Barrington Area Library (IL) - Time Loop Books for Teens and Tweens

Ever wondered what reliving the same day over and over again would be like? In celebration of Groundhog Day, here are some books where the characters are stuck in a time loop!

Category Title

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited---after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes up happy for a new day. Or is it? Her birthday seems to be repeating itself. Grades 4-7.

Stanislaw Lem's The Seventh Voyage by Jon J. Muth
Ijon Tichy is caught in a time loop. Alone in his broken spaceship-with no one there to help him-he could remain trapped in space indefinitely! But soon something strange begins to happen Tichy's past and future selves appear... Grades 3-7.

Kingston and the Echoes of Magic by Moses Rucker
New problems are on the rise as blackouts blanket the city, and Kingston begins to have a feeling of déjà vu, as if he’s lived this same day before—and he has. Echo City is living up to its name, caught in a repeating time loop. Maestro, his father’s old rival, has found a way to overwrite reality with an alternate timeline where he rules over all. It will be up to Kingston, Too Tall, and V to find a way to enter the Realm and travel back through time to stop him. Book 2 in Series. Grades 5-7.

Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl
After a night out, Beatrice Hartley and her friends narrowly avoid a collision with a car on a deserted road. Or so they believe. Soon time backbends. Beatrice and her friends are forced to repeat that dreadful day so many times they lose count. This nightmare, this nothingness . . . this is the Neverworld Wake. Grades 7-9.

It's the First Day of School... Forever! by R.L. Stine
On the first day of school, Artie falls out of his bed and hits his head. He tells his mom he's dizzy, and she says ''You’re just worried about your first day of school.'' On the second day of school, Artie falls out of bed and hits his head. He tells his mom he's dizzy, and she says ''You’re just worried about your first day of school.'' Today is just like the day before. Can Artie find a way to change it, before it’s the first day of school...forever? Grades 4-7.

23 Minutes by Vivian Vande Velde
One day, Zoe Mahar ducks into Spencerport Savings and Loan simply to get out of the rain—and witnesses a bank robbery gone wrong. The good news is that Zoe has a unique ability she can play back time and repeat events. But it's not an unlimited deal—she can only jump 23 minutes, and her first playback creates an even more disastrous outcome. Zoe has only ten tries to get it right before this particular 23 minutes becomes irreversible. Grades 7-9.

Odessa Again by Dana Reinhardt
Fourth grader Odessa Green-Light lives with her mom and her toad of a little brother, Oliver. Her dad is getting remarried, which makes no sense to Odessa. One day she gets mad and stomps across the attic floor. Then she feels as if she is falling and lands . . . on the attic floor. Turns out that Odessa has gone back in time a whole day! With this new power she can fix all sorts of things. Her biggest goal - reunite Mom and Dad. Grades 3-7.

The Retake by Jen Calonita
Zoe knows that the only thing harder than middle school is losing a best friend. She and Laura used to do everything together, but lately things have been weird between them. But then a magical app downloads on her phone...and suddenly Zoe can travel back in time to moments where her and Laura started drifting apart. It's a chance for Zoe to mend their friendship. Until she realizes that second chances don't always go as planned. Grades 3-7.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
When Bastian happens upon an old book called The Neverending Story, he's swept into the magical world of Fantastica--so much that he finds he has actually become a character in the story! And when he realizes that this mysteriously enchanted world is in great danger, he also discovers that he is the one chosen to save it. But it's hard to save a world where time keeps repeating. Can Bastian overcome the barrier between reality and his imagination in order to save Fantastica? Grades 5-7.