2010
WISE Score
A girl navigates a surreal hotel run by a fox and a rat while processing the heavy guilt of an angry letter sent to her late father.
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Departure Time is a beautifully weird, quiet, and emotionally resonant book. It’s not a fast-paced action romp, but it’s exactly the kind of story that sticks with a kid because it treats their inner life—and their capacity for grief—with total respect.
If your kid is ready for something a bit more 'literary' and can handle the weight of a story about loss, this is a top-tier pick. It’s imaginative in the best way, using surrealism to tackle feelings that are usually too big for plain words.
Best for ages 10 and up. While the reading level is accessible for younger kids, the heavy themes of grief and the non-linear, surreal plot require a certain level of emotional and cognitive maturity to appreciate.
It handles the heavy reality of a parent's death with deep emotional honesty and without being melodramatic or cynical. It models the difficult process of self-forgiveness.
The surreal 'hotel' setting featuring a talking fox and rat provides a creative, metaphorical landscape for a child's internal psychological state.
As a middle-grade novel, it's very safe regarding language or mature content, though the central theme of parental loss is emotionally intense.
Excellent for building language comprehension and empathy. The dual-narrative structure challenges young readers to make sophisticated thematic connections.
Truus Matti’s Departure Time is a standout in the 'grief' genre of middle-grade fiction because it refuses to be simple. Many books for this age group treat death as a plot point to kick off an adventure; here, the death is the center of a psychological puzzle.
By splitting the narrative between the 'real' world and the surreal hotel, Matti allows the reader to experience the disorienting, dreamlike fog of early mourning. The hotel—with its talking animals and strange rules—isn't just a fantasy gimmick. It’s a literalization of the protagonist's search for identity after her world has been shattered.
There is a specific pacing to Dutch middle-grade literature that often feels more patient and atmospheric than its American counterparts. This book rewards readers who like to sit with a feeling. It’s a great choice for building the language comprehension strands of literacy—specifically verbal reasoning and literacy knowledge—as kids have to work to bridge the gap between the two timelines.
The 'angry letter' trope is a powerful one. For a 10-year-old, the idea that your last words to a parent could be 'I hate you' or a list of complaints is a terrifying prospect. The book doesn't shy away from that terror. It lets the character feel it, and then slowly, through the fox and the rat, it provides the tools for reconciliation with someone who isn't there to hear it. It’s heavy, but it’s the kind of heavy that helps a kid grow stronger.
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