The Black Canary

James is in London on tour with his musician parents when he discovers a window between current-day London and the London of Queen Elizabeth I. Because time passes differently on both sides of the portal, James finds himself forced to remain in the past - and while he is there come to grips with his musical talent and with his own identity.

The main theme in this work is ambivalence related to identity. James is the biracial son of musician parents, and he feels like there is no culture to which he truly belongs. Relatives on both sides try to include him, but he simply cannot identify with one group to the exclusion of the other. On top of that trouble, 12 year old James is barely eking by in his music classes - not for lack of talent show more or due to parental prodding, but due to an attempt to distance himself from the identities of his parents to discover himself.

This musical side of him becomes the focus in the journey to Elizabethan England where he is taken as a choir boy for the Chapel Royal, and begins to rediscover his love of music - and the will to work hard to perfect it. And in the end, James will have to decide between two time periods and forge his new identity.

The time travel portion of the book is a large weakness in the plot. There is not a lot of description of life in Elizabethan England; James experiences little in the way of difficulties and differences in routine. Indeed he seems to adapt almost immediately, but without belonging or really trying to belong to his new school.

The most disappointing aspect of the novel, however, is that there is no sense of how James will use his new skills and sense of identity in the life that he chooses. I did not feel that he had grown more comfortable in his skin or that he was going to make any changes at all - and in a novel that uses Elizabethan times as a trope to illustrate a sense of bifurcation and ambivalence rather than to demonstrate historical events or life, the lack of conclusion to the theme is doubly disappointing. show less

This book is about a 12 year-old boy named James. He is the son of two musicians. The only problem is that he has no interest in music. He has a C in music class. James gets sent to the past in the 17th century. He is doesn't know how to go back to his time. He finds out more about music and gets more into music.
I gave this book 3 stars and a half because it wasn't the greatest book but it had some interesting parts. My favorite part of the book was when James had a dream about the portal that took him to the 17th century. After he had that dream he went to the place where his dream was. James found the portalI would recommend this book to other readers who ike music. I think that most readers can relate to this book if they ever feel show more like they don't have something that the rest of their family does. show less

James, the son of two famous musicians, has no interest in music until he's transported to the 17th century and needs to use his voice to survive.