Time Traveling with a Hamster

My eleven year old is a voracious reader and absolutely loved this story of would-be heroic hamster trying to save the day. Clean and fun and even a plot twist we didn't see coming. Well done!

Great book loved it. I couldn't stop reading it. So many cliff hangers. I loved the ending. Allen shear was also a great character in the story.

As other reviewers have already mentioned, Time Traveling With a Hamster might seem like a light MG read after looking at the cover, but it's much more than that. Al Chaudhury receives a letter from his father on his 12th birthday. That might not seem unusual at first, but Al's father died four years before. The letter directs Al to go to his father's bunker to follow a series of clues. The message directs Al to travel back in time to 1984 via the secret time machine his dad had been working on prior to his death in order to prevent his father's death.While skeptical at first, Al decides the risk is worth the reward. What he hadn't counted on was being put in the position of committing crimes and lying to his mom in the process. Al's constant companion is his hamster, Alan Shearer, who accompanies him on the adventures through time. Though Al discovers that his father's time machine actually works, messing with time presents a whole host of problems he hadn't considered. While I enjoyed most of the story and the excellent characterization, I could have done without all the Geordie accents, which I found more distracting than anything.

Nerve shredding yet so so interesting. number one favorite book of all time! Get this book no matter what! Love it!

Great writing and reading

I couldn't put it down, absolutely recommend!

Thoroughly enjoying trading this book to my 8 year old. Educational and enjoyable.

I absolutely LOVED this book! But before I say more, I want to be perfectly clear . . . it ends well. This is important because there were more than a few times during my reading when I thought it would not. And that made me very, very nervous – and I’m definitely a whole lot older than the target audience! So without giving anything away, I’ll just repeat, “it ends well.”Ross Welford’s TIME TRAVELING WITH A HAMSTER is about two things – family and time travel. The advertising campaign compares it to “Back to the Future” and THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME. While I can see the connection (especially to “Back to the Future”), it reminded me much more of Madeleine L’Engle’s A WRINKLE IN TIME, a book I loved when I was in 6th grade. The story focuses on Al Chaudhury, who receives two gifts on his twelfth birthday – a hamster, and a mysterious letter from his father (who has been dead for four years). Al’s dad wants him to embark on an amazing adventure in time travel that just might – if he’s very committed, works very hard, and is very lucky – change both of their lives forever. Because if Al can pull this off, his dad might not die after all, and things could be the way they should have been. Well, maybe!As in A WRINKLE IN TIME, this is a book about a child’s efforts to save a father. In L’Engle’s novel, it’s 12-year-old Meg who travels through time and space using a “tesseract” to rescue her missing father. In TIME TRAVELING WITH A HAMPSTER, it’s 12-year-old Al who must use his dead father’s makeshift time machine to rescue his dad from his untimely death. Both books feature protagonists who are smart and quirky and not exactly popular. Both stories are exciting and scary and downright addictive! And both are perfect for kids who love to read, love science, and are fascinated with possibilities.The time travel aspect of this novel is delightful. The letter Al receives from his long-dead father helps him understand what time travel really is (more “quantum leaping” through dimensions than actual time travel), and I found the science in this book to be both believable and fascinating. I’m not a math whiz, but this made sense to me. I can’t say I fully understand how the actual “time machine” works, but none of that matters when it comes to this story. Al and his hamster get to spend time in 1984, when Al’s dad was also twelve. Which means he gets a whole new perspective on both his father and his grandfather, who has been a big part of Al’s life from birth.The family aspect of this novel is beautifully done. And Al’s experiences with his dad in 1984 reveal a lot to both of them. I loved the grandfather character – Grandpa Byron – who is quirky and fun and brilliant. Grandpa Byron shares with Al his theory of memories, which he calls “Memory Palaces.” The idea is to actively work to preserve memories, so that you’ll always remember something from each day of your life. And since Al has lost his father – at least in the present! – remembering things is vitally important. “Choose one moment in every day that is worth cherishing,” Grandpa Byron says. “Welcome that moment into your memory palace, nurture it always, and it will never leave you.”This is a wonderful novel for children ages 10-14 – or for adults like me who remember fondly being a child. My sons would have loved this book when they were kids! And remember what I said at the start of this review – it does end well! That’s important, I think, considering how nerve-wracking this story is at times. I highly recommend this book.