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Time-Travel Runaway: Book One in the Time-Tripper Series

by Jan Lister Caldwell; co-published with Menagerie Publishing

74 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #00-0158; ISBN 1-55212-493-2; US$12.50, C$14.95, EUR10.50, £7.50

Ten and a half year old Bill is angry at being moved away from his friends and at having to deal with bullies. He sees his chance to run away to another time and finds he now has to deal with survival and struggle to return to his own time.

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About the book      About the author      Sample excerpts      Catalogue info

About the Book GETTING THE MOST FROM JAN LISTER CALDWELL'S TIME-TRIPPER SERIES Books One through Four Level: N An Adventure Series for Juveniles by Jan Lister Caldwell Forward The series is written in graded text, the main characters 'aging' as the series continues. The first two of the series are suggested reading for ages as young as 8 years. The third novel advances the ages of the main characters by a year, making them not quite 12 and 13. The story length and vocabulary reflect this. The fourth is another year ahead for the characters, increased to nearly 13 and 14. The increased vocabulary is easily absorbed, the context giving the meanings so as a reader works their way through the series, their reading level can improve. Also, the spread of the ages makes the series suitable for ages 8 through 14 and even the more advanced reader will still enjoy the first novels. The adventure remains constant throughout. Book One Time-Travel Runaway The world, at least the world of man, has only known about dinosaurs since the last century. It was in 1841 that Richard Owen, later Sir Richard, a famous British anatomist, coined the word 'dinosaur'. The name was taken from the Greek words 'deinos' and 'sauros' and means 'terrible lizard'. The words fall far short of the love, amazement, and fascination that 'dinosaur' has come to mean to millions of children of all ages, even 'us adults'. 'Monsters' that are not only harmless now since they don't exist and were actually real, live creatures is an irresistible combination. Besides their obvious use in the study of literature, reading the first two novels in The Time-Tripper Series is a chance to discuss science, particularly paleontology, something children can never get enough. You can use that interest to discuss the hard work involved in excavating everything from entire skeletons of giants to the tiny remains to the smallest creatures, including those nearly microscopic. Point out how easy it would be to miss something very important. In the rush to dig bones in the last century, many 'dinosaur hunters' used dynamite to unearth their prizes. Now, once the major layers are lifted away from a find, dentist tools and small brushes would be most likely the tools being used. New tools, those applying the latest technologies are being used now, too, employing ultrasound to find bones beneath the earth. Images of the remains show up on a video monitor. This cannot only help unearth fossils without wasted time and energies; it might find bones where no digging could possibly take place. The bones could be studied without disturbing the surrounding area at all. Other sciences come into play when discussing dinosaurs, including the thought processes in formulating theories and discussing those theories. You can explain the evidence needed to first come up with a theory, such as one mentioned in the books on the link between dinosaurs and birds. And you can explain the difference between a theory, no matter how popular and how intriguing, and scientific fact. I once heard a paleontologist state that when a theory is widely held, you better look at it again. It might be wrong. Botany, chemistry, and just plain old-fashioned detective work all play a part in discovery. Nothing is written is stone, if you'll pardon the metaphor, and new evidence can set the scientific world on its ear at any time. Long before 'Jurassic Park', a favorite of mine, and the latest craze with dinosaurs, my husband and I found ourselves with a young son possessing an insatiable appetite for anything to do with dinosaurs. There was little to satisfy him in the way of models and toys and stories. That is why I wrote this for him. It was very different from Time-Travel Runaway in its final form, the novel starting out simply enough and over time evolving into what it is now. Time-Travel Runaway explores more than dinosaurs, including the popular theories by the most brilliant minds of the day. It explores the mind of a boy not quite 11, one who finds the world he lives in becoming hostile and frustrating and he is unable to deal with the changes and problems in his life. Then he sees a chance to simplify his life by running from his problems and soon he finds he made things worse. He wishes he had thought before making such a drastic change. He realizes he must learn to deal with his frustrations and impatience and channels his energies into survival. It was a great leap toward growing up and it put everything into perspective. What is a bully to deal with after you have faced a hungry dinosaur and lived to tell about it? Children who have read Time-Travel Runaway, I've found, are as taken with Bill's problems and changes as they are with the dinosaurs. Reading it together gives everyone a chance to see something of themselves, the best and the worst, and see, hopefully, the potential for the hero in us all.

