Rating: Very Good
HarperCollins, 2006, $16.99
ISBN: 9780060541910
HarperCollins, 2006, $16.99
ISBN: 9780060541910
Age/Grade Level: Grades 6 and up
If time is a pair of trousers, which leg are we in?
This time-traveling fantasy begins as Johnny works on a school report about WWII - his topic is the only bombing raid suffered by Blackbury, his small hometown, during which a whole street was destroyed. As he and his friends are out comparing the modern town to what used to be, they come across the semi-conscious figure of a local bag-lady. They act responsibly, call an ambulance and see her taken off to hospital; Johnny takes charge of her supermarket trolley with its black plastic sacks, piles of junk and vicious cat, and leaves it in his garage for the night………
Nothing is ever the same again. There is obviously more to the bag-lady than ugly black sacks ..(bags of time…?) as the trolley seems to be some form of time machine, giving Johnny and his friends the opportunity to travel back to the Blackbury of WWII and see life as it really was.
Unfortunately, in returning to the present they discover they have landed in an alternate future and one of them is missing …. left behind in 1941. The group then face a moral dilemma - to return to rescue their friend and try to get back to their own present, or to live without him in an alternate present - the other leg of the trousers of time.
Unfortunately, in returning to the present they discover they have landed in an alternate future and one of them is missing …. left behind in 1941. The group then face a moral dilemma - to return to rescue their friend and try to get back to their own present, or to live without him in an alternate present - the other leg of the trousers of time.
There is a certain amount of social commentary behind the fun as Johnny and his friends learn how childhood and attitudes towards race and gender have changed over time. They are likeable teenagers, but seem slightly old-fashioned, reminiscent of characters in children's stories of the 1950s.
In true Pratchett fashion, the fantasy is well-laced with humor and wit. It is, however, very English wit which may not translate well to an American audience.
I first read this book when it was originally published in 1996 - it is still a good read and Pratchett fans will not be disappointed. It is the third of three titles about Johnny and his friends and possibly the most satisfying.
Reviewer: Ros Wilkes, Orange County Public Library/Mesa Verde Branch
