupid characters. Read it twice as a kid because it was the only book I had access to temporarily. No redeeming qualities at all.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the idea of a reset button would be cool and useful forsomething's, this list got weird,

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 8 year-old loved it, so it should probably be at least 4 stars. As an adult, it was a good story, albeit simple, with openings for deeper conversations about time and consequences of our actions.

[Sarah Cohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

We finished the book today! We loved it and it kept us on the edge of our seats. Great message at the end of the book too.

[Beth McCabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a wild ride. My main complaint is the excessively flowery language used by supposedly a fifth grade boy.

[C. Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book 7x

[Ryann Mehney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. In the beginning I didn't really realize that if he was telling the story then he wouldn't have died until the very end of the story, one of my favorite parts of the book was when his little sister and himself were at the fair and she got hit by the car and when he went back to try to stop her from getting hit the second time because it had me on the edge of my feet and I hadn't thought about the fact that it was in first person so he couldn't have died. This was a great book and I probably would read it again.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent story for middle-grade readers but it could have ended better

My son had to choose a science-fiction novel for his sixth-grade language arts class. He has to do a movie poster for the book and pretend he was trying to get the book made into a movie. He was not allowed to pick a book where a movie has already been done. He had read "Tuck Everlasting" for class before this book and that novel was 5 out of 5 stars. "Tuck Everlasting "involved a family who did not age and could not die, so we looked for a book that involved time travel. "The Power off Un" fit the bill.

I like to read the book along with my son and we had different reactions. A young reader will like the book more than the adult. The young reader is not as underwhelmed by the ending than the adult reader. I was underwhelmed by the last few chapters, which seem to rush to end the story. So, I would give the first three-quarters of the book 5 out of 5 stars, but given the ending, it turns out to be a little bit of a letdown.

Also, I was surprised to find a handful of typos/errors that an editor should've caught. For example, there was a dog in the book that is not named until the end. The author states the dogs name is "Dooms" but in the very next sentence the dogs name is "Doofus," which is the name the author apparently intended to use as that name is repeatedly used.

If conclusion, I would recommend the book for a middle grade student interested in time travel. Overall, it is a decent ride. But, if you are a parent that also reads the books your child reads, I suspect you will not be as big of a fan. Perhaps, having read "Tuck Everlasting" before the "Power of Un" I was ready to thoroughly enjoy another book like I enjoyed "Tuck Everlasting."

[Brendon K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every story is told for a certain purpose, like to entertain,persuade,or inform. Nancy Etchemendy the author of The power of the Un , tells a story to entertain us about a boy named Gib Finney, and what he does in this adventerous story.

The cover of this book is not very amusing, but never judge a book by its cover, this book was great, whick took me by suprise. I liked this book becuase the main character Gib Finney was around my age, and also in middle school, so i felt like I had a conection. Heres some info on this story. Gib Finney a regular human boy, with regular life is taken by suprise wgen he recieves a powerful machine called the Unner by a stranger. He is unable to get it to work, but soon her learns how to work the power of the unner.The secret power of the unner is that it can erase any and all mistakes. Gib thinks this is better than winning the lottery, and Gibs problem is that he soon learns only some stuff is worth unning in life, and some things cant be changed at all.

This book is like the book The Time Bike, becuase both stories have a device that takes a a person back in time. This book is a quick read, but an exciting story, it had me on the edge every second I was reading it. I recommend you read this exciting, one of a kind , adventerous story!

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this simplified kids' version of Back to the Future, Gib Finney is given the chance to undo a horrific event that takes place in his family. After a particularly bad day at school, he finds out that the babysitter for his little sister cancels at the last minute, and his parents make him drag Roxy, his 6 year-old sister with him to the carnival that night. Before he meets up with his friend Ash to go to the carnival, he skulks off to his favorite thinking spot in the woods. There an old, creepy yet oddly familiar stranger gives him an 'unner'. It can 'undo' a mistake, event, or time which might be better if Gib had a chance to 'rewrite' the steps. Gib is wary, but intrigued. When a tragedy strikes, he sets the unner in motion. Will it be too little, too late? Only time will tell.

The Power of Un is a tiny bit confusing in parts, yet kids will delight in its concept. What kid (or adult for that matter) wouldn't like to 'undo' some event in his life that is embarrassing, tragic, or evil? While undoing these series of events, Gib finds out a lot more about himself, his family, and friends than he would otherwise do. A quick read for the beginning science fiction fan.

[Souaad Asar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Power of UN by Nancy Etchemendy . It is a very good book with exciting story. I think it is brilliant job of the author to guide the reader to consider some good questions like "What would you do if you could reverse time" or "If one could change an incident from the past, what would it be. This book will fill one head with mystery questions. The book was about a boy named Gib, little sister named Roxy and Gibs's best friend named Ash. Roxy gets hit by extremely fast truck. A mister’s man gives Gib a machine that can undo mistakes. He uses it to save his sister and they live. Gib went back in time with the power of Un. He can go back in time using that Machine when he makes any mistake. He figures that it is the perfect thing to have when you're a kid, but then he realized some things are better left alone. He uses the power for unintelligent thing and all these things turn out to be a big deal in the end. This book is exciting and it keeps one wandering. However, there are consequences for every single action even if it may seem minor to us. Having such power is a huge responsibility. The story is full of mysteries and adventures. I highly recommended for science fiction lovers