Jumpman Rule One: Don't Touch Anything - Softcover

Trouble begins when flashy boy-from-the-future, Theodore Pine Four, a seasoned recreational time-traveler, wins a contest that allows him to briefly visit a special, never-before-seen place and time with the brand-new, handheld TimeMaster JumpMan Pro. Unfortunately, contest director Quincy Blake gives Theo the wrong JumpMan prototype. He doesn’t end up somewhere amazing like the Great Pyramids, but, to his dismay, in an incredibly boring bedroom in Mil3 (the 21st century), populated by a 14-year-girl named Genevieve and her childhood friend, Jules. Unfortunately, Jules has just mustered the nerve to ask Gen on a date. Budding romance is not the only thing Theo interrupts. If he breaks the one TimeJump rule--"don't touch anything"--he will change history forever.

Theo's perspectives on the 21st century are often hilarious. His commentary on many topics, including how Bill Gates is actually a TimeJumper from the future, will have readers looking at everything in a new light. The action is fast and furious as Theo, Jules, and Gen travel through time and try to get Theo back home in one piece. The question that simmers beneath it all is whether Jules can rise to the occasion to deal with Theo, get reacquainted with his recently-divorced father, and, of course, get the girl. Readers of all ages will devour this smart, funny, thought-provoking adventure, the first in James Valentine's bestselling Australian series. (Ages 9 to 13) --Karin Snelson

Grade 5-8–Imagine Douglas Adams had written The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Crown, 1989) for middle schoolers and you'll have a good idea of the pace, style, and overall inspired silliness of this Australian import. Thirteen-year-old Jules has just worked up the nerve to ask his childhood friend Gen out on a date when a slightly older guy with much cooler gear materializes in her bedroom. Theo has been stranded in the early 21st century by a malfunction of his new TimeMaster JumpMan Pro. He wants to return home, some 3000 years in the future, just as much as Jules and Gen want him gone, but the teens' immediate problem is keeping Theo hidden and out of trouble long enough to figure out how the unfamiliar JumpMan works. Of course, it's not easy to conceal a chatty kid with light-show hair, a talking Coat, and a complete inability to follow TimeJumping's number one rule: Don't Touch Anything. The edict also prohibits divulging details about the future, and much of the novel's humor comes from Theo's unauthorized revelations, such as the real explanation for Bill Gates (he was actually a juvenile delinquent from Theo's era). Readers will laugh out loud at Theo's arguments with the overly solicitous, advertisement-spouting Coat and Jules's internal dialogues with his own freaked-out, hormone-addled brain. Some characters are a little too cartoonlike, but otherwise this is a well-conceived, well-executed adventure that might even attract kids away from glowing screens.–Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.