About the Author Jan Lister Caldwell has published several works, including children's verse and short stories for younger children. This is the first in a series of adventure novels for the middle reader. She has also worked as a free-lance journalist. She is a native of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. Growing up in a rural area, she grew to love nature, especially animals, and they are a recurring theme in all her works. She takes many life experiences and incorporates them in all her works. She married her high school sweetheart, Curtis W. Caldwell, and lives in the St. Stephen area on the Caldwell homestead near the historic St. Croix River. Their son, Ian, is the fifth generation to live there since 1876. He is currently pursuing a career in the Canadian Navy. The author and her family have a variety of pets including several that have been rescued from the streets. Contact Jan at j_listercaldwell@hotmail.com. She appreciates all reader feedback. The author suggests that you check out this site BOOKS XYZ

Reviews of Time-Travel Runaway

This is book one of the "Time Tripper Series."

In Time-Travel Runaway ten-year-old Bill discovers a time machine in a neighbor's closet and, without considering the consequences, sends himself to the age of dinosaurs. Eventually he manages to get back home, but then has to follow his cousin back to the same era in the second book, Cousin Clash. At least the second time, he's more experienced, but still, he must find his cousin, escape predatory dinosaurs, and then hope his neighbor will send the machine back for them.

The Time-Tripper Series is promising. Jan Lister Caldwell takes children into the world of dinosaurs in a fun and exciting way. The books are a bit slow until Bill arrives in the pre-historic age, but once there, the action doesn't stop. I found it a bit disconcerting when she began using the given names of Bill's parents in Cousin Clash, rather than "Mom" and "Dad," but the characters are well done and she uses the devise of parent names to show the alienation Bill is feeling. We give it three hearts.

Reviewed by: Judy Schuler
February, 2003.

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Bill is one bored ten-year-old boy. He and his family have just moved to a farm (it was Bill's grandparent's farm previously). He has no friends and the only boy his age is a bully who somehow goads Bill into trouble.
Bill goes to see Mr. Cromwell. Mr. Cromwell is a handyman who tinkers and fixes things. He also likes to invent things of a sort.
When Bill comes to visit Mr. Cromwell, he feels fixing lawn mowers and such is "boring and dumb" and that he isn't any good at anything. Mr. Cromwell says doing the boring things helps one learn and if one doesn't make mistakes one never learns.
The phone rings and Bill overhears that his mother wants him home. Knowing he had another scrape with the local bully, Bill decides to hide in the metal box in Mr. Cromwell's shop.
The box is a time machine. And do you know of any ten-year-old boys who can keep their fingers off buttons? For the sheer joy of it, Bill decides to set the time back 75 million years.
Bill, you shouldn't have done that. Soon he's chased by various types of dinosaurs (this kid must have been a big dino fan). He is literally scrambling for his life.
In the meantime, he learns that doing "stupid, boring stuff" is necessary to save his life. This ten-year-old whiner becomes MacGyver! He also restores a lost baby dino to his parents. And does Bill get back home to his time? You find out for yourself.
While the book takes some suspension of disbelief, it is a book any boy who loves dinosaurs will love to read. It is simple and not difficult to read. It also has a list of terms and definitions in the back.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Reviewed by: John Hoh
Bookideas.com

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In Time-Travel Runaway, Bill finds himself the target of a bully, Shaun. He meets Mr. Cromwell, a mysterious neighbor who has invented a time machine. After getting into trouble for fighting, Bill enters the time machine and winds up surrounded by dinosaurs. He encounters a newborn dinosaur, whom he names Cory and resolves to protect. Bill ends up outwitting a huge Albertosaurus and returning Cory safely to his herd. Back home, he discovers that his adventures have given him the confidence he needs to stand up to Shaun.

