I did not finish - I have tried reading this book on multiple occasions and just could not get into it.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book. It had fun pictures and an interesting story line.

What an adorable, fun and well drawn book. The Trouble with Time Travel is cute, outrageous, and ironic. In fact the first time you read it (assuming you are an adult) you'll likely be laughing so hard at the fact that our leading girl doesn't make (what to us is) the most obvious decision about how to stop the vase from breaking (again). Gotta appreciate a kids book that gives a nod to the adult reading it!

Writer Stephen W. Martin has given us the type of picture book that is my favourite to read with kids that are 3-5 years of age. It has BIG emphasized text words that are really sounds (like CRASH or KABOOOM) and emphasized words (like great or completely) every couple pages. These are moments and opportunities (after a couple reads) to have the child you're reading to join in! They will learn which page has the word (and it's nice and big on the page) and know when to say it with you. Some of my favourite moments with kids are re-reading a story like this and laughing after each emphasis. I've also seen this help children recognize a word over time even when it's in a different context.

Overall I love The Trouble with Time Travel for its cleverness, wonderful illustrations by Cornelia Li, and re-readability. I have one small critique, the two-page spread where you have to turn the book (as they fall into the ocean) is awkward and would drive me crazy after a couple times through. But it's a minimal issue that I can easily get over and doesn't detract from the clear 5 stars this one is for me. This is a picture book suitable to buy any gender or ethnicity as, at it's core, it's about breaking something and feeling remorse for it. I only wish time travel were as easy as our leading gal makes it seem so that I could grab a pet (in her case a dog) and visit all the interesting places and times that she does.

Science note: There is a flaw which is an error commonly made with time travel... The time machine takes our gal and her dog back in time AND to a new PLACE (ie: Egypt, Rome, etc.). A 'true' time (only) machine would take her back in time to the spot she is in however many years before or after; it wouldn't displace her around the world. A nod to Big Bang Theory (and Doctor Who) for ensuring that I never forget this tidbit of science.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I'm behind on reviewing this since reading this, but I remember it being whimsical and okay storyline for kids.

This was a very fun book to read. The characters were relatable and likable. Max accidentally broke something, and came up with a radical solution to make things right. This led to a wacky adventure through time. As this tale came to a close she decided to try to stop herself from ever making this contraption in the first place. This is a book I can see kids having a lot of fun reading.

Max and her dog are playing fetch when they accidentally break a family heirloom. Max decides a simple solution will fix everything. She’ll build a time machine. It’s a flawless plan, right?

If you want to introduce kids to the fun and foibles of time travel, this is a nice, short, succinct, and funny book about all the ways it can go wrong. Ok, maybe not ALL the ways. (Thankfully, Max avoids killing her own grandmother or falling in love or any of those types of situations.) I do love how Max accidentally causes several historical events. And there's a nice little message about honesty being the best option very tactfully worked in. This would be a fun compare/contrast to pair up with Oh No, Not Again by Mac Barnett which also explores how time travel can go horribly – but hilariously - wrong. Recommended to kids who think time travel will fix everything, scifi fans, and humor fans.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Stephen W. Martin’s The Trouble With Time Travel tells what happens when Max builds a time machine to avoid the consequences of breaking a family heirloom. Cornelia Li’s illustrations provide funny anecdotes to the precocious adventures of a girl and her dog.

The Trouble with Time Travel teaches inferences to young readers. And a houseboat! Not many funny and colorful stories show a houseboat as a type of home.

The Trouble with Time Travel book is fast-paced, but it is cute, and the illustrations are funny. I think the book could due with more content focusing on her experiences with time travel, we only get a brief overview, but I think children would like to see more of what happened in her travels. The end came so fast I was left a little disappointed with the lack of descriptive detail. This book could be so much better with added content that tracks her travels in the past and future (I’m talking 3-5 extra pages).

Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Max is a gifted inventor who talks time travel like it is easy and normal to build a time machine from scratch. I super enjoyed how much her aptitude for science and technology is a given. She has the logic that time travel will solve everything but learns maybe not. The illustrations were cute, funny, whimsical and detailed. I wish the book had been longer. I'm happy that Max could warn herself from what she learned.

A rip roaring jaunt through time, The Trouble with Time Travel by Stephen W. Martin and Cornelia Li is a colourful explosion to delight and intrigue the reader.

This review is based on reading the story in a PDF version and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the actual physical book because I think the story will translate so much better. It’s a really clever and silly concept. A girl breaks her great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother’s vase so she does the only reasonable thing to do: build a time machine to go back and break the vase before it’s saved from a mysterious houseboat sinking.

Stephen W. Martin has a really great time filling the story with many silly elements to capture the reader's attention and appeal to their sense of humour to carry the story. The illustrations by Cornelia Li are stellar, vibrant and eye catching. The designer Alisa Baldwin made some great choices when it comes to the design of the book. I especially love the title font giving the book a very retro but modern feel. This book will just jump right off the bookstore shelves. I would caution against getting an electronic version of this book. If you love it buy the physical copy as the layout and illustrations are much more impactful and easier to understand if you have a physical book to turn and manipulate as the book design changes

Max and her dog Boomer didn't mean to break her family heirloom vase... fortunately, she decides that a time machine will fix the problem! What she didn't account for is how she couldn't control when or where she'll end up... a fun, adorable, fast-paced (literally) story that's worth the journey.

Terrific-terrific tale.

The images and language are energetic, the story satisfying, and the twist well set-up.

