I have fond memories of a book I read in middle school about a boy who travels back in time when walking in the fog. For many years, I could not remember the title of this book or find it on the Internet.

The fog time travel book is a story about a boy who moves with his family to a new home. When he walks through the town in the fog, he travels back in time, eventually meeting the kids who lived in his house in the past. In addition to time travel, another intriguing element of the story is that in the past, he sees the kids hide some documents behind a brick in the fireplace.

Sometime after 1995 when the Internet was very young, I started searching for this fog time travel book. No success. I posted on children’s literature chat groups asking about this book. No success. Periodically over the years, I’d try a couple searches on the Internet. Still no success.

In 2012, when I was in the area near my middle school, I entered the main office and asked permission to look in the media center for the fog time travel book. As expected, I got some odd looks. The assistant principal was kind enough to accompany me to the media center to look since the media specialist was not there.

The media center looked exactly as I remembered it. I described the story of the book to her. We scanned some shelves looking for the mystery book. It seemed very unlikely that books would be shelved in the same places as they were over 20 years before. It was even more unlikely that the school media collection included a book that was likely to be out of print now. With very little hope, I approached an area of shelves where I had a feeling I might have found the book so many years ago. I scanned the books, looking especially closely at books with the “Fantasy” stickers. Suddenly I stopped at a book. Steps Out of Time. That sounded very like what I thought the title might be. I slid the book off the shelf and recognized the cover!

After searching for this book for so long, I didn’t want to risk forgetting the exact title and author. I wrote them both down. The assistant principal looked rather amazed that I had found the book after over 20 years. I thanked her sincerely for her help.

Now with the title and author, I was easily able to find a used copy on Amazon. I am very happy to say that reading the book again was as enjoyable as I had remembered it being the first time! At least one of my kids also read Steps Out of Time and enjoyed it.

I’m thankful that my persistence paid off with success and satisfaction!. What joy to experience a book again that was so enjoyed in childhood!