In Cousin Clash, Bill returns to the land of the dinosaurs, this time accompanied by his trouble-making cousin Donnie. The two are forced to cooperate in order to find food and outwit a variety of predators. When Donnie is trapped in a mud flat, Bill comes to his rescue; Donnie, in turn, tells Bill about his abusive father. Back in the present, the two boys begin a close friendship.

Exciting adventures and unusual plot twists will keep the reader immersed in both of these stories. Bill's underlying personal problems are solved in a satisfying way. Each book contains a glossary that provides information about the various dinosaur names mentioned in the text.

Highly recommended.
-- Margaret Bunel Edwards, Canadian Book Review Annual ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canadian author Jan Lister Caldwell's Time-Tripper Series, an adventure series for pre-teen readers, deserves to be on any child's must-read list.
--Marti Webster The Gazette, Medina, OH ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sample Excerpt from Time-Travel Runaway

CHAPTER FOUR

He raced through the trees and past a clearing on the edge of a swamp. Out of breath, he collapsed into a thicket near the water. Small lizards scattered in every direction to get out of his way. The large swamp made the air heavy with moisture. Hidden among the leaves it was like trying to breathe under a hot, rubber Halloween mask.

Bill peeked out, watching and waiting. He couldn't run anymore. He didn't know where to run anyway. As he'd come through the trees, there were more crashing noises, more startled animals. The first sounds, the first thunderous crashes, had kept coming. He couldn't out run it. He hoped he'd be able to hide.

The flapping and fluttering of a thousand wings sounded above him. Enormous insects and Archaeopteryx, bird-like reptiles, left their trees to escape the danger that approached. Watching them, Bill wondered if he had been foolish only to hide and not keep running. What did they know that he didn't?

Suddenly he had to clap his hands over his ears from sounds so loud he could feel them. Though his ears still rang and ached from the awesome bellows, he uncovered them to carefully lean out of his hide. It was then he saw he was almost on top of a nest of Corythosaurs, a type of Hadrosaurids, or 'Duck Bills'. The two Duck Bills were standing their ground. The thing coming was not going to make them run. Nothing could frighten them away from their nest of hatchlings. They were ready to fight.

They paced back and forth in front of their nest of rocks and sticks and mud. The swamp at their backs, they watched the trees, uncertain where their predator would emerge.

The Corythosaurs were enormous, towering far above Bill. They would have had to bend down to peer into his bedroom window on the second floor. They bellowed again. From the distance their calls were answered. Were they warning others? Bill wondered, or were they pleading for help?

He had read they were herd animals but where was the rest of the herd? Remembering the time he'd chosen, so late in the Cretaceous, he wondered if perhaps these animals were all that was left of their herd. The comet that would lead to the death of all the dinosaurs was yet to come but could disease and climate changes have cut their numbers first? Many believed that and that thought made him sad.

Bill was soon snapped back to the reality at hand as a very hungry Albertosaurus broke into the clearing. The large male ran at the Corythosaurus that had his back to him. His mate bellowed a warning but too late. Before he could turn to whack his big tail at the predator, the Albertosaurus kicked him just above the base of his tail. The terrible claws of his foot sank deep into the flesh.

With his head tilted back, his long snout opened wide, the victim roared deep and long. The sound started in his throat, traveling through the air chambers of the 'dinner plate' crest of his head. It vibrated his call like the breath of a musician is vibrated when he blows through the mouthpiece of a tuba. It was long and loud and Bill could feel it pulsating through his bones. He thought it was the most pathetic sound he had ever heard in his life.

The female howled at her mate's distress as the serrated teeth of the Albertosaurus sank into the back of his neck, snapping it with one crushing blow. The Hadrasaur was larger than the hunter but was poorly equipped to protect himself from such a killing machine.

