Out of Time

( 2 )

Overview

An exciting time travel adventure from the author of the hugely popular Tomorrow series for teens!

James reads by his open bedroom window at night. Other lives and other worlds beckon. One of these worlds is conjured by old Mr Woodford, a physicist who looks more like an accountant and who constructs a strange black box.

One day when James slips into the laboratory, he makes a dreadful discovery and learns to master a great power.

Who is the little boy in Mexico who scratches pictures of aeroplanes in the dust? How will the girl caught in a wartime bomb blast be reunited with her ...

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More About This Book

Overview

An exciting time travel adventure from the author of the hugely popular Tomorrow series for teens!

James reads by his open bedroom window at night. Other lives and other worlds beckon. One of these worlds is conjured by old Mr Woodford, a physicist who looks more like an accountant and who constructs a strange black box.

One day when James slips into the laboratory, he makes a dreadful discovery and learns to master a great power.

Who is the little boy in Mexico who scratches pictures of aeroplanes in the dust? How will the girl caught in a wartime bomb blast be reunited with her parents? And why does James sit alone in his island of silence?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Marsden's (Tomorrow, When the War Began) intricately woven novella (first published in Australia in 1990) will likely initially mystify and intrigue readers from the very first scene. James, a troubled Australian youth, sees faces in the branches of the tree outside his bedroom window and hates to take a direct route between any two points. One of his favorite destinations is Lab 17, where an elderly physicist works alone on a time-travel project he thinks will win him the Nobel Prize. When the scientist dies, James takes the instrument and uses it to visit periods from the past. Told as a series of vignettes, the events occur in different parts of the world-the Mayan pyramids, New South Wales, Connecticut. But readers must look carefully to discover whether there is a connection tying these incidents together: a bootboy named Alexander disappeared from a hotel in 1832, and a boy "with no visitors" in a hospital bed next to James's sister is named Alex-coincidence?; and James travels back in time to help a girl reunite with her parents who were separated during a bomb explosion. Marsden's writing is luminous and evocative, his ending heartbreaking. Ages 13-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
KLIATT
This is an unusual SF story for YAs, by the author of The Tomorrow Series and other excellent YA novels first published in Australia. It requires readers with curious minds who like puzzles and mysteries—even those that are perhaps not resolved in a story. James is a quiet boy, withdrawn, who others see as weird; the story of his life slowly emerges, but the reader has to be patient, picking up clues here and there. James has a friendship with an elderly physicist, and when the old man dies, James retrieves a box that the man had invented that holds the secret of time travel. Other vignettes of children are offered up: a girl lying alone in a hospital bed, wounded in a bomb blast; a mute orphan in Mexico who suddenly says in perfect English: "Fasten your safety belts. Put your head between your knees." Could this boy be a survivor of a plane crash? There is no way to describe this plot except to say it is intriguing and mysterious, with many questions throughout. For intelligent readers who will appreciate the story's originality. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 1990, Tor, 127p., Ages 12 to 18.
—Claire Rosser
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
From the popular and excellent Australian author comes an episodic science-fiction novella that will intrigue many readers and confuse others. James, an isolated, uncommunicative boy, is friends with an aging scientist. When the old man dies, James discovers the body and the time machine his elderly friend has perfected. With it, James visits the ancient Maya and tries to understand the circumstances surrounding the death of his younger sister. Other unconnected episodes raise more questions for readers. Questions surrounding James's story are answered by the end, but Marsden leaves other mysteries unresolved. Always intriguing, sometimes confusing, the different strands of stories merge into a common theme involving lost children. Readers interested in science fiction and psychology should be most attracted to this haunting little item. (Fiction. 12-15)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780641848674
  • Publisher: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
  • Publication date: 7/10/2007
  • Pages: 128
  • Age range: 13 - 17 Years
  • Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.40 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Meet the Author

John Marsden is the most successful author of teen fiction in Australia. The author of more than 30 award-winning novels, the extraordinary Tomorrow series has sold form than five million copies worldwide and has been translated into seventeen languages. Meanwhile John has continued to achieve international success with his groundbreaking books for young people. In 2000 The Third Day, The Frost won the Buxtehude Bulle, a German award, which is among the world's most coveted prizes for young people's books.

Tomorrow, When the War Began was chosen in Sweden as the book most likely to inspire teenagers to read and over 100,000 copies have been printed for free distribution to young Swedes.

In 1998 Burning For Revenge was named the Australian Booksellers' Book of the Year, Tomorrow, When the War Began won the Bilby Award for Older Readers, The Dead of the Night won the Secondary Division of the ACT COOL awards and The Night is for Hunting was shortlisted for two Aurealis Awards. In 1999 The Dead of the Night ,The Third Day, the Frost and The Night is for Hunting were shortlisted for the Victorian YABBA awards, Tomorrow, When the War Began won the CYBER award, and The Night is for Hunting was shortlisted for the Australian Booksellers' Book of the Year. In 2000 three of John's books, including The Other Side of Dawn , were shortlisted for the YABBA awards, The Dead of the Night won the CYBER award, and The Night is for Hunting was shortlisted for the ACT COOL awards and won the WAYBRA award for Older Readers; the third year in a row that John has won this award.

John lists his favorite food as chocolate, his favorite color as yellow, his favorite writers as William Shakespeare, Margo Lanagan and Dave Eggers. His dislikes include high school math, most reviewers and lumpy custard.

Read an Excerpt

Out of Time

By Marsden, John

Tor Teen

Copyright © 2007 Marsden, John
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0765353032
James sat in his room. Mr. Woodforde's machine was on the desk in front of him. He was scared of it, but he played with it as though it held no particular power. He switched it on and off a few times, watching the needle on the battery indicator rise slowly from zero to nine, and even slightly beyond nine. He drew the machine closer to him, knowing from the burning feeling on his face that he was about to use it again. With sudden carelessness he keyed in random numbers: 45 degrees, 25 feet, 15 inches; 45 degrees, 25 feet, 15 inches; followed by a date and time: 11:09. 1948, 1400 hours. Then, before he could have second thoughts, trying to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach, he pressed "Enter."


Continues...
Excerpted from Out of Time by Marsden, John Copyright © 2007 by Marsden, John. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3
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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Posted February 26, 2009

    I don't get it

    The story didn't really connect with its multiple characters that never cross paths. I was really quite dissappointed and wished I would've known I'd be dissappointed before I sat through the entirely short book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    A fine young adult time travel tale

    James is lonely with no one especially his party-animal parents to talk to about his feelings of loss and alienation. His only salvation is sneaking out of the house each night to stealthily enter the nearby Lab 17 where physicist Mr. Woodford invents incredible gizmos with the latest being incredibly a time machine................. When James enters Lab 17 the next night he finds a horrible sight Mr. Woodford has died. Unable to resist the lure of adventure, James takes the time machine with him. James begins to travel the time stream observing the mysteries of individual people that raises his curiosities, but will he try to help those in need or will he use the gift of time to make a fortune?............... OUT OF TIME is a fine young adult time travel tale that reads more like a series of interrelated short stories based on James¿ misadventures. The idea of a teen loose on history is fun to follow and James feels like Spiderman immediately after the bite deciding between heroic deeds or obtaining affluence. Youthful fans will enjoy his escapades as he gets involved in one scenario after another................ Harriet Klausner

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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