Review: Timothy Mean and the Time Machine. by William A. E. Ford

     Timothy Mean and the Time Machine by William A. E. Ford was a wonderful little children's book. Marcelo Simonetti also created some amazing artwork for the book. The rhymes on just about every line would hold a child's attention and the interesting locations would inspire their imagination. The book is very short, with only about ten pages with text on them. This makes it great to prevent young readers from being intimidated by the size of the book. The book also goes through the days of the week, helping to teach children the names of the days in a fun way.

     Being bored one day, a young boy by the name of Timothy Mean decides to build a time machine. He visits Vikings and Pirates on their ships, causing them trouble. He visits his parents while they are children and in school themselves. At one point he even pulls the pants down on am astronaut. No trip in time would be complete without a trip into the future so that is exactly what he does.  Timothy also likes playing pranks and being a trouble-maker at each location he visits.  

  

     The locations visited and Timothy's pranks open up chances for discussion with parents and slightly older children. Parents could ask their children all kimds of things about the book. They could ask about if their child would want to walk on the moon, or what they think the future will be like. Parents could ask about what their child would do if they were a pirate or maybe what they think life was like in mid-evil times. Almost any children's book that encourages children to think and use their imagination is a good one.

     I loved the book. What I liked most was the fun rhymes and locations. If I absolutely had to pick something I did not like it would have to be the few lines that did not rhyme as they almost upset the flow of the passage. Though in all honesty, it is not a big issue and for a children's book wrighters are somewhat limited on their options to insure a child would understand. 

  Target readers for this book is anyone. As a mother I would feel comfortable reading this book to my children no matter how young. I also feel like this would be a good book for a beginning reader, maybe a page a dag. For even more fun and value, parents could have their new readers read the page that goes with the current week day. Slightly older children and more experienced readers could sit down and read the entire book on their own.

     I rate this book 4 out of 4 and plan on getting a physical copy for my own children (I reviewed a digial copy of the book). The book was wonderful and I hope it gains enough popularly that William A. E. Ford creates an entire line of rhymeing Timothy Mean books.