Tracey Dembo (text), and Lucinda Gifford (illustrator) This Book is a time machine, Affirm Press, September 2023, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922848413
This humourous concept book about time – the present, the past and the future – breaks the fourth wall. The creators use the physicality of the book to explain the concept of time to kids. For example, You will read page 23 of this book in The Future.
Both the author and illustrator are depicted as characters in the story. At the climax, when the book ‘rips’, the pair are in danger of being sucked into a time warp. Luckily, accomplished illustrator Lucinda Gifford manages to sticky tape up the warp, while the author uses a blow gun to push most of the time-travelling creatures back through the time rip.
Additional jokes such as an escaped Mummy asking a flying robot ‘Do you want to grab a burger?’ add to the sense of fun.
This book would make a great jumping off point to discuss the concept of time with early to middle primary aged children.
Reviewed by Heather Gallagher