11,000 Years Lost

By Peni R. Griffin
Period: Prehistoric times
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Noelle

Eleven year old Esther finds a prehistoric spearhead near her school, and an archeological team comes to dig up the site. Esther is fascinated by the dig, but she gets more than she bargained for when she finds a window into the past. She walks through and finds herself in Ice Age Texas. She almost immediately meets two young girls who are part of a group of mammoth hunters, and soon Esther finds she could come in the door but she can't get back out. The group adopts the strange girl into their family, and Esther slowly learns their language and the skills needed to survive in their version of the world. As her group trails the mammoths, soon Esther finds herself torn between finding a way back home and trying to save her new family from some of the changes of the future when mammoths will be extinct. If you have ever been interested in prehistoric times, or even if you aren't, this is a fascinating story of primitive survival, families, and how far humans have come in the world.