Time Travelling with a Hamster

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For readers who loved Wonder and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time this extraordinary debut will make you laugh and cry.

Al soon discovers that time travel requires daring and imagination. It also requires lies, theft, setting his school on fire and ignoring philosophical advice from Grandpa Byron. All without losing his pet hamster, Alan Shearer… Looking at the title and the cover copy though, I was expecting a light, entertaining romp with a kid and his pet hamster. Of the pet hamster, Alan Shearer, there is very little, his presence is inconsequential, almost an after-thought. And even though there are moments of light and fun (hey, time traveling shenanigans are always fun), this book turned out to be darker and more thoughtful than I was expecting. This is not a bad thing per se but the problem with this is that the narrative voice doesn’t quite decide if it wants to sound very young or much older. Then Grandpa Byron arrives to give me a ride to school like he always does since Mum and I moved farther away to live with Steve and Carly. I. Could. Not. Put. This. Book. Down! Things do not work as planned. Stuff happens. The worst is AL finds out the things he does changes the future. It's not good. The cliffhangers from chapter after chapter are exciting. Problems mount, mistakes are made, issues happen.

If you were being super-precise, it kind of started when Dad died, but that was a long time ago and I don’t really want to get into that. Not yet, anyway.

Time Travelling with a Hamster is written on the elements of adventure. It tells a story of a boy’s dad had lost his father and then later on in his life he found a note that would change his life as well as his father’s. Keeping the motorbike helmet on is a gamble, or what Grandpa Byron calls “a calculated risk.” If I take it off, someone might notice that I’m nowhere near old enough to be riding a moped; if I keep it on, that looks suspicious--so I’m still of two minds about it. Anyway, it won’t be on for long.) time. After all, his dad told him to keep it for 16 hours. Would I recommend Time Travelling with a Hamster?Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award 2017 - Best Story | Shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards, Children's Book category, 2016 | One of our Books of the Year 2016 | Shortlisted for the UKLA 2017 Book Award and Shortlisted for The Branford Boase Award 2016. January 2016 Debut of the Month The first time had nothing to do with me. The second time definitely did, but I would never even have been there if it hadn't been for his "time machine." I know--that sounds like I'm blaming him, when I'm totally not, but... you'll see what I mean." As casually as I can, I come out of the bushes, take off the helmet, and put it in the moped’s top box. I pull my collar up and, without stopping, walk over the road to number 40. There I turn straight up the short driveway and stop in the shadows, well hidden by both the hedge that divides number 40’s front garden from the one next door and the small Škoda that sits in the driveway. As I hug him I take a deep breath. He waves through to the kitchen, which isn’t far from the front door. “Morning, Byron!” calls Mum. “Come on in!” Happy birthday, bonny lad,” he says, and I give him a huge hug. I love Grandpa Byron’s smell. It’s a mixture of the minty oil he puts in his hair and these sweet-smelling cigarettes he sometimes smokes called beedis, which he buys in boxes from a man who runs a Lebanese takeaway, even though he’s from Bangladesh, and the licorice-flavored toothpaste he uses, which I have tried and is pretty gross, but it smells nice.

The front of the envelope says, in his dad's handwriting, "IMPORTANT: Do Not Open This Envelope Until Sixteen Hours After Receiving It. To Be Delivered on His Twelfth Birthday." And that’s where I am, still in my full-face motorbike helmet, sitting hidden in a bush in the dead of night, waiting to break into my old house. I nod and force a smile, but as I’m doing so, it kind of turns into a real one, because whichever way you look at it, giving a hamster a proper name like “Alan Shearer” has got to be better than calling it “Fluffy” or “Hammy,” which was as far as my imagination had got. So Alan Shearer it is. I'm 43 and really enjoyed this book - so I would imagine it'd go down even better with the target age group. It's a perfect introduction to the concept of time travel for kids (plus, Ross Welford also throws in some great memory-recall tips, that I'm sure a lot of children will want to explore further). After university, I moved to London and became a journalist and then, after a few years, a television producer.Next to the tub is a coffee mug printed with a picture of me as a baby and the words “I love my daddy.” The inside of the mug is all furred up with ancient mold.

Despite me enjoying children’s books, this was perhaps a little young for me to fully fall in love with, but I did thoroughly enjoy it, and think it is a great book for teenagers and older children who are confident readers. Plus, this would make a fun story for parents to read to their children too. Grandpa comes in and sits at the breakfast bar. “Sorry, mate--I wasn’t having a chance to get your present.” He wobbles his head in that Indian way, probably just because he knows it makes me laugh, and he’s smiling as he does it so I can see his big gold tooth. Albert Einstein Hawking Chaudhury is celebrating his twelfth birthday with his mom, stepdad Steve, his stepsister Carly, and his grandpa Bryon. One of his presents is a hamster! Al names him Alan Shearer. Well, actually Steve suggests the name, but Al likes it. Al knows Steve is really trying to be friends, but Al can't accept it, although he is polite. His real dad died when Al was eight years old, he still misses his dad, Pie (Pythagoras). I was born in Cullercoats, a small seaside town in the north east of England. (It appears in my books as ‘Culvercot’.) I loved the storyline, and it worked really well, and was incredibly well thought out. Obviously a great deal of thought was put into the time travel aspect, and it showed!Albert Einstein Hawking Chaudhury’s dad was thirty nine years old when he died for the first time and twelve when he died for the second time. The former happened due to a dislodged piece of metal that caused brain haemorrhage, a leftover from of an accident he had when he was a kid. Alexander Bisland, age 10- 'This book has a rollercoaster of emotions and it ends with a cliff-hanger. I would really like to read a sequel.' I've just finished this book and I've been left with that weird empty feeling you get when you've just experienced something amazing and know that, somehow, it's going to change you.