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The Tartan of Thyme #1
Justin Thyme
Justin Thyme is a self-made billionaire living in a castle overlooking Loch Ness. The day he turns thirteen, he receives an anonymous gift: a fabulous watch with a puzzling message hidden on it. When he tells his father of his plans to build a time machine, the Laird of Thyme reveals tantalising fragments of past espionage and warns his son of a ruthless enemy keeping him under constant surveillance. At first, Justin fails to take Sir Willoughby seriously, but when a stranger arrives claiming to be his long-lost grandfather, Justin is wary - especially after his beloved Nanny insists the old man is an impostor. Justin's TV celebrity mother departs on a Congo expedition with her eccentric film crew and Eliza, a computer-literate gorilla. Whilst returning, Lady Henny is abducted, and clues prove that the kidnapper has inside information; someone in Thyme Castle must be a spy - or possibly Sir Willoughby's old enemy in disguise. Everyone is under suspicion: Justin's nervy tutor; their snooping housekeeper; the theatrical gardener; an ex-royal butler; and Mrs Kof, their freakishly strong cook. Suddenly, the race against time is on. Can Justin convert his vintage motorbike into a time machine, rescue his mum and discover the identity of their resident spy in less than a week...or will the dreaded Thyme Curse claim another life?
360 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
November 26, 2012
Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com
I absolutely loved Justin Thyme. It was a roller-coaster of a story. It had adventure, mystery, humor, and fantasy. I especially loved the glossary and appendix which was at the end of the book. It had the definitions of the scientific words which were used but also defined the college prep words and the Scottish words that are bewitching to us U.S. readers. As a young reader I absolutely hated having to look up a word when I am in the midst of a good story. I was lucky and had a mother who would tell me definitions but a lot of teachers and parents think it is better to have the reader look up the word. Well, I wouldn't do that because then I would have to find the dictionary, look up the word, and hope that I would understand the definition. When I have the glossary in the back of the book I am more likely to look up the word. I also think it enables the writer to write better and not have to water down her/his story.
I also loved the play on words in the story. The main character is Justin Thyme: "just in time," get it!!! Ha Ha!!! His whole family is a play on the word time. Robyn Thyme is his older sister, his baby brother is Albion Thyme, his mother is Henny Thyme, his father is Willoughby Thyme, and his grandfather is Lyall Austin Thyme.
Justin's father is the Lord of Thyme Castle. He would be broke except that thirteen-year-old Justin invented an alarm system for cell phones. Justin is a genius and he is also the family wage-earner. Also at the castle live Verity Kiss, the nanny, Professor Gilbert, Justin's private tutor, Angus and Morag Gilliechattan, the married couple who are the gardener and the housekeeper. Elisa the gorilla also lives with them and is a talking gorilla! She adds a lot of humor. The Gilliechattan's also have a Shakespeare-loving parrot, and a cat with eight legs.
The story starts with Justin's thirteenth birthday. He receives a cool watch and can't figure out who gave it to him--but when his mother gets kidnapped the fun starts. In a moment of pure inspiration he invents a time machine, which gets involved with the kidnapping and the new hiring of castle staff. The non-studious Robyn and Justin start trying to solve the mystery and what a roller-coaster ride this becomes.
This is the first of the four in THE TARTAN OF THYME book series. I am counting the thyme until book two comes out because I loved this book so much. Also check out the web site. It is amazing!
I absolutely loved Justin Thyme. It was a roller-coaster of a story. It had adventure, mystery, humor, and fantasy. I especially loved the glossary and appendix which was at the end of the book. It had the definitions of the scientific words which were used but also defined the college prep words and the Scottish words that are bewitching to us U.S. readers. As a young reader I absolutely hated having to look up a word when I am in the midst of a good story. I was lucky and had a mother who would tell me definitions but a lot of teachers and parents think it is better to have the reader look up the word. Well, I wouldn't do that because then I would have to find the dictionary, look up the word, and hope that I would understand the definition. When I have the glossary in the back of the book I am more likely to look up the word. I also think it enables the writer to write better and not have to water down her/his story.
