Two Times a Traitor

by Karen Bass

Angry over his family's recent move and current enforced holiday in Halifax, twelve-year-old Laz Berenger rebels against a guided tour of the Citadel and sets out to explore on his own. In one dark tunnel, his St. Christopher's medal burns suddenly hot. There's a strange smell, and Laz blacks out. When he wakes up, everything happens at once. A sword is put to his throat. Men who look like extras from Pirates of the Caribbean hand him over to a ship's captain who strips him and takes his medal. He is declared a French spy. Laz realizes, to his horror, that it is 1745 and he is trapped in time. These English colonists, still loyal to King George, are at war with the French. To earn his freedom, Laz must promise to spy on the French at the fortification of Louisbourg. But once in Louisbourg, Laz earns a job as runner to the kind Commander Morpain and learns to love both the man and the town. How will Laz find a way to betray the inhabitants of Louisbourg? How else can he hope to earn back his St. Christopher's medal, which is surely his key to returning to his own time? The award-winning author of The Hill and Graffiti Knight has written an enthralling, swash-buckling time-slip adventure for middle-grade readers centered on a fascinating period in North American history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Time Travel, Adventure, Fiction, Family, Middle Grade, Canada

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2017

About the author

Karen's high school teacher told her she should be a writer, but it took quite a few years for that thought to take root. She began writing shortly after she was hired to manage the local library. Run Like Jager is her first novel, and she has seven more on her published shelf. Two novels, Graffiti Knight and Uncertain Soldier, won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young Readers. Her newest novel, Blood Donor, is an Orca Soundings book for readers who like short, exciting stories, and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Star Selection.

A few years ago, Karen moved from her long-time home in northwest Alberta, to southern Ontario, where she is enjoying exploring a whole new province as she gathers new story ideas.

Reviews

[Vernon Area Public Library KIDS · Rating 3 out of 5]

After an angry argument with his father, Lazare Bergener finds himself suddenly transported to the past. Stuck in 1745, Laz is accused of being a French spy by the British, and his medallion, the source of his time travel, is taken from him. To get his medallion back, he is tasked with infiltrating a French fort and sabotaging it to make it easier for the British to capture the fort. As Laz befriends the fort occupants, he is faced with a dilemma. Does he save his French friends or betray them to find a way back to his own time?

Recommended for grades 4-8. Lexile Level: 720
Reviewed by Christine Hwang, Youth and School Services, Vernon Area Public Library

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The time-travel genre is not for everyone but Karen Bass handles it deftly in Two Times a Traitor. What I really like about this story is the emotional growth that Laz experiences when he's transported to 1745 and finds himself straddled between two warring armies. Bass has infused the story with great historical detail and lots of action plus disgusting food and stinking everything. This novel will especially appeal to boys.

[E. Graziani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been wanting to finish up this book for soooo long and I finally did - so glad I did too! It's no secret that I love a good time travel story - well, pair it up with a fascinating historical backdrop and it won me over. The characters are believable, the setting and details are historically accurate. Best of all, the author makes learning about history - dare I say it? Interesting! I'd recommend it for grade 7 novel study to accompany their Canadian history units.

[Cindy Vallar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being uprooted from your home and moving to a new country can ruin your life. At least that’s how twelve-year-old Lazare Berenger sees it and he blames his dad for doing so without any discussion. They’ve been arguing now for seven months, but Laz wildly lashes out while vacationing in Halifax, Canada. Out of control he runs off to explore the Citadel alone and let his anger ebb. Deep inside a tunnel under the fort that an ancestor once guarded during the American Revolution, he trips, falls, and blacks out.

When Laz awakens and emerges from the tunnel, Halifax has disappeared. Instead of a fort, there are only silhouettes of old sailing ships and an English sentry pointing a long-barreled rifle at him. Laz assumes this is an elaborately staged trick of his father’s to make him cease rebelling and behave. During his confrontation with British Captain Elijah Hawkins, however, he painfully discovers this is not a charade. The year is 1745 and Captain Hawkins believes him to be a French spy, not only because of how Laz pronounces his name and his ability to speak both French and English, but also because he wears a St. Christopher’s medal – a decoration only a Catholic would wear and the English are not Papists.

Laz believes his medal holds the key to getting back home, but Hawkins confiscates it. If Laz’s purpose is to learn more about the upcoming invasion of Louisbourg and take that information back to the French, he will hang as a spy. But there is one way to earn Hawkins’ trust and regain his medal – sneak into the fortified city of Louisbourg, cause mischief, and return to the ship. On the journey closer to where he will disembark, he makes both friends and enemies, one of whom will do his utmost to kill Laz simply because he’s French.

