Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061255548 ISBN 13: 9780061255540

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, 2009

What if your mother were hit by a bus?

And what if your father disappeared one day through a hole in the bathroom wall?

Is there a way to change the course of your life's history?

What if time moved

In this dazzling debut novel, Jason Cockcroft has crafted a mind-bending adventure with a startlingly original narrative structure.

About the Author:

Jason Cockcroft is the illustrator of many acclaimed picture books, including Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell, Billywise by Judith Nicholls, and Jason and the Golden Fleece by James Riordan. He lives in Whitby, England, with his wife, Lisa, and their two cats. This is his first novel.

From Publishers Weekly:

In British illustrator Cockcroft's promising first novel, Nathan Cobbe copes as best he can with the death of his mother, hit by a bus a year earlier. But his father, Henry, will do whatever it takes to prevent her from dying, even if that means traveling back in time. Focusing less on Henry and more on Nathan's experiences, the book successfully avoids explaining the mechanics of Henry's time-travel, details not as important as the chaos he creates. A mysterious Beefeater appears as a kind of guide for Nathan, who eventually gets drawn into the alternate realities engendered by Henry's actions. Humorous motifs (a dog that can be placated only by bubble gum, news reports about an Esperanto-speaking mule, etc.) leaven the situation, and Nathan himself invites readers' steady attention: he responds realistically to the strange events, asking insightful questions and making understandable mistakes. The powerful messages—the need to accept the hand we're dealt and not to let time slip by—mix enticingly with the lightly introduced philosophical and scientific concepts. Ages 10–up. (Feb.)
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