The Time Museum by Matthrew Loux, 256 pp, RL 4

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In 2012 I reviewed Salt Water Taffy, a five book graphic novel series by Matthew Loux. My son was just taking off as a reader at the time and while he was able to tackle them on his own, we also enjoyed reading these graphic together. The story of two brothers spending the summer in a village on the coast of Maine in the company of a crusty old sea captain and the town's supernatural forces like a giant lobster, the ghost of a huckster and a haunted whaling ship had us enthralled. Five years later and my son and I are both SO excited to be reading the first book in Loux's new series, The Time Museum!


I love historical fiction, especially when time travel is involved. The Time Museum brings both full force. Delia Bean is a science-obsessed teen with a long, dull summer spread out in front of her. That is, until she finds a very out of place kiwi running through the woods and follows it and stumbles upon the Earth Time Museum. 

The Earth Time Museum holds artifacts from all of Earth's eras: past, present and future. Delia is doubly surprised to find that it is curated by her uncle Lyndon. After a quick introduction, she learns that she is one of six gathered at the museum to compete for an internship by proving her skill over the course of three time trials. These are literal time trials. Delia and her peers will travel to three different periods of time and complete tasks. A scavenger hunt is how the team see it, although their guide from the museum, an armor bedecked knight named Sir Walter, prefers to call it a scientific expedition.





The concept alone for The Time Museum is enough for a whole story in my book, but Loux layers in a mystery in the character of the Grey Earl that adds to the adventure and danger. The six competitors are also all well formed individuals with character traits that conflict and work together at times. Sometimes, the six are their own worst challenges. But, they do travel to prehistoric times then to the ancient library at Alexandria (I wish they had spent more time there, but Loux gets in some good jokes) and finally 1,000 years into the future where anachronistic "time discrepancies" are popping up all over London.

Closing the cover on The Time Museum, all I can think about is wishing I had a time travel device of my own so that I could go to the future and see how this story plays out!

Matthew Loux's SALT WATER TAFFY series!






Source: Review Copy

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