Bill shut his eyes tightly to blink away the tears. He didn't want to see any more, but still he kept watching. He knew animals were eaten. He knew animals that ate others were not evil. They were just part of the food chain, a necessary part.

But this, this was too close, too terrible! All the pictures in his books, all the videos and movies he had seen, could never have prepared him for the agonizing sounds of death, the crunching of living bones, the smell of warm blood spilling, the smell of fear.

Bill watched the female. She looked helplessly on as her mate was eaten and did her best to look menacing as she placed herself between the Albertosaurus and her hatchlings. He could hear them squeal and squeak with fright and was overcome by a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. A sharp pain sent him onto his hands to vomit. Shaking and queasy, he continued to watch. He could do nothing else.

The female stood her ground against the feeding predator. She never took her eyes from him as he ignored her. She never saw the second Albertosaurus, his mate, as she was grabbed from behind.

Bill covered his eyes. He couldn't watch again. Tears squeezed through his tightly shut eyes as he thought of the babies. He waited quietly in his thicket. The large hunters were so close it made it too dangerous to run. Besides, he thought, where can I run? He was worse off than the Corythosaurs. What could he do to save himself from giants? He couldn't fight them. He was trapped here in this time - doomed to be eaten alive.

More growls and screams made Bill open his eyes. A pack of Dromeaosaurs was challenging the hunters. There were eight of them, small but deadly with their strong legs, grabbing hands, and snapping jaws. The largest was little more than three feet tall but despite their size, they were more than eager to force their way in on the feast provided by the giants.

The pair of Albertosaurs roared a warning, stomping a few steps toward the leaders of the pack. The small, agile dinosaurs continued to harass them, threatening them as wolves threaten the much larger bear. Their strength lay in their numbers.

Bill watched as they tried to draw the Albertosaurus away from their kills, staying just out of reach of the massive jaws. Three of the pack ran around behind to each snatch up a squealing hatchling. The Albertosaurs lunged at the rest before they could do the same.

Cautiously, Bill stretched his neck to see into the nest. Only one baby left. Helpless, it wobbled around alone, not grown enough to climb out and run for its life.

The meat-eaters continued to fight over the kill. The pack was slowly wearing down the larger animals, nipping and clawing at them as they darted in and out.

The lone squalling baby touched a part of Bill he didn't know existed and it made him do something he never would have believed of himself. He watched his chance. When all attention was away from the nest, he darted out of his hiding place and scooped the baby up in his arms as he ran by. He circled back behind his thicket and ran as fast as he could into the woods that bordered the swamp.

Hidden by the trees, he followed the shoreline and ran until he was exhausted. Nothing followed. He had been careful to watch behind him every few steps. He had learned form this world that death often comes from behind unseen.

Synopsis of next book in Time-Tripper series

Cousin Clash The last thing Bill wants is to spend time with his trouble-making cousin, then he finds out Donnie is being sent to live with them. That causes one problem after another. Then Bill decides to make friends and ends up telling him about the mysterious Mr. Cromwell and his time-machine and his own time-trip back to the age of dinosaurs (Time-Travel Runaway), but the truce doesn't last. Donnie gets Bill into major trouble at school and Bill is so angry, he starts a fight. That's when Donnie decides to run away using the time capsule. As much as Bill would like to see him disappear, he can't let him do it. He tries to stop him and is also taken back in time 75 million years! Now they are alone in the land of the dinosaurs! Bill knows they have a better chance of survival if they stick together but Donnie's anger drives him into the jungle - alone! Bill must get his own food and water, cope with the world of dinosaurs and find Donnie. He knows his big city cousin could never last on his own in the jungle. Their only hope is for the inventor, Mr. Cromwell, to figure out what happened and send his time machine back for them if he can tell where and when to send it and if the boys are alive when it comes. Another Menagerie Adventure Story

Click here to read about Jan's latest book in the Time-Tripper Series, Cousin Clash

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