A fun adventure book for imaginative boys who love to make their own cardboard gadgets.
Time Twister (Kids Can Press, ISBN 978-1-55453-230-8), the third book in Journal of a Cardboard Genius, is a fun adventure story for kids in grades 2 to 5. Author Frank Asch brings readers to a world of futuristic gadgets and silly inventions, and, most amazing of all, a spaceship made out of cardboard boxes and knickknacks from around the house.
The Story
Alex is a genius. He knows it and wants the rest of the world to know it as well. That is why he writes his adventures down in his cardboard genius journals.
In this latest adventure, Alex and his partner Zoe are preparing for their trip through space in their cardboard spaceship called Star Jumper. As they fiddle with last minute tune-ups, Zoe brings up the question of time. How long will Zoe and Alex be traveling through space and how much Earth time will pass?
Alex does the math based on Einstein’s theory of relativity. It turns out that a few days in space will be about 50 years in Earth time.
Zoe is horrified. She and Alex will still be kids when they return from their space trip, but all their friends will be 50 years older. There is no way that Zoe is going on this trip unless Alex can think of a way to outsmart time.
As usual, Alex is at his best when he’s under pressure. In no time at all, Alex builds a prototype time machine. If he and Zoe can leave for space from 50 years in the past, they can return to their regular time without ever being missed!
Using Jonathan, his annoying younger brother, as a guinea pig, Alex tests out his new invention. But as Jonathan stands on the time machine there is a loud ZAP! Instead of disappearing into the past, Jonathan shrinks into a baby!
Alex has his hands full with trying to keep the baby Jonathan away from his mom’s ears and figuring out how to cheat time. Will he be able to figure out how to unshrink his brother and travel back in time before dinnertime?
A Fun Adventure Story
Time Twister is a fun, fast paced adventure story with disaster and calamity around every corner. However, to make the book more enjoyable, readers should start at the beginning of the series with books one and two, Star Jumper and Gravity Buster, because there is no recap of previous adventures in book three, Time Twister.