I also loved the play on words in the story. The main character is Justin Thyme: "just in time," get it!!! Ha Ha!!! His whole family is a play on the word time. Robyn Thyme is his older sister, his baby brother is Albion Thyme, his mother is Henny Thyme, his father is Willoughby Thyme, and his grandfather is Lyall Austin Thyme.
Justin's father is the Lord of Thyme Castle. He would be broke except that thirteen-year-old Justin invented an alarm system for cell phones. Justin is a genius and he is also the family wage-earner. Also at the castle live Verity Kiss, the nanny, Professor Gilbert, Justin's private tutor, Angus and Morag Gilliechattan, the married couple who are the gardener and the housekeeper. Elisa the gorilla also lives with them and is a talking gorilla! She adds a lot of humor. The Gilliechattan's also have a Shakespeare-loving parrot, and a cat with eight legs.
The story starts with Justin's thirteenth birthday. He receives a cool watch and can't figure out who gave it to him--but when his mother gets kidnapped the fun starts. In a moment of pure inspiration he invents a time machine, which gets involved with the kidnapping and the new hiring of castle staff. The non-studious Robyn and Justin start trying to solve the mystery and what a roller-coaster ride this becomes.
This is the first of the four in THE TARTAN OF THYME book series. I am counting the thyme until book two comes out because I loved this book so much. Also check out the web site. It is amazing!
April 5, 2012
I don't normally review children's fiction, but occasionally a fiction book comes along that has enough useful science content that it fits with me: this is such a book.
If there’s one thing that pulls the reader into a book, it’s a good mystery – and that’s exactly what happens with Justin Thyme. With the intriguing environment of Thyme Castle, really strong characters and a plot that thickens like the best gravy browning it’s a very enjoyable read. It can be a touch whimsical – a character named W. S. Gilbert who always sings opera and a food store called Fortean & Mayhem for instance – but this isn’t the end of the world.
I come to this book as a science writer. I’ve always felt that there is a great opportunity to write fiction, particularly for younger readers, that gets across some aspects of science, but it is hugely difficult to do. Often it results in poor fiction that is patronising and that labours to get the science message across. What I particularly liked about the Justin Thyme book that there is actually a lot of good science in it – but it never gets in the way of the action. Of course some of the science is a little unlikely, whether it’s the talking gorilla or the practicalities of time travel, but there is still plenty of good material, both in the end-of-chapter notes and in many of the things the characters discuss.
A real pleasure to read, and a book that works wonderfully well at showing that science and having fun aren’t mutually exclusive.
I ought to stress that I am reviewing this as a children's book for 9-14 age group, not as an adult book.
Review first published at www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission.
If there’s one thing that pulls the reader into a book, it’s a good mystery – and that’s exactly what happens with Justin Thyme. With the intriguing environment of Thyme Castle, really strong characters and a plot that thickens like the best gravy browning it’s a very enjoyable read. It can be a touch whimsical – a character named W. S. Gilbert who always sings opera and a food store called Fortean & Mayhem for instance – but this isn’t the end of the world.
I come to this book as a science writer. I’ve always felt that there is a great opportunity to write fiction, particularly for younger readers, that gets across some aspects of science, but it is hugely difficult to do. Often it results in poor fiction that is patronising and that labours to get the science message across. What I particularly liked about the Justin Thyme book that there is actually a lot of good science in it – but it never gets in the way of the action. Of course some of the science is a little unlikely, whether it’s the talking gorilla or the practicalities of time travel, but there is still plenty of good material, both in the end-of-chapter notes and in many of the things the characters discuss.
A real pleasure to read, and a book that works wonderfully well at showing that science and having fun aren’t mutually exclusive.
I ought to stress that I am reviewing this as a children's book for 9-14 age group, not as an adult book.
Review first published at www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission.
May 20, 2019
2,5 tähteä.
