The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens

Henry Clark's The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens is a brainy, funny time-travel adventure for 9 year olds that begins with a carnival fortune-teller's crystal ball.

What happens

Ambrose Brody has a question he really needs answering. His dad has started turning up in clothes from other times (a Roman soldier's armour, a First World War uniform, a feathered headdress at dinner). His mum has gone to stay with his aunt. Are his parents going to stay together?

So he sneaks into Madam Janus's tent. Instead of the fortune-teller he finds her daughter, Frankie Camlo, polishing a crystal ball. Frankie wants his help to find a family treasure hidden somewhere in his town.

Meanwhile his best friend Tom has been handed a little book about the I-Ching, an ancient Chinese way of reading the future. Ambrose points out that its six-line patterns look a bit like Morse code. And when Tom checks, the hidden words actually fit!

That's impossible, of course. The I-Ching is thousands of years old and Morse code was only invented in the 1830s. The adventure takes the three of them back to 1852, where three children who aren't white have slave-catchers to dodge.

Tom is the scene-stealer. His mum bans swearing, so he swears in long words instead. Fiduciary! Paramecium! Crepuscular! Who knew a vocabulary list could be so rude?

Underneath the jokes there's a boy who's embarrassed by his dad and angry with him, and who loves him anyway. It's handled with a lot of heart.

It's an American book, so expect flashlights, sweatshirts and middle school. A few older teenagers mock Ambrose's dad cruelly, one of them grabs Ambrose by the collar, and there's talk of warm beer in the car park. The trip back to 1852 brings slavery into the story too. It's a good one to talk about together.

If your reader likes puzzles, codes and a plot that bends their brain a bit, this is right up their street.

What to read next

If they're after more time travel with a family mystery at its heart, try Time Travelling with a Hamster. Al is twelve, and his late dad has left him a letter and a time machine made out of a laptop and a tin tub.