The Trouble with Time Travel - by Stephen W Martin (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A circular tale of time travel in a picture book! Max and her dog Boomer accidentally break a vase, a treasured family heirloom-the only thing that Max's great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother managed to save when her houseboat sank. Instead of coming clean, they decide to do the next most logical thing: Build a time machine, travel back to her great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother's home, and smash the vase then so that they can't smash it later! What could possibly go wrong? Building the time machine is surprisingly easy, but controlling the thing proves difficult. After mucking up the time-space continuum, Max and Boomer end up crashing into the family houseboat-and sinking it. Lacking the heart to break anything else, Max and Boomer return to the near-present to warn their near-past selves not to build a time maching. "I can build a time machine?" asks the other Max, before tossing the Frisbee that breaks the family's treasured vase...."--

Book Synopsis

Max and her dog, Boomer, are in trouble. Big trouble. Max has accidentally smashed an heirloom vase: the only treasure her great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma managed to save when her houseboat sank 234 years ago. Max can come clean--or, she can build a time machine! If she travels to the past and smashes the vase then, there will be nothing for her to break in the future. Brilliant!

In the time machine--surprisingly easy to construct--Max and Boomer bump around to the past and the future, tangle the string of time, and crash into the ancestral houseboat, promptly sinking it. And in the past, the vase remains intact. Disheartened, Max and Boomer return to the moment just before their adventure began, to warn themselves NOT to build a time machine. In spite of the warning, Max tosses a Frisbee for Boomer, directly in the direction of the vase, and their wild adventure begins again, and again, and again...

Joyful and uproarious, this is a one-of-a-kind circular tale that plays on the perils of time travel.

Review Quotes

"A little sci-fi, a little STEM, and a whole lot of fun."-- "Booklist"

"An enjoyable flit through history--a humorous, lighthearted adventure."-- "Foreword Reviews"

"Provides a hilarious romp that celebrates the freedom of choice a child has as well as a child's potential for innovation."-- "Canadian Review of Materials"

"The eclectic, energetic art steals the show. Rev up your flux capacitors, because the space-time continuum will never be the same again."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

About the Author

STEPHEN W. MARTIN is the author of Robot Smash!, Charlotte and the Rock and Stewart's Best Pen. He has also written for Frederator's Bravest Warriors and the Netflix series Trash Truck. Stephen resides in Los Angeles, California but misses Newfoundland.

CORNELIA LI is a Chinese-born illustrator currently based in Toronto, Canada. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustration, American Illustration, Communication Arts, The Association of Illustrators, 3x3 Illustration, and others.