Faced with last-minute completion of a history project he was not aware had been set, Mitchell heads straight for the library - and Becky and Templetone get sucked into the mobst boring book in the world.

Despite being told that no student ever goes into the school library because of a mysterious book that causes students who read it to disappear, Mitchell insists on heading right in, dragging his friends Becky and Templeton with him.

Searching the creepy library - despite the protests of the equally creepy school librarian - they find a book called A Most Intriguing History of Strange Hill High. When Becky and Templeton get sucked back to Victorian times at Strange Hill, Mitchell seeks to rescue them.

And with the help of Mr. Balding - the history teacher who seems like he's been around forever and may actually have been - Mitchell and his friends uncover one of the greatest mysteries the school has ever seen.