I read this book aloud to my 16-year-old when she needed a cuddle, and she both predicted the twist and was pleased by it. Which I often use as a measure of how satisfying a story can be. (Also, that a teen + mama can share it speaks well of the inherent fun that isn’t limited to the little ones)

The book is one that can be read in a loop (re-read as soon as it’s finished - if the reader has the patience and interest to do so), which is another good indicator of a quality picture book.

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing us with a digital copy.

Cute story, great illustrations. I did enjoy this book, but I'm not sure how many library patrons would check it out. I do feel like the story is missing something, but I'm not sure what.

Super cute story about the perils of time travel. As Max and Boomer travel through time trying to save a vase from being destroyed in the present by destroying it in the past, Max ends up knocking the sphinx's nose off, meets aliens, and learns that sometimes, things are just best left alone. Great science fiction picture book!

This story was quite creative and fun. It was short, simple and easy follow once you read through it once. I got s good chuckle at how it came full circle (although I was frustrated when I first started reading at how abruptly we were thrown into the story).

Max and Boomer build a time machine to fix a priceless heirloom, and end up creating a problem for her Great (many tines) grandmother in the past. With a warning for an alternate timeline Max.

Beautifully illustrated and good for a carefree story.

Max and her dog boomer have built a time machine to try and fix a special vase they broke can they do it?
This was a cute story but I wish there was a bit more added to the story. My daughter was a little confused with what was happening and asked a lot of questions that easily could’ve been answered in the book if the story had a bit more to it. The illustrations were bright and colourful and the concept of the story was fun.
Thank you to netgalley and owlkids books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

While playing with her dog, a girl breaks a family heirloom vase and is bent on using a time machine to change the course of events.

This book’s illustrations by Cornelia Li are truly spectacular. Some of the pages are packing so much content that they rival entire books. While it may be a quick read textually, not taking the time to absorb the visual details does a disservice to reader and book alike.

I absolutely spent more time poring over the illustrations than reading the text. This style doesn’t suit everyone’s tastes, but as a Richard Scarry enthusiast, I enjoyed it immensely.

The narrative is intriguing and is full of potential, but there just aren’t enough pages in the book for it to truly succeed. True to form, that’s the Trouble with Time Travel indeed. It takes more effort to adhere to length limitations in books and movies that don’t disrupt the temporal dimension. The result is often a work that is too condensed to present a fulfilling story. Such overly abbreviations are a consequence of disadvantageous omission of specifics that would have lent themselves to a well-executed story, if brevity weren’t a factor. Nevertheless, it’s a children’s fictional picture book and it functions as such.

Spoilers expected beyond this point. I may be expounding in excess, but time travel is a maddeningly captivating cluster of muck.

Max’s plan struck me as uniquely unexpected and humorous. The vase was a family heirloom, the only relic that was saved in the 1785 sinking of her greatx6-grandmother’s houseboat. Rather than traveling back in time to a point just before breaking the vase, she plans to travel to the houseboat and destroy the vase. This ensures that the vase won’t even exist to be broken in the present. Eventually she manages to blast aboard the houseboat which is sinking. Retrocausality or something else? She uses the time machine again, going to the time just before the vase was broken. After telling her ‘other self’ not to build a time machine, she poofs out of existence. The final page features the vase in its spot on a table... And fully intact.


Thanks to Owlkids Books and NetGalley for the provided e-ARC and the opportunity to read this book. My review is honest, unbiased, and voluntary. #NetGalley #TheTroubleWithTimeTravel

[Initial ideas for classroom opportunities: Science. Identifying historically significant artwork. Periods of world history. Cultural importance and recognition. More science. Problem solving. Relatives, family trees, genealogy. Cause and effect. Time travel paradoxes. The inevitability of accidents and mistakes. Accepting responsibility. How to admit wrongdoing. Feelings and how to deal with them.]

This is a fun book that follows a girl named Max and her dog as they venture through time. Max is attempting to problem solve a situation by creating a time machine. What appears to be an "easy" fix in the beginning becomes increasingly complicated as the story progresses.
The book is creative and the illustrations are really wonderful. It would make for an easy introduction into visiting different cultures throughout varied time periods. The addition of Max's dog could further pique children's interest. The Trouble with Time Travel would make a nice addition to a classroom library.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Owlkids.

I appreciate what the author and illustrator were going for, but I found everything to be a bit too much, too fast. This feeling is made greater by the density of the images. I had to take a few moments to really understand what I was looking at, particularly the most important image of all at the start, where the young girl Max accidentally breaks a vase playing fetch with her dog. The illustrations are very well done, yet some of them simply have too much going on, so the eye is drawn away from "the point" of that page. If this were to be read for a storytime, I would suggest only in a small group or one-on-one as several of the pages would benefit from some real up-close viewing.

The girl Max and her dog make a time machine, the ease of this achievement made into a bit of a joke. They hop through history in the span of a few pages, never lingering in a way rewarding for the reader. The story barrels forward at such a pace that the journey itself felt somewhat flat, which is disappointing given the general quality of the artwork. Perhaps this is part of the point, that the main character acts impulsively and the breakneck speed of the story follows suit. Yet, I can't help but feel like something is missing here, that this story could benefit from being a bit longer and fleshed out.

It’s definitely pretty easy to make a time machine and fix our mistakes right??

Well, not so easy for me but our MC Max can! I had a good smile at her fun spirit and can-do attitude. This is for the younger elementary crowd and has potential for great classroom or at home discussions about how we all make mistakes and what to do when we make them ( also talking about how bad it feels when we make them and all the things we’re tempted to do... like build time machines!).

Especially liked the art in this one. It made the story come alive.

It’s pretty simple and short and perhaps missing some adventure or a bit more travel to other places for me.. but it was solid and it is so utilizable.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

3.5