Publisher's Synopsis
You enter a dark room with only the glow of a retro swag lamp to light the way. Sitting on a plaid couch under a sunburst clock, you turn on a vintage TV that only gets one station: Channel '63 . No, you haven't time-traveled back to the 1960s. You are in a theme park attraction where visitors can watch, and even interact with the people of that turbulent decade! 16-year-old Amy spends a lot of time in the Used-To-Be TV pavilion. Postwar America has always held a special fascination for her -- a world of TV dinners and white picket fences, with no hackers, frackers, or terrorists to intrude on one's happiness. Dysfunctional families were few back then, unlike Amy's, which is on the verge of collapse. Her parents are divorcing, and while there is no quarreling over community property, things get contentious over who will take custody of Amy -- because neither parent wants her! The time warp attraction provides Amy with little more than a part-time escape from her grief. She is hopelessly depressed, until she meets a tenderhearted boy on the black and white TV. The understanding teenager offers Amy the solace she desperately needs, and she immediately bonds with his loving family -- the kind she wishes she had. A personal relationship quickly develops between the two teens that is plagued with severe limitations. Not only are they separated by 50 years of time and space, but computers constantly bleep any language that might impact future events, making intimate conversation nearly impossible. Happily, Amy finds a workaround when she visits an eccentric, old magician. He has invented a magic remote that will silence the annoying restriction, but he only offers it to Amy with this stern warning: Watch what you say! One wrong word and history as we know it will be changed forever. Amy struggles to be mindful of her speech, but finds the temptation to alter the future irresistible. As she helplessly watches her family life unravel, Amy's thoughts turn to the children of a famous family in 1963. It is November of that year on the other side of the TV screen, and President Kennedy will be assassinated in one week! Amy knows the details of that tragic event, and hatches a dangerous plot to save the 35th president, unaware of the deadly consequences facing her long-ago friend, who must carry it out.
