The trouble with time travel

Martin, author of Charlotte and the Rock (2017) and Stewart's Best Pen (2018), offers kiddos another hilarious and imaginative story with this time-travel romp. Max, an overall-clad white girl with a black bob, has made a big mistake: she broke her family's vase, a prized heirloom. Now it's up to her and her trusty dog, Boomer, to figure out how they can get themselves out of trouble. Max could come clean and face the truth of her actions or she could build a time machine in order to undo the accident. However, time is a tricky thing to tinker with. Max skips through history, making one mistake after another, learning the hard way why it's important to face her mistakes rather than hide them. Li's action-packed digital illustrations are eye catching and colorful, matching Max's wild energy as she propels through history (her time-traveling aim being as poor as her Frisbee throws). A little sci-fi, a little STEM, and a whole lot of fun.--Rosie Camargo Copyright 2019 Booklist

Want to get back to the future? Better rectify the pastand fast!One slip of the wrist, and the next thing Max knows her Frisbee has thoroughly smashed her 18th-century ancestor's vase (the sole thing saved when the woman's houseboat mysteriously sank). Facing the daunting prospect of fessing up, Max opts instead to rewrite the past by inventing a time-travel machine with the hope of pre-destroying the vase. But while time travel may be a science, it apparently isn't an exact science, and Max finds herself to be the cause of the houseboat's demise in the first place. At last she comes up with a new solution, but will her past self heed her future self's warning? Although this is as nicely convoluted as any good time-travel yarn should be, older children should have no difficulty piecing together its coincidences and repercussions. What could have felt like a "Calvin and Hobbes" retread is instead fresh and new. Max's path of destruction cuts through a swath of time, and it abounds in clever visual gags including the fates of the Sphinx's nose and the Venus de Milo's arms as well as the occasional futuristic robot uprising. Reds and blues suffuse the visual palette, and while Max, who presents white, and her hijinks read well, the eclectic, energetic art steals the show.Rev up your flux capacitors, because the space-time continuum will never be the same again! (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.