My Cousin is a Time Traveller

David Solomons's My Cousin is a Time Traveller is a laugh-out-loud superhero story for 9 year olds about the day Luke's big brother gives his powers back.

What happens

Luke Parker's brother Zack is Star Lad. He has already saved the world several times over, and the council has had to cut the bin collections to pay for the clean-up. Luke, meanwhile, missed out on superpowers because he'd popped out of the tree house for a wee.

Now Zack wants out. He calls in Zorbon the Decider, the purple-caped alien who gave him his powers, and asks for them to be taken away. Luke is horrified. Who gives up being a superhero?

Then his cousin Dina appears on his bedroom wall in shoulder pads and gold make-up. She's a time traveller. Earth's future is doomed, she says, and only Zack can save it.

This is the fifth of Luke's adventures and it's packed with nods to the earlier ones. Luke has been writing them all up in superhero notebooks, which helps anyone who has missed a few catch up.

It's properly funny. Dad's new talking toaster calls him Nigel. The council's farewell do for Star Lad has a one-egg-sandwich-per-child limit. Luke's best friend Serge points out, very reasonably, that you can't just ask someone to remove your pineapple.

Serge and Lara are also being extremely awkward with each other since a body swap ended their romance. That's pure comedy for older readers.

Under all the jokes there's a lot of heart. Luke realises he likes living in a world with Zack in it (not that he'd ever say so to his face). And Zack keeps dropping hints that other big things are about to change too.

It's quick, silly and stuffed with comic-book references, from Wookies to Thor's hammer. If you've got a comic-mad reader who likes their sci-fi daft, this series is a treat.

What to read next

Because it leans so much on what has gone before, it's worth starting at the beginning. My Brother Is a Superhero is where Luke goes for that fateful wee and comes back to find his swotty big brother changed for ever.