The year is 1840. At least, that's what the children in Clifton, Indiana, believe. They have grown up wearing homemade clothing, riding in horse-drawn wagons, and writing on slates with chalk. For 14-year-old Jessie Keyser, it's all part of her normal, everyday life. Then, an epidemic breaks out in Clifton, a mysterious sickness that's affecting kids all over town, including Katie, Jessie's younger sister. Panicked, Jessie's mother takes her aside and delivers the shocking news: It is really 1996. She explains that the people of Clifton are actually part of a living history museum, where tourists can observe life as it was lived in 1840. When the Keysers agreed to live as authentic 19th Century villagers, the agreement had included access to modern medicine. But now, there is a diptheria breakout and no medicine has come into the village. Without it, children will die. Jessie's mother warns her that the founders of Clifton don't want to help, so someone will have to sneak out of the community and find aid. Fearing her disappearance would attract too much attention, Jessie's mother asks Jessie to go. Although she is scared, Jessie slips into the jeans and T-shirt her mom offers her and sneaks into the terrifying world of 1996. With little more than a name and a phone number, she begins her dangerous quest to find help. When she finally reaches the man who is supposed to help her, Jessie realizes just how dangerous her mission really is. With Clifton's founders desperate to find her, Jessie must use all her strength and wit to avoid captureand save the people and town she loves.

This is the ingenious plot behind Margaret Peterson Haddix's fascinating novel, Running Out of Time. The story's premise intrigued me, but the suspense kept me turning the pages. It's a fast-paced, thrilling adventure that is absolutely unputdownable. I loved it. There were aspects that confused me (How come no planes ever flew over Clifton? Why was Jessie instructed to contact a stranger on the outside instead of her grandparents or other relatives?), but overall, it's an awesome read.

Although Haddix excels at writing taut, exciting plots, it's the questions behind her books that really give me pause. This one pits the old world against the new and begs to know which is better, safer? It asks which parents should do - shelter their children against evil or thrust them into the world and teach them how to cope? It also demands to know when children are old enough to learn the harsh truths of their worlds? As a parent, I find these questions endlessly fascinating.

If you liked the ideas behind City of Ember and the movie The Village, check this one out. You're sure to enjoy it.

Okay, so I know I'm getting in over my head with the challenges, but I simply can't resist. Here's another one that I'm really excited about: it's the Triple 8 Challenge hosted by 3M. All the details are on the challenge blog, but basically you choose 8 books to read in 8 different categories. Some overlap is allowed, so it's not as overwhelming as it sounds! It runs from January 1 to December 31, 2008. I'm so excited! Here's my list:

Jane Austen

• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
• Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
• Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
• Austenland - Shannon Hale
• The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
• Becoming Jane - Jon Spence
• Me and Mr. Darcy - Alexandra Potter

Classics I Need to Read or Re-read

• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
• Emma - Jane Austen
• Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
• In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
• Last of the Mohicans - James Fennimore Cooper
• Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
• Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Books by LDS Authors

• The Yearbook - Allyson Braithwaite Condie
• I Am A Mother - Jane Clayson Johnson
• Running With Angels - Pamela H. Hansen
• Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (also reading for Cardathon Challenge)
• Rachel and Leah - Orson Scott Card (also reading for Cardathon Challenge)
• Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling - Richard Lyman Bushman (also reading for Unread Authors Challenge)
• Alone, Together - Jack Weyland
• No Doubt About It - Sheri Dew

Biography/Memoir

• Lemony Snicket: The Unofficial Autobiography - Lemony Snicket
• The Lives and Loves of Violet and Daisy Hilton - Dean Jensen (also reading for In Their Shoes Challenge)
• The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom (also reading for In Their Shoes Challenge)
• Color Me Butterfly - L.Y. Marlow
• Fat Girl - Judith Moore
• The Wounded Spirit - Frank Peretti
• Porch Tales - Jewell Parker Rhodes
• A Girl Named Zippy - Haven Kimmel (also reading for In Their Shoes Challenge)

First In A Series

• Uglies - Scott Westerfield (also reading for Fall Into Reading Challenge)
• The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
• The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan (also reading for Fall Into Reading Challenge)
• Flamingo Fatale - Jimmie Ruth Evans
• On What Grounds - Cleo Coyle (overlap book/books about food)
• Catering to Nobody - Diane Mott Davidson (overlap book/books about food)
• To the Edge - Cindy Gerard
• Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay

Neil Gaiman

• American Gods - Neil Gaiman
• Coraline - Neil Gaiman
• M Is For Magic - Neil Gaiman
• Interworld - Neil Gaiman
• Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
• Smoke & Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
• Good Omens - Neil Gaiman
• The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish - Neil Gaiman

Random Picks From My (Never-Ending) TBR Pile

• Empire Falls - Richard Russo
• Whistling in the Dark - Lesley Kegan
• I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
• Saving Fish From Drowning - Amy Tan
• Peony in Love - Lisa See
• Summer Reading - Hilma Wolitzer
• Midnight Sea - Colleen Coble
• Gilead - Marilynne Robinson

Books About Food

• Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
• Something From the Oven - Laura Shapiro
• Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen - Julie Powell
• Cooking With My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, From Bari to Big Stone Gap - Adriana Trigiani
• Murder on the Rocks - Karen McInerny
• Dead and Berried - Karen McInerny
• On What Grounds - Cleo Coyle (overlap book/First In A Series)
• Catering to Nobody - Diane Mott Davidson (overlap book/First in A Series)