Time Travelling with a Hamster

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Because the focus here seems to be placed so much on the adults, and a lot of the story asks us to sympathise more with them rather than with the actual kid that is the main character. This is not a bad thing per se but the problem with this is that the narrative voice doesn’t quite decide if it wants to sound very young or much older. We all know that time travel cannot happen really but it’s strange – to me anyway – to think that it’s a fairly new idea, especially since it is all around us. Overwritten and over-explained in places, it takes a while to get going, and there is a lot of complication required to resolve all the loose ends.

It directs him to the bunker of their old house, where Al finds a time machine (an ancient computer and a tin bucket). Considering the topics covered, it's a light read that even reluctant readers might be tempted to try. I worked on many well-known, and more best-forgotten shows, including ITV’s This Morningwith Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan;Channel 4’s Big Breakfastand the long-running Pet Rescue. What follows is how Al follows his father’s instructions to try to carry out something that seems impossible.I do think back on what I've read all the time, but I don't think I've ever focused on a single book more unless it was forced on me at school. If you can bend space you can bend time also, and if you knew enough and could move faster than light you could travel backward in tie and exist in two places at once.

The ending was moving as well as satisfying and it made me feel exceedingly happy for Al and his family. Using his Dad’s makeshift time machine – a laptop attached to a tin tub from a garden centre – Al ( accompanied by his pet hamster, Alan Shearer) tries to stop the seemingly inevitable from happening, therefore preventing the death of his father.

Overall this is a brilliant story which is very hard to find fault in; it kept me pondering over the mind boggling concept of time travel, which is made about as believable as it ever could be by Ross Welford, for long after I finished the story.

Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Al, nuestro protagonista, es un chico que tiene pocos amigos y una personalidad algo reservada, pero sin duda es uno de los que más evoluciona a lo largo del libro, desarrollando una personalidad más fuerte y con una mayor confianza en sí mismo. Ross's second book, What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible, will be published in the UK in December 2016. Not sure why the hamster was there - maybe including an animal sidekick just makes it more appealing to kids?The second time definitely did, but I would never even have been there if it hadn't been for his "time machine.

Fred, Con, Lila, and Max are on their way back to England from Manaus when the plane they’re on crashes and the pilot dies upon landing. Here we have the story of twelve year old Al Chaudhury who is coming to terms with his dad's shock death and moving away from everything he knows to live with his new step-family. The science might be a stretch for younger readers at times, but it is about a lot more than the concept of time travel. The astonishing, beautiful new story for all readers of 10 and over from the bestselling and Costa-shortlisted author of TIME TRAVELLING WITH A HAMSTER. The mere concept of time travel is always tricky, but I thought this middle grade read did a good job with it.At a time when the government is attempting to drive a wedge between the teaching of science and arts subjects, it’s a relief to be reminded that children’s authors suffer no such silly prejudices.