The Time Machine Next Door: Rebellions and Super Boots

By Author / Illustrator

Iszi Lawrence, Rebecca Bagley

Genre

Science Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Bloomsbury Children's Books

ISBN

9781801991124

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

11-04-2024

Synopsis

A page-turning, laugh-out-loud historical adventure by comedian and broadcaster Iszi Lawrence, perfect for fans of Horrible Histories.Time flies when you're having fun. But what does it do when you're not?

Sunil and his not-very-normal next door neighbour Alex are back for another hilarious adventure as they whizz through time. This time, Sunil and Alex find themselves tangled up in British civil wars, from the Roman invasion to the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, and their very own witch trial in the 1640s.

As if that wasn't enough to deal with, there's double the trouble with Alex-from-the-future and her shiny boots running around too! Will Sunil, Alex and Alex-from-the-future ever get home? And will Mr Shaykes and his pet kiwi ever leave them alone?!

The Time Machine Next Door is an exciting new series of quirky historical chapter books for readers aged 7-9, to be enjoyed as a series or as standalone stories. Written by comedian, podcaster and children's author Iszi Lawrence, these books bring lesser-known parts of history to life with hilarious plots, real-life characters, fascinating facts and fantastic illustrations.

Other books in the series: The Time Machine Next Door: Explorers and Milkshakes; The Time Machine Next Door: Rule Breakers and Kiwi Keepers; The Time Machine Next Door: Scientists and Stripy Socks

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Reviews

Some readers will already be familiar with other titles in this series, but the books don't need to be read in order. We're told all we need to know at the outset: that young Sunil has an eccentric neighbour, Alex, who has invented a time machine, and who has a pet kiwi called Wiki. They are the main characters and, this time, they get to meet Caractacus and Cartimandua at a time when the Celts were out to defeat the Roman invaders and vice versa.

Then, as now, you needed to know who your friends were and, for Sunil, Mr Shaykes definitely doesn't fall into that category. He just wants to use Alex's machine for his own ends. He joins the ranks of other unlikeables from Britain's past, among them 15th Century Richard III and infamous 17th Century witch-hunter Mr Hopkins.

I love the humour in these books; Rebecca Bagley's animated illustrations, the footnotes scattered throughout, giving us interesting historical facts, and we learn almost by osmosis as the adventure unfolds.

The Time Machine Next Door: Rebellions and Super Boots would make a great addition to the classroom, home or school library shelves and a contender for read-aloud choice when children are learning about these periods of British history.

224 pages / Reviewed by Jane Rew, school librarian