Justin Thyme on varsin eksentrisen suvun lapsinero. Äiti on kadoksissa oleva tutkimusmatkailija ja isällä on amnesia, joten Justin joutuu käyttämään nerouttaan kerätäkseen rahaa perheen kartanon ylläpitoon. Lisäksi mukana on Justinin sisarukset Robyn ja Albin -vauva. Heillä on lastenhoitaja nimeltä Verity Kiss ja tietokoneen avulla puhuva gorilla Eliza.
Selvittääkseen isänsä salaisuudet ja löytääkseen äitinsä Justin päättää rakentaa aikakoneen. Mukana silti yllättävän vähän aikamatkailua (mutta paljon teorisointia siitä, kuinka aikamatkustus toimii) ja toimintaa.
Höpsö puzzle-kirja. Ei psykologista syvyyttä, henkilöt liioiteltuja. Lukijalle annetaan selkeitä vihjeitä, joita käyttää yrittäessään ratkaista arvoitusta Justinin kanssa. Nokkela, Hyvä älytehtävä.
Justin Thyme on varsin eksentrisen suvun lapsinero. Äiti on kadoksissa oleva tutkimusmatkailija ja isällä on amnesia, joten Justin joutuu käyttämään nerouttaan kerätäkseen rahaa perheen kartanon ylläpitoon. Lisäksi mukana on Justinin sisarukset Robyn ja Albin -vauva. Heillä on lastenhoitaja nimeltä Verity Kiss ja tietokoneen avulla puhuva gorilla Eliza.
Selvittääkseen isänsä salaisuudet ja löytääkseen äitinsä Justin päättää rakentaa aikakoneen. Mukana silti yllättävän vähän aikamatkailua (mutta paljon teorisointia siitä, kuinka aikamatkustus toimii) ja toimintaa.
Höpsö puzzle-kirja. Ei psykologista syvyyttä, henkilöt liioiteltuja. Lukijalle annetaan selkeitä vihjeitä, joita käyttää yrittäessään ratkaista arvoitusta Justinin kanssa. Nokkela, Hyvä älytehtävä.
July 4, 2017
Interesting mystery with time travel "facts" interspersed. Definitely a British flavor (British author) and of course the family lives in a castle overlooking the loch where the Loch Ness Monster resides. Great characters, especially the foreign cook with all her malaprops. Ending begs reading the next in the series.
July 9, 2017
Great young people's novel with wonderful, wacky characters, rollicking adventures, and lots of ruminations about the nature of time. It's not a 5-star book for me because it doesn't have deep significance, but it's a wonderful adventure, thoroughly fun and thought-provoking from start to finish. I'd recommend it for adult readers as well as kids - it's super summer reading.
August 6, 2017
An easy afternoon read for an adult who needs a short read with little challenge. It might be more fun for the teenage reader it's aiming for.
October 31, 2018
Kids would love this one. It's full of life and is a great adventure. The characters are great fun. Yes, I do recommend.
April 9, 2023
If you don’t find secret messages.. you are not trying very hard.
January 16, 2015
Okay, so when I first started reading Justin Thyme, I thought it was really weird. But then, as I read more, I got really, really into it. The technical jargon comes complete with a dictionary in the back, and the dialogue is rather humorous at times. The notebook pages are mind-bogglingly complex and the mystery is suspenseful and hooks in all the right places.
My favorite aspect was by far the mystery. It was fantastically done. It really kept me wanting to read “just one more chapter” before I could put the book down. I think my favorite part was the revelation about Polly because it was so unexpected to me. I actually did a double-take, and then had to read the section again. Also, Oxridge uses footnotes to great effect in this book.
Both Justin and Robyn are endearing characters and virtually every character is memorable in some way. They are all also very suspicious, although some of that is cleared up by the end of this book, while others are left for the next.
The ending of the book was really well done, I thought, although it made me a little frustrated because I want to know everything, darn it! It left plenty of hook for the next book.
