It’s summertime again, and here are a few exciting time-traveling trips you can take through the magic of reading.

For very young readers

“Alistair’s Time Machine,” by Marilyn Sadler; Prentice-Hall, 1986

Alistair builds a time machine for his science fair. It takes him on adventures to many different time periods, but it doesn’t work right when he shows it to the judges. The illustrations tell half the tale in this funny little adventure.

“The Fran That Time Forgot,” by Jim Benton; Simon and Schuster Books for Young People, 2005

When pint-size mad genius Franny K. Stein is ridiculed for her odd middle name, she builds a time machine to go back and change it. Then, when she travels into her own grim future, she sees that there are things in life that are worse than being made fun of. This is a good choice for children just beginning to explore chapter books.

For elementary school readers

“The Time Warp Trio: 2095,” by Jon Scieszka; Viking, 1995

That time-traveling trio is at it again. When The Book zaps Fred, Sam and Joe into the future, they find themselves face to face with dangerous Sellbots, outrageously expensive pizza slices and their own great-grandchildren. This entire series of books is a favorite for boys, especially reluctant readers.

“Monday With a Mad Genius,” by Mary Pope Osborne; Random House, 2007

Morgan Le Fey, the magical librarian of the Magic Tree House, has a special mission for Jack and Annie. She wants them to travel to the 1500s and help the great Leonardo da Vinci find the secret to happiness that will help restore meaning to his life. This is the latest in Osborne’s wildly popular series and provides interesting tidbits about the life of one of history’s most influential minds.

“Molly Moon’s Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure,” by Georgia Byng; HarperCollins Publishers, 2005

When a time-traveling stranger kidnaps her pet pug, Petula, young hypnotist Molly Moon follows them back to 1870 India, where she meets the evil Maharaja of Waqt. The maharaja wishes to change history by kidnapping previous versions of Molly at three different ages. Molly’s exciting challenge is to rescue her former selves without changing her own past and affecting her own present.

For middle school readers

“A Swiftly Tilting Planet,” by Madeleine L’Engle; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1978

The characters from L’Engle’s Newbery-winning masterpiece “A Wrinkle in Time” return. When a mad dictator threatens to destroy the world in a nuclear war, Charles Wallace must travel into the bodies of four different people from the past to keep the evil leader from being born.

For teen readers and up

“The Time Machine,” by H.G. Wells; Signet Classics, 2002

A nameless adventurer builds a time machine that takes him to the year 802,801, where he meets a peaceful, childlike race called the Eloi and the monsters who appear to serve them, the Morlocks. Only upon further investigation does he discover the grim bond between these two related sub-human species. This is one of the great science-fiction novels of all time.


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