The Unlikely Time Traveller

Saul, Agnes and Robbie are members of a gang who have discovered a way to travel through time.  This is the third of their adventures but unlike the others, where they found themselves in the past, in this one Robbie manages to transport himself 100 years into the future and Saul sets off in pursuit.  The world they find has many similarities to our own, but because fossil fuels such as oil are running out transport and life in general is less high tech.  Whilst trying to find Robbie, Saul meet a girl called Ness and she helps him navigate the differences that he finds in his home town of Peebles and eventually they catch up with their quarry.  But how do they find their way back home and what is the secret that Ness has been hiding from them, especially from Agnes?

This trilogy has been published by Kelpies, who specialize in work by Scottish writers and set within a Scottish landscape.  As always this is a well written story with lots of action and adventure for the young reader. The characters are easy to empathise with, although Robbie is somewhat irritating and as an adult I would say he needs to think about people other than himself;  but the author has made me see him in that way, which is a credit to their skill.  This current story has several threads running through it; firstly we have the concerns about the environment and what we are gradually doing to our planet, then we have the way that friendship is often a balance and we like people despite some of their traits and then finally we have the recognition of family and how this can link us with the past and the future. This is a great series for the newly confident reader and can lead to lots of conversations and hopefully a love of time travel stories.