But it was a tad unrealistic at times; most of the time you can suspend your disbelief but at some points it was very hard. It did take me a little bit to get into the book because of it.
Overall, Justin Thyme is a book that I think even adults would like, mainly because it’s almost jaw-droppingly scientific and invention-y. It also has some quite humorous scenes, great characters, and a fantastic, suspenseful mystery. My only complaint is that it’s a little hard to get into simply because of the jargon, and it’s also a little unrealistic in regards to characterization and things, but not anything way out of the norm for fiction.
My favorite aspect was by far the mystery. It was fantastically done. It really kept me wanting to read “just one more chapter” before I could put the book down. I think my favorite part was the revelation about Polly because it was so unexpected to me. I actually did a double-take, and then had to read the section again. Also, Oxridge uses footnotes to great effect in this book.
Both Justin and Robyn are endearing characters and virtually every character is memorable in some way. They are all also very suspicious, although some of that is cleared up by the end of this book, while others are left for the next.
The ending of the book was really well done, I thought, although it made me a little frustrated because I want to know everything, darn it! It left plenty of hook for the next book.
But it was a tad unrealistic at times; most of the time you can suspend your disbelief but at some points it was very hard. It did take me a little bit to get into the book because of it.
Overall, Justin Thyme is a book that I think even adults would like, mainly because it’s almost jaw-droppingly scientific and invention-y. It also has some quite humorous scenes, great characters, and a fantastic, suspenseful mystery. My only complaint is that it’s a little hard to get into simply because of the jargon, and it’s also a little unrealistic in regards to characterization and things, but not anything way out of the norm for fiction.
January 18, 2011
This is a children's book admittedly but very well-written with amusing characters, plus plenty of twists and turns. The plot centres around an eccentric family who live in a remote Scottish Castle, Thyme Castle which is further North than Inverness. The lead character, in this book is obsessed with time-travel and the machinery to achieve this thereof, was named Justin by his parents (you should get the drift of the author's intentions here combined with his surname). Throw in a simian 'talking nanny' as well as a human nanny, a mysterious 'Scottish' gardener and his grumpy wife the housekeeper, a nervous singing tutor for Justin and Justin's sister Robyn, a jungle-tramping mother and amnesiac father, assorted local characters introduced throughout the book, an unexpected family reunion, a kidnapping, various revelations and the pages just melt away. Just as I thought I'd spotted the spy within, it all changed again. The author very kindly footnoted the clues that I'd overlooked the first time. Well worth a visit if you enjoy vaguely sci-fi books or even if you don't.
April 28, 2016
Justin Thyme is a thirteen year old billionaire inventor who receives a mysterious watch on his birthday and no one knows who it came from. When he sees an old man, who may be his long-lost grandfather, at a crossroads, Justin suddenly understands the nature of time and plans on building a time machine. A spy in the castle with connections to his father’s past gets wind of this plan leading to a kidnapping. Justin must beat the clock to finish his invention to save his mother and figure out who the spy is.
While time travel is an integral part of the plot, the story crosses the genres of science fiction and mystery. The book is sprinkled with little puzzles that do not bear on the plot, but may be fun for the reader to find and decipher. Many advanced vocabulary words are used unobtrusively throughout the story, but the book includes a glossary in the back, but assuring readers that they probably already know many of the definitions.
While time travel is an integral part of the plot, the story crosses the genres of science fiction and mystery. The book is sprinkled with little puzzles that do not bear on the plot, but may be fun for the reader to find and decipher. Many advanced vocabulary words are used unobtrusively throughout the story, but the book includes a glossary in the back, but assuring readers that they probably already know many of the definitions.
September 14, 2011
The first book in the Justin Thyme (see what author Panama Oxridge did there?) series sets up the story of boy genius Justin - a moral version of Artemis Fowl - and his eccentric family, which includes a talking, computer-savvy and sometimes-nanny ape, named Eliza.
