Saturday, the Twelfth of October

A Lewis Carroll Shelf Award winner that held devoted readers across five decades before being reissued — that kind of longevity is a meaningful quality signal. Mazer's time-travel premise goes somewhere emotionally genuine: Zan's belonging in the prehistoric band, and the wise woman's distrust of her, creates real stakes that push beyond typical adventure plotting. The 1975 prose may feel a little formal to contemporary YA readers, but for middle-grade readers who like classic speculative fiction this is a hidden gem worth finding.