Jack's Knife

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Abbotsford, B.C.

In this second time-travel adventure featuring the deaf bull terrier
known in the 1930s as the Official Greeter of Juneau, Patsy Ann targets
14-year-old Jackson Kyle. Living in Brampton, Ontario, with his
overprotective and controlling single mom, Jack befriends an old
frontier lawman, Al, whom his mother deems inappropriate and threatens
to lay charges against. Angry and frustrated, Jack encounters a stray
white dog that transports him back to Juneau, Alaska, July 9, 1935. Two
girls greet him, recognize his confusion, and lead him to Captain
Harper, telling him “Patsy Ann brought another boy here from
Canada.” Harper explains that Patsy Ann previously brought another
“young fellow” and assures Jack that “there’s a reason she
brought you here.” Jack finds a job unloading cargo at the docks and
adjusts to the rhythm of life in Juneau. When a floatplane carrying a
huge payroll is robbed and an anti-whaling activist is falsely arrested,
Jack meets young Al, the area’s U.S. marshall. With the help of Patsy
Ann, the girls, and Harper, Jack identifies the guilty and frees the
innocent, thus fulfilling his mission. Old Al had reminisced about an
early career mistake that ruined three lives; Jack rectifies Al’s
error and returns to his own time only to find old Al has died, leaving
Jack the special marked knife he had given young Al.

Combining time travel, mystery, and adventure, the Wood duo presents
another entertaining tale for young readers with plenty of action, an
exciting albeit somewhat unrealistic chase scene, an engaging
protagonist, appropriate secondary characters, and a satisfying
conclusion. Recommended.