The book is heavily focused on time and traveling through time to be precise. Though for all of Justin's diary entries on the subject it only becomes present in the main storyline in the final chapter (neatly setting the story up for the next installment, of course). Instead the main storyline revolves around the Justin's inventions, family dynamics, a kidnapping and the mysterious Agent X.
With all its quirky characters, language games and mysteries, the book is not just an adventurous read for older children but can also be a lot of fun for adults. And remember: Everything is connected to everything else.
The book is heavily focused on time and traveling through time to be precise. Though for all of Justin's diary entries on the subject it only becomes present in the main storyline in the final chapter (neatly setting the story up for the next installment, of course). Instead the main storyline revolves around the Justin's inventions, family dynamics, a kidnapping and the mysterious Agent X.
With all its quirky characters, language games and mysteries, the book is not just an adventurous read for older children but can also be a lot of fun for adults. And remember: Everything is connected to everything else.
August 20, 2012
The books were truly hard to stop reading at all. I love how the plot has quite a few twist to it. Justin is 13 and embarks on an amazing adventure. The world all together is different while Justin works on an invention that is the cause of his adventure. The clock is ticking wile he works to solve a mystery that proves to be harder and stranger by the second. The book gives you footnotes and a few pages to solve the mystery yourself. I give these books a "billion" stars! Be sure to look at the covers closely for hints too.
December 31, 2011
While not stunning, it was quite fun. Justin is a boy genius multimillionaire, living in the family castle with his small but odd family, a bunch of secrets and a fascination for time. The book is part adolescent sci-fi and part mystery, and it is the mystery part that got interesting. I knew going in that it was a series, but appreciated that the story ended at the end, not two chapters before the end. Quite likely to read #2.
August 30, 2012
When Justin's mother is kidnapped, the ransom asked is the time machine that his inventor father is building. The problem is that his father has sworn off time machines. It's Justin who has the idea for how to build it. He's also convinced that someone in their Scottish castle is acting as a spy for the kidnapper. Heaven knows there are enough suspicious characters around, and since the spy may be a dupe, nobody--not even his sister--is above suspicion. First of a series.
March 27, 2012
Fun read and you learn about science/physics/quantum mechanics and the possibility of time travel. The Thyme family has an interesting make up - Sir Willowby former inventor, Lady Henny animal tv show host, Justin, Robyn and Albion and Eliza the gorilla and an odd assortment of staff.
Set in Scotland. Henny is kidnapped. Justin is trying to invent a time machine.
Set in Scotland. Henny is kidnapped. Justin is trying to invent a time machine.
April 5, 2013
A fun read about a Scottish boy genius who needs to develop a time travel machine to save his mother from a kidnapping. Lots of puzzles within puzzles. My one dissatisfaction is that, like so many YA/children's novels currently being published, this is clearly set up to be part of a trilogy so the plot isn't fully resolved by the end.
November 6, 2015
Justin Thyme, child genious, has just figured out his hteory of time travel. He theorizes that time is woven together like a tartan. YOu can't reweave it...so how can you travel through it without causing it to unravel? And can you change things in the past....like save your mother from a kidnapper?
October 21, 2010
It was one of those more-for-a-younger-age-group books that I had borrowed on a whim, which I usually rate as 'it was ok', but it had rather interesting ideas about time, and I did enjoy it, so I guess I 'liked it'.
January 27, 2012
I quite enjoyed this book and wished my library had the second one. This is a book my kids might enjoy having read to them.
June 11, 2012
I really loved this book! It is very engaging and well written. The plot is fresh with enough well thought out twists to keep you guessing.
June 26, 2012
super fun, a great mystery for any geek!
September 18, 2012
This book was so amazing. It was funny and super clever. I really liked the fact that it is a teen book, but the author doesn't talk down to them. It's smart and fast paced.
October 31, 2012
It was pretty awesome! I never guessed that the spy involved would be so close to them! I can't awit to read the next book (if there is one)
April 22, 2013
A really fun and intriguing children's book with interesting and quirky characters.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews