The Time Bike

Hall Family Chronicles #6

by Jane Langton

The new bike isn't pretty…

Not like the slick, red, twenty–one–speed bike that was stolen the very night Eddy had received it as a birthday present. The bike that Prince Krishna sent is old–fashioned and has a wicker basket -- the kind of bike no self–respecting boy like Eddy would be caught dead riding. Soon, though, Eddy doesn‘t care how the bike looks, because it has the ability to travel in ways he never thought possible –– in the fourth dimension. Eddy can't wait to take the ride of his life, visit important dates in history, and find a way to bypass exam week. But trips through time can have unpredictable results, and they‘re not always without danger....

Genres: Fantasy, Time Travel, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Science Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2000

About the author

Langton was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied astronomy at Wellesley College and the University of Michigan, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1944. She received an M.A. in art history from the University of Michigan in 1945, and another M.A. from Radcliffe College in 1948. She studied at the Boston Museum School from 1958 to 1959.

In 1961 Langton wrote and illustrated her first book for children, The Majesty of Grace, a story about a young girl during the Depression who is certain she will some day be Queen of England. Langton has since written a children's series, The Hall Family Chronicles, and the Homer Kelly murder mystery novels. She has also written several stand-alone novels and picture books.

Langton's novel The Fledgling is a Newbery Honor book. Her novel Emily Dickinson is Dead was nominated for an Edgar Award and received a Nero Award. The Face on the Wall was an editors' choice selection by The Drood Review of Mystery for 1998.

Langton lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts, near the town of Concord, the setting of many of her novels. Her husband, Bill, died in 1997. Langton has three adult sons: Chris, David and Andy.

Series:
* Hall Family
* Homer Kelly Mystery

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize this book was part of a series, but I wasn't bothered by references to past books' events. It made the story feel richer. Nor was I bothered not to get an explanation for the unconventional family structure, because it's nice to read a book that demonstrates, without fuss, the elastic definition of family. Much of the dialogue sounds old-fashioned, especially the reliance on "dear" but that's oddly appropriate for a book about time travel. I would've liked the story to have taken more risks, however. As a side note, my favorite character was Oliver, the middle-school kid with a driver's license and a rickety Chevy Impala called the Green Horror. I'd read a book just about him.

[Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eddy hall is very devastated when his shiny new bike was stolen. A few days later he receives a beat up old bike from some relitaves from India. He tries the bike and it appeared that the bike can travel through time. He experiments the bike and some disappointing thing happens. He travels ahead a week to miss exams but he ended up in summer school. He lookes for clues to lead him to the suspect thatstole his bike. He finally knows who it is. He sees the boy that stole his bike but he could not do anything about it. His sister Eleanor take the bike and uses it to take a trip. Eddy is very worried that he cant change the past with the bike.

I liked this book because it showed Eddy going in the future trying to pass exams and stuff he wouldn't like. The author really put a lot of effort in this book because it was so awesome! I hope the author can make a second book of The Time Bike. It would be so exiting! This storie reminded me of some of other book but it took place in the old days and the main charecters where adults.

I recommend this book to any time machine belivers. This is a very stupendous book. I would really love to read this book out loud to children like that are 8 to 15 year old kids when im and adult. Im sure they would love it and especially me.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in the Hall Family Chronicles. Eddy wants a fancy expensive bike for his birthday. He is so excited when he gets it, until it is stolen. Then his Indian uncle sends him an old beat up model. Eddy is crushed until he discovers the old bike is really a time machine. He uses the bike to time travel into the past to find a vanished deed to their house or face eviction. His sister Eleanor tries to travel into the past in a vain effort to save the life of a movie star. A very cute story.

[Alicia Durrant · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read this one with my 5th graders which made it so much more enjoyable. honestly pretty boring read except for like 2 chapters but reading with kids makes everything more interesting. anyways glad we did it.

[Kylee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Level S Guided Reading
The students didn’t like this book at all and neither did I. It was boring and predictable.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed in this book. Excessively over descriptive yet provides no depth of story line or purpose to the book. The subplot of the sister obsessively pining about not being popular enough to get invited to a party was utterly pathetic and sexist. I was ashamed to have picked this book out for my 8 yr old son and force him to listen to this very poor attempt of literature. Im trying to get him to embrace chapter books, not dread them. It refers to children as ugly, fat and stupid many times

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quotable:
“You can do it too, Eddy,” said Uncle Freddy… “You can fish in the stream of time. You can go back three thousand years whenever you like.”
“Oh, I get it,” said Eddy wearily. “You mean I can travel in a book. I can read an old book.”

“I’ll go to the library,” said Eleanor… “You can find out anything in the library.”

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable follow on to what is indisputably by favorite story from elementary school days, The Diamond in the Window.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm surprised to find this is a book 6 in a series, but it makes a lot more sense now, given the way it describes things that have basically no effect on the main story. As a standalone book (which it absolutely can be read as!), it feels imaginative but at the same time a little lacking. Like, how do you have a series where only ONE book involves time travel?

Hmm.

The story is *okay* as a time travel story, though it seems to be more about family and their much-hinted-at mysterious house than about time travel, which is kind of cool but also felt in the moment like it was throwing away the core gimmick. Like, it takes half the book for Eddy to even do anything meaningful with the bike; Eleanor—for all her bellyaching in the rest of the book—accomplished much more by accident (predictably so since a "bad" ending for this kind of story feels like a phenomenally bad move). I suppose that feels in-character for a boy Eddy's age, between IMMEDIATELY having his very expensive bike stolen, then receiving the Time Bike and—upon finding out what it can do—IMMEDIATELY having IT stolen as well out of misplaced confidence that no one would steal it and telling Oliver the Destroyer of Everything He Touches about it and generally just not being as careful as one ought to be with a TIME MACHINE.

So, the main point of tension is resolved in the background, by Eddy's sister, and Eddy ends up squandering his "adventure" on poor planning and general time machine mismanagement. The paradox resolution is also weird: Oliver brings back his banged up car from before it was banged up, but it dissolves upon Oliver's return to the present time, which Eleanor later determines is from the Out Of Place Artefact of the pristine Impala overlapping with the Impala of the correct timeline, while the deed Eleanor COMPLETELY RANDOMLY happens to find is the same one that was lost, so it remains with her in the present time intact.

What I don't like is how Eddy skipped over a week to get to the end of school (missing his exams in the meantime) and was NOT immediately greeted by frantic family wondering where he'd been for the past week, instead ONLY skipping ahead to find that he had flunked out and would need summer school to catch up.

WHY DID HE NOT JUST GO BACK and "undo" that, rather than deal with the less palatable consequences of his actions? Seems like he knew about paradoxes from having to hide from himself and others when repeating a Saturday... did he not want to just change the history of the skipped week?

It feels like the story was written with only a vague idea of how time travel might work, without getting into too much of paradoxes and so on. So, the story is an Okay read if you find it, but it's fine if you don't and read whatever else is at hand, instead.

Also, weird how the Time Bike RETURNS ON ITS OWN like a faithful dog after being stolen (hence the tag, less so for it being a "talking" object as much as a sentient one). Like, well... gotta get the plot back on track SOMEHOW, right?

Also, the back cover is an advert for The Fledgling and a summary for the same, which is weird and doesn't help sell THIS book to new readers (though I only just noticed now since I habitually read books "cold" to give them the fairest chance). I don't know if I'll pick it up, though, since it's hit-or-miss if I run across it, and my list of books to special order is as long as the list of new releases for any month, haha.

[Linnea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read more of the books in my collection that fall into this "books I always wanted to read as a kid but they were not available through my library" category. I've found quite a few of these at McKay and I don't want to just look at them on my shelf (although that is also nice). I wanted to read this book because The Fragile Flag, another book in the series, was one of my favorite books as a kid. I also read The Fledgling, so I'm two books into what was at the time a five-book series and the titles of these books are all pretty intruiging.

Yes, this book actually is about a time traveling bike that Eddy gets from some relative(?). It comes from India and the whole circumstance of its arrival is full of cringy Orientalism (the book was written and set in 2000, but feels like it's from the sixties). Unfortunately, that bike can only travel in time, so the traveler is bound to Concord, Massachusetts. You're probably imagining how this could go and yes, Eddy does go visit Henry David Thoreau, but he is not good at dates and just travels to HDT's birth year. Baby Thoreau is not very insightful.

Eddy also learns a little about the rules of time travel in this book when he time travels to skip exam week at school, only to find that he has failed all of his exams (but somehow not because he was absent--apparently he was there but he has no memory of the experience. It's weird.). Then he can't travel back in time to pass the exams because then there would be two of him. He also time travels to repeat a really fun day, but finds he can't participate in the fun because of the two-Eddys problem again.

The time-travel device is on the whole completely unsatisfying with one exception. Eddy's sister takes the bike for a spin and manages to have both a good time travel time and finds and brings back(!) an important artifact. We don't find out what kinds of things can travel in time or whether or not history can be changed, but the story does end well for everyone.

[Millay · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Time Bike by Jane Langton was a quick, rather boring read. Though it had some interesting parts, it was very bland.

The story in this book had highly interesting potential. However, it fell very short. It didn't have a steady pace or goal. It was kind of all over the place. Plus, there wasn't even a message at all.

The idea of this book was entertaining. A bike that can travel through time has a good amount of intrigue, yet, that wasn't well executed.

To add to it, the characters weren't even good! They were so 2 dimensional and boring!

The one thing that I did enjoy about this book was the one historical event that took place. That was interesting.

Triggers: none

Overall, I wasn't enthralled in the slightest by this book. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eddy gets a brand new, expensive bike for his birthday but when it is stolen, he gets a new bike delivered to No. 40 Walden Street from a relative in India. It is a time travel bike and Eddy and his sister have some time travel experiences. The story is not really very interesting and certainly not a convincing time fantasy. May appeal to Langton fans.

[Kia Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed in the oddest of ways, Langston does not overelaborate on the mechanisms of “The Time Bike.” In fact, I found the journeys taken to be milder than I anticipated. Instead, an emphasis was made on the gravity felt (or not) by the riders and how time was redefined for them. Quirky, quaint and lovely.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm writing this for my sister who had to read this book for school and didn't like it. Apparently, she had a terrible book group and they read the book too slowly but it still sucked. I think I read this some time in elementary school, but I don't remember anything about it which probably means I didn't have an opinion about it.

[Alyssa Skinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was pretty good, but when I started to read it, I had no idea that it was book six in a series, so there were a lot of references to previous books that I didn't understand. But it was still decent.

[Cat Rennolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and satisfying read. A little mystery, a little history, a little science and a lot of fun. It's #6 in the series, but she manages not to spoil the others, so I guess I have more reading to do!

[Sherrie Shaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize that this book was part of a series, but it read fine as a stand alone book. The reason that I have it only 3 starts was that the storyline and characters were not particularly realistic to me, more caricatures than actual characters who acted like real people.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time traveling books are bizarre and this is no exception

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

i remember as a kid i spent the whole day reading this isntead of doing my homeschool work

[YuiHirasawaFan · Rating 3 out of 5]

if i had a time-traveling bike i woulda stopped the titanic from sinking

[Jaide · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book years ago as a kid and remembered nothing except being stranded on a beach at the beginning of time…
More misadventures than adventures, but charming and well-written. Apparently it’s part of a series; I’ll be looking up more from this author.

