The Time Machine Next Door: Artists and a Disappearing Dog

By Author / Illustrator

Iszi Lawrence

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

Publisher

Bloomsbury Children's Books

ISBN

9781801997027

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

28-08-2025

Synopsis

A page-turning, laugh-out-loud historical adventure by comedian and broadcaster Iszi Lawrence, perfect for fans of Horrible Histories.

Sunil and his inventor friend Alex have a problem. Alex's time machine wants to go time-travelling all by itself! When it turns up in a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, Sunil and Alex must go on a quest through time to collect all the pictures, tiles and tapestries of the machine and bring them back to the present. Join their journey to meet Da Vinci, the architect of Taj Mahal Ahmad Lohri, the women who embroidered the Bayeux Tapestry and Imhotep and the artists working on the Pyramid of Giza. This is art history like you've never seen it before!

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. The series brings lesser-known parts of history to life with hilarious plots, real-life characters, fascinating facts and fantastic illustrations.

Find out more about The Time Machine Next Door with author Iszi Lawrence

Also in the series: The Time Machine Next Door: Explorers and Milkshakes; The Time Machine Next Door: Rule Breakers and Kiwi Keepers; The Time Machine: Scientists and Stripy Socks; The Time Machine Next Door: Rebellions and Super Boots; The Time Machine Next Door: Artists and a Disappearing Dog; The Time Machine Next Door: Inventors and Dinosaurs

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Reviews

Jane

As with other books in The Time Machine series, readers get to learn some fascinating historical facts almost without realising, if they choose to read the footnotes. The ratio of fantasy to fact is weighted towards the former, but, given the choice, many lower KS2 children might prefer their history lessons to be incidentally educational and intentionally fun rather than the other way around.

Perhaps that's why Iszi Lawrence's formula has proved so popular; that and Rebecca Bagley's lively illustrations. Some credit must also be given to the widely spaced text and the cast of familiar characters - Alex, Sunil, up-to-no-good Mr Shaykes and Wiki the Kiwi bird.

Which particular title in the series will become a child's favourite? Perhaps this one, Artists and a Disappearing Dog, for those who already have an interest in art. They might know little of Leonardo da Vinci, but be surprised to realise he might have been a vegetarian. They might have seen the Great Wave of Kanagawa, but not know that its Japanese artist, Hokusai, changed his name many times, or that the painting sold for £22 million in 2023. Then again, they might simply laugh at the idea of a time travel machine that will explode if its lost teddy is not found. A fun addition to the school library or classroom book corner.

160 pages / Reviewed by Jane Rew, school librarian