Sneaking ashore where the French will easily find him, getting to Louisbourg, and convincing the French that the English plan to attack turns out to be more difficult than Laz imagines. Only one officer takes him seriously. Port Commander Pierre Morpain not only listens and asks questions, he provides Laz with food, a place to shelter, and new clothes. Laz becomes his confidential messenger – a job that teaches him how to get around and introduces him to many citizens and soldiers. Before long, he can come and go as he pleases without arousing anyone’s curiosity. But the longer he’s among the French, the more he feels like he’s found a new home among friends the harder it becomes to betray them and Morpain, who treats him like a son.

Two Times a Traitor is a riveting time-slip adventure. From first page to last you are caught in the vortex that whisks him from the present back to the past. When the sword slices his hand or musket balls whiz by, you feel and hear both. His emotions become yours as he wends his way through dangerous actions and foreign places where he doesn’t know the rules, yet his life depends on knowing them. Bass vividly recreates past places and times and her characters, both good and bad, compel you to discover how Laz resolves the conflicts he faces as he matures from an immature youth to a teenager wise beyond his years. Beware: Putting the book down is near impossible. Nor is this book just for older children and young adults; adults will equally be enthralled with this historical novel that explores a period in Canadian history of which few Americans are aware. Once you begin to read, you soon discover why this highly recommended book was chosen as a 2017 Junior Library Guild selection and one of the Best Books for Kids & Teens for 2017.

[Lilyana Page]

It's 2017, and Lazare Berenger is not on good terms with his father.

Laz is on a family trip to Boston, going on a guided tour of the Citadel with his parents and sister. Before the tour can begin, he gets in a heated argument with his father and runs off into the Citadel alone.

While exploring a strange cave within the Citadel, the St. Christopher's medal he's wearing suddenly becomes hot, and he inexplicably blacks out. When he wakes up, he's taken prisoner by English colonists, who are convinced that he is a French spy. At first, Laz thinks it's all a game—something his father must have cooked up. Not funny, Dad.

It doesn't take long for Laz to realize that he has somehow slipped through time and managed to land himself in a huge pile of trouble. Welcome to 1745, Lazare Berenger.

All Laz wants is to go home. Sure, he might not be getting along great with his father, but at least his dad wouldn't put him in irons for a crime he didn't commit.

Laz believes that his key home is his St. Christopher's medal, which Captain Hawkins has taken from him. He's aboard a ship, in chains, and deprived of his ticket back to the present. Captain Hawkins obviously has the upper hand, and well he knows it.

Since the English are currently at war with the French and preparing to attack Louisbourg, it is decided that Laz can earn back his medal by infiltrating Louisbourg as a spy. Hawkins calls his medal a"surety," a guarantee that Laz will do as he is told.

Things get even more complicated when Laz successfully enters Louisbourg. A man named Commander Morpain takes Laz under his wing, and it isn't long until he's good friends with the commander. Soon he wonders how he could ever betray this man he now calls a friend. Laz is torn and unsure where to turn. Can he really betray Commander Morpain and the entire town of Louisbourg? Read Two Times a Traitor to find out what course of action Laz decides to take.


***


I really enjoyed Two Times a Traitor. It was filled with adventure, excitement, and hard decisions. I'm fairly certain that I could count on one hand the number of time-slip stories I've read, so it's not a genre that I dip into much. Regardless, I loved this book! Two Times a Traitor reminds me of Philip Roy's Submarine Outlaw series. The Submarine Outlaw books are not time-slip adventures like Two Times a Traitor, but they still have a similar feel.

Overall, I really liked Two Times a Traitor. The only things I really picked out that I didn't love were the one instance in which Laz swears, and a few typos and missing (or incorrect) bits of punctuation. I can get over one or two swears in a book, although I wouldn't typically read books filled with them, but I know that doesn't go for everyone.

As for the typos etc., I still think that the book is worth reading. Honestly, most people would simply gloss over the fact that there's a period instead of a question mark. I'm a writer, remember? I see these things because I'm constantly picking over my work to catch similar mistakes. It is very difficult to keep my editor eyes from transferring over onto writing that's not my own. Another edit of the book would certainly improve the reading experience for people with "editor eyes," but the book is well-written, for the most part. I very much recommend reading Two Times a Traitor.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visiting Halifax with his family is not something twelve-year-old Laz Berenger is particularly thrilled about. After all, he's still seething about the family's move to Boston, and he continues to chafe under his father's rules and lectures. When he goes off on his own to explore a tunnel while the rest of the family tours a fort in the area, he finds himself in a very different time--1745, to be exact. Even as he realizes that the St. Christopher's medal he was wearing somehow took him back in time or allowed him to access a different time, he knows that he needs that medal in order to go back home. But Captain Hawkins suspects that he is a spy, and he insists that Laz prove himself by spying for the English colonists who are at war with the French. Off he goes to Louisbourg to do just that, but the kindness and benevolence of Commander Morapain and others in the town make it hard for him to even consider doing what he was sent to do. How can he spy on those he now considers to be his friends, knowing that he will be aiding their enemies? Middle grade readers will be deeply involved in Laz's story and his desperate desire to go back home, even while being befriended by others, including a sailor in training named Ben. His confusion about language, food, and clothing as well as bathroom and bathing practices is very real, and even while he keeps insisting that he must return to present time, readers will also be able to tell that he might be content living in this new world where he finds comfort in being treated like a man instead of having to deal with his father's unreal expectations and dismissive attitude. It would likely be hard to make that particular choice, and readers will enjoy discussing the ending and thinking about what they would have done or what might come next in his life. What might have happened if he had managed to stay back in 1745? I always enjoy the books written by Karen Bass, and this one kept me reading steadily as I felt as though I was experiencing life many decades ago. While it might help readers to have some background on that time period, the author provides enough details to allow them to draw plenty of conclusions for themselves.

[Jill Jemmett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lazare Berenger is very unhappy on his family vacation in Halifax. He still hasn't forgiven his parents for moving from Ottawa to Boston while he was staying with his grandmother. He has big fights with his father too. After one of their big arguments, he runs into the ruins of a citadel, and falls into a tunnel, being knocked out. When he wakes up, he is taken as prisoner by sailors. At first he assumes it's a camp his father has sent him to as punishment. But he soon learns that he has travelled back in time to 1745. The British assume he is a spy because he has a French name and a French accent. However, his French background also makes him a perfect spy for the British, so he can infiltrate their town without suspicion. Laz has to endure a lot on his time in the past until he can figure out how to return to 2017.

This is a great story. The historical aspects are really good for middle-grade students. Canadian history isn't taught as much as it should be in school, so this story would be a great supplement for kids.

Though Canada's 150th anniversary is being celebrated this year, this story demonstrates how Canada's history goes far beyond 150 years.

The character of Laz is relateable to kids today because he sees things through modern eyes. For example, whenever something happens to him, he thinks of what he would text his best friend back home in 2017. This drifts off a little after he becomes more comfortable in 1745.

I wish we had seen the reunion of Laz and his parents at the end of the story. It would be interesting to see how Laz has changed in relation to his family. Also, I would have liked to see how his dad treats him after their many months apart.

This is a great story for middle grade readers!

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say I found this book hard to get into. This is particularly unfortunate considering my passion for Canadian history and the fact that I visited Louisbourg in 2006. I mostly found it too unrealistic. I normally enjoy stories with time travel, but I felt Laz persisted too long in thinking it was all a trick his Dad was playing on him, and refusing to believe he had actually gone back to 1745. Next, I felt Laz's degree of cockiness somewhat far-fetched, considering he was a complete outsider. I enjoyed his being required to get used to the "old English" speech of the British sailors and soldiers, but it's too bad there wasn't a better way to give the reader an equivalent experience of the French spoken in Louisbourg. It seems unrealistic to me that Laz, whose only experience of French was his grand-mère's Acadian, would be fully bilingual to the extent that is suggested. The passage of time was hard to follow, as were Laz's torn and changing loyalties. This is all my own perception, of course; my wife found this book quite engrossing. I also enjoyed much more another book by Karen Bass, Uncertain Soldier, which I found more realistic and easier to follow.

[Colette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two Times a Traitor is a historical novel with a time travel element. Lazare is vising the Citadel when he crawls into a tunnel and travels back to 1745 where he becomes involved in the siege of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. The story is a thrilling page -turner with exciting climaxes at the end of every chapter. Laz's emotional arc is very well done, he begins his journey confused, anxious and annoyed with his family and by the end he is torn between two worlds that he loves dearly. The historical detail is also very good, Laz reacts to the strangeness of his situation in a very modern way; for example by admitting he can read while pretending to be a poor farmer's son. Readers will identify with his difficulties and enjoy the non stop action.

[Walker Cravey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a great book to read when you have nothing to do and just sitting around the house. It has a tale of adventure, time travel and war all within a historical perspective. All the characters spoke differently representing where they were from. I love adventurous books and war books but in this book you get the best of both worlds. What lax hated the most was walking past the men doing bayonet practice. Every think of every blade pushed into a dummy wearing a blue coat, made his stomach muslces twist. Here’s a quote from the book and the connection ,” what if his ship is sunk by the French?”. Bc they was prisoners on the ship. That’s one of the main suspenses parts of the book. In my opinion it is a very good adventure/war book.

[Alex C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two times a Traitor brings you back to the times of war specifically the year 1745. 12 year old Laz Berenger stumbles into a dark tunnel after his fight with his dad. He hurt his head against something and everything went black. He soon wakes up to find all these pirates and ships, he thinks his dad sent him to a camp for bad kids since they have had fights in the past. Laz soon finds out this is no joke, it's 1745, the French and British are at war, and he's being accused of being a spy for the french. The only way to go back home is to spy for real. But if he does the job will he really make the decision to go back home?

[wvreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

History is brought to life in an engaging fashion as we follow Laz Berenger in a time travel to 1745. Laz, finding himself in the midst of a conflict, struggles to earn his freedom and return to his own time.

[Frederic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it is so exiting and fast. It is also funny. It is about a boy who gets sucked into the year 1745 where a war is happening. He first gets onto a British ship and people think he is French who they are fighting the war against. Then, he goes into the French base as a spy.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engrossing mix of historical fiction and time travel.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to connect to this character...

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Family trinket sends brat back in time to learn about historic battle. He can only return once he gives said trinket to his ancestor. Blah.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2018/comm...

[Brittany]

Read and reviewed for School Library Journal (issue 2017-08-01):

Gr 5–8—Twelve-year-old Lazare Barenger, also known as Laz, is on vacation in Halifax with his family. After a not-so-uncommon fight with his father, Laz runs off to explore an old fortress and is knocked out and transported through space and time to a little-known piece of North American history: the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg. He is found by English colonists, branded a French spy, and forced to atone for his treason and earn back his confiscated medal—responsible for his time travel—by spying on the French. While on his mission, he befriends many in the enemy French camp and, though roughly a mere three months pass, almost forgets to make his way back to present day. With a plot that concerns itself more with the authenticity of the siege than developing a captivating narrative for middle grade readers, the pacing takes a hit. Laz's backstory is spotty and slapdash. Peppered with various microagressions and unconvincing teen texting abbreviations and acronyms ("learn to shut yr mouth"), this is likely to leave many readers disappointed. VERDICT Outside its unique historical setting, there is nothing that sets this book apart. An additional purchase only.

[Sylvia McNicoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time travel is a great way to visit history with a contemporary lens and this high action adventure jumps off from Fort Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, a wonderful spot you can visit by google map as you read the story.Laz the rebellious teen steps back two hundred years in time and is forced to spy to survive. I wish CBC would buy the film option and make the movie!

Have a listen to Karen Bass read from this title: https://youtu.be/7DI99PyH0_I
Listen to the author talk about the inspiration: https://youtu.be/ViBD0YTqBFc

[Gisela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written and engrossing story about time travel to a period in history that I knew little about. The book would, I'm sure, capture and hold the attention of middle grade readers in particular.

[Grace Irelan]

Very interesting and different. Interesting characters. I needed an open mind, but enjoyed this book.

[Jeannie]

Laz Berenger is very angry with his father. The family vacation to Halifax, Nova Scotia is one of the last tings he wants to endure. Not putting up with any more Laz runs off to explore on his own in an old fort. Sliding down a dank tunnel his St. Christopher medal becomes heated and voilá Laz is in 1745. His welcoming committee puts him in chains, accusing him of being a spy. At first he thinks that his father is having him kidnapped by reenactors, but soon discovered he has not. He actually enjoys being on a ship. Because he is bilingual the colonists send him to spy on the French.This where life becomes emotionally difficult because he is made welcome and trusted by the French. Cleverly Bass uses Laz’ voice to see the two sides without being preachy. There is a lot of action danger and unexpected turn which will appeal to the teen reader. Will he or does want to return to the 21st century?