Similar in flavor to:
-The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
-Catscape by Mike Nicholson
-Molly Moon’s Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure by Georgia Byng

[Drew Ransom · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the adventurous novel The Time Bike by Jane Langton, a boy named Eddy gets a bike for his birthday. He instantly falls in love with his glistening red bike with beautiful gears and wheels. The day after his birthday, a boy called "Hunky" steals his prized possession and Eddy falls into a deep sadness. His Aunt Alex is delivered a package a few days later and Eddy gets excited because he believes that it is a new bike. But he was upset because all he had got was a weird looking bike with a headlight, dials, and a clock. For a while he ignored the bike, but then he saw the bike's dials which had numbers that seemed to at pluses days of the year and years. He tested it out to see why the strange contraption had these. He rode this bike stationary in a closet and there was a flash of light. Nothing happened, but when he stepped out of the closet, he heard his aunt and his sister named Eleanor repeat the conversation they had a few minutes earlier. From then on, he used his bike to skip testing week, which made him fail all of his tests. He used it to go back to a Saturday and have more fun, but then Hunky found out about the Time Bike and stole it the next day. His sister also used the bike to go back to the time period of one her favorite actors. He got into many situations where he could of gotten into lots of trouble, but he had many memories with the Time Bike.

This amazing book is a great read for all ages. Though some of the words are a little hard to understand or figure out the meaning of, the book is an adventurous book full of imagination. A good theme for this book is that some objects can look fun but can affect what happens in the future in a bad way. The setting was mainly in Eddy's house, but also included the baseball field and the 1930's.

One part that made me upset was when Eleanor cried because her actor was going to die from a car crash. Another part was when Eddy was stranded in an unknown time on an island with no water, food, heat, and shelter. Eddy learned that messing with time is not safe to others and it is not fair. I persuade you all to read the fantastic novel The Time Bike.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this aloud with my 5-year old. I gave it a 3 because he loved it and found it very interesting. He kept wanting to know what was going to happen and was eagar to listen. It read quickly and read aloud well. It is part of a series, but we read it as a stand alone and it worked just fine. If I had read it on my own it might have been more of a two. I felt like it had some holes (that my son probelly didn't even notice due to his age) and the time travel thing wasn't very clear for me. It does have one vulgar word and references a vulgar exchange.

[Jenny Michalak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travel always interests me and this particular story while imaginative leaves much to be desired in wake of today's knowledge of science. I also would have liked to have seen the story fleshed out in terms of Thoreau and the Transcendentalists as the writer is referenced so often in the story. One of my daughters lost interest in the book and I think it was because of the lack of detail. While the author throws a lot of references into the story he doesn't take the time to explain them. Today's readers want more.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun jaunt through the possibilities of time travel for young middle-grade readers. The writing was sound and the action kept me turning the pages. I did not think it rose to the level of other time travel books, but it's worth reading. Lessons in friendship and family. I can see Howard child would read more stories about this curious family. The references to Thoreau were interesting, although I think missed by most children.

[Morgan Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Time Bike was written by Jane Langton. This book was a fiction story. The Time Bike is about Eddy who gets his nice red bike stolen and he receives a new bike from Prince Krishna. Soon he discovers that his old crummy bike from India is a special time bike and he goes on wild, crazy adventures. I rated this book 4/5 stars because it was a really good book but it kind of repeated its same events over. It was really never something new. But I still really enjoyed this book.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eddy got a new red bicycle. The bad news is that somebody stole it! A prince gives him a new bicycle, but it is not that nice. Eddy figures out that his bike it not an ordinary bicycle, it is time bike. Now Eddy can go back through time on his new bike. Read this book and find out where Eddy's adventures on his new bike take him.
I really like this book. You have got to read it! This book is super, duper, awesome. This book is really interesting.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A children's book by the Newbery award-winning novel The Fledgling. I wasn't a huge fan of this book. It's the story of a boy who gets a gift from a prince- a bike that can travel in time. While I know it's fantasy, there were too many holes (for me) to make this "believable." I didn't think the writing was all that great either.

[Nikitha]

This book is a great book! I read it like 4 years ago,but I remember it so vividly that it was a book full of imagination. I always like to read about books that have to do with time!!! Or... I think it was another Time Bike Book.The cover had a kid on a flying bike in a night sky. Maybe this book is different???

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

"With a sinking heart Eddy bent lower over the handlebars, feeling a change in the motion of the Time Bike. Now it seemed to be hammering against barriers, ramming its way through time, smashing the glass walls between centuries. Shards of days and splinters of years whirled past him. Whole fragments of the shattered calendar flew up in front of the bike. (p 146)