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Time Travel Twin #1

The Time Travel Twins

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All that stands between an evil villain and world domination is a pair of twelve-year-olds who just learned they're time travelers. What could go wrong?

Twins Pew and Basket Church dream of escaping the miserable misfortune of their isolated orphanage. Or, even better, the return of their unknown parents. But even in their wildest dreams, they never imagined the truth: The twins can travel through time.

Armed only with perplexing clues to their past and a time travel talisman that is key to their future, Pew and Basket embark on an epic quest. It takes them into George Washington’s war tent and on a hunt for the Liberty Bell, from the battlefields of the American Revolution to a pirate republic in the Caribbean and beyond, all in a race to uncover the secrets of their family—and outsmart time’s greatest villain.

History, mystery, humor, and adventure collide in this delightfully clever romp that heralds the arrival of James Patterson’s newest blockbuster series. 

432 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2024

111 people are currently reading
6425 people want to read

About the author

James Patterson

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James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Profile Image for Rachel (TheShadesofOrange).
2,895 reviews4,805 followers
November 3, 2024
3.5 Stars
As someone who loved time travel stories as a kid, my younger self would have loved this one. As an adult, I appreciated this one but recognize that I'm not the target audience. This one is filled with adventure and fun that will like appeal to a younger audience. I would safely recommend this one to middle grade readers.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
485 reviews5 followers
May 7, 2025
The Time Travel Twins (Unabridged) is a historical fiction book by James Patterson and Tad Safran. I read the unabridged audiobook version, which was narrated by Diedrich Bader. The book is about two kids, Pew and Basket Church. As the story goes, they were found in a basket on a pew in a church when they were babies. Hence why they are named in such a way. They have been growing up in an orphanage, full of staff; teachers, cooks, admin, etc. However, these two orphans are the only kids there. They experience such mistreatment and disrespect. One day, they find themselves meeting a man, who sneaks his way into the orphanage to meet them. He says that he has been hired to find them. They soon find themselves time travelling back into history and experiencing a bit of the American Revolution.

(I listened to the audiobook version, so I apologise if I have misspelt any names or words from the book.) It’s a book that I wanted to like. But it was not enjoyable for me, if I’m blunt. I initially found the book via the BorrowBox catalogue of my local library.

For me… I really didn’t like the early stages of the book. It feels so absolutely miserable. Chapter upon chapter, the writing puts the characters into some of the worst scenarios possible. It just feels such dark and depressing. Personally, it just didn’t draw me in very well. And then there are some moments that just make zero sense within the logic of the book. Such as the way they can craft a door key out of bread and then it immediately works in the door. It was a laughably bad moment. Especially with the way they were then able to really easily get the majority of the way out of the orphanage, with very little resistance. And it’s like that throughout the rest of the book, too. There are so many points where they have a lot of luck, and a lot of their journey is driven by luck or coincidences. So much of their travels feels way too easy for them. They get caught and thought of as spies by multiple different groups, yet are then generally treated really well by those groups, in many scenarios. Even when they’re meant to be treated poorly, it goes really easily for them. Such as one scene where a torturer is planning to torture the twins, though the author has written it to the torturer accidentally torturing themselves. It’s just not funny, in my opinion, though I strongly suspect it has been added for comedic value. For me, as a reader, I just didn’t like it. And a variety of other events in the book and actions of characters are driven by the author trying to add comedic value, too. Even though it often just doesn’t feel funny. And the same for the type of characters. Especially the evils ones. There’s a main antagonist who is said to want them dead. This character had a lot of chances to kill them, and would have been able to do so easily. Yet they generally don’t even try.

The general writing of the book… I didn’t really like it. As I mentioned above, it’s the type of book that is set up to put them through really tough scenarios, but they’re often really lucky in this negativity. So, it just feels weird and poorly written. For example, even with the orphanage stuff, and how badly they’re mistreated there, the writers later try to imply that it’s for their own good that they were put there…? I didn’t like that aspect at all, especially considering the levels of abuse that the twins went through. The authors go over each chapter really quickly, so sometimes it almost feels like they’re skimming through the events because it feels vague. I know it’s an unabridged audiobook that I borrowed from the library. Yet, it feels like it went by so quickly and included very little information of what’s going on.

And, to be blunt, there are portions of the book which are straight up awkward. Such as when Pew tells Basket, who is a black person, not to ask Washington to abolish slavery. In chapter 52, the pair have come to a house and are being served by the host. However, the come to realise that there isn’t a place set for Basket at the table. Because the host assumes, from the colour of Basket’s skin, that he must be Pew’s servant. Pew deliberately chooses not to correct the host on this. He is her brother. Yet, the way she was treating him in some portions… It felt really toxic and negative.

The narrator did an okay job. Though, at times, it was a little bit difficult to figure out which characters were speaking; as a lot of them had very similar voices. And because of the way the book was written, it felt kind of muddled with some of the back-and-forth bits of speech.

There’s a bit of me that is kind of wondering what happens next, because I like the premise, I really do. And it was left on somewhat of a cliffhanger. It feels very unfinished. But… With how much I dislike book one, I feel like I really oughtn’t continue. Maybe I might change my mind later, though.

Overall, I did not like it and it felt really unfinished by the end of it. The characters were bland and the majority of the storyline felt muddled. While there were a lot of portions of plot line that were set up to put them in really negative scenarios, they were extremely lucky for much of it and were often easily able to get out of problems somewhat quickly. To the point where the torturer even accidentally ends up torturing themself? As much as I’d kind of like to find out what happens next, I think I’ll likely skip any more from the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jen*.
119 reviews1 follower
August 4, 2025
Time travel twins! Intriguing from the first moment, Pew & Basket Church are orphaned fraternal twins. Brother and sister, they are further differentiated by skin tone: Pew appears black, and Basket appears white. [note: I will pre-mark spoilers]

Now I know you’re thinking, why would a black American child travel backwards in history, and this is a very good question. For the purposes of this book, as they go back to Revolutionary War times, the initial travel is accidental. However, race is a very visible marker in American history, and it is not ignored in this book.

I sometimes wished it was.

There were many times (maybe even most of the time) where no one made any comment about a black boy and a white girl walking around or otherwise traveling together in 1777.

However, when Pew - understandably - wants to encourage Washington to abolish slavery, or when he wants to similarly influence the country in its infancy, some better-knowing white person comes along and says, oh no - we can’t do that! That’s manipulating time - that’s a no-no. (They’re ultimately fighting some time-baddie who wants to manipulate history to sow chaos and get rich.)

**spoilers**
When the twins visit the British General Howe’s lodgings, Howe assumes that Pew is Basket’s servant. Basket does nothing to correct this, and Pew gets his own back for her lack of action. Then they get in a huge fight over this, which leads to Basket’s kidnapping and Pew’s escape and eventual rescue of his sister.

Overall, the racial issues are a live wire that I’m surprised anyone wanted to tackle. Especially since it wasn’t really done well - at one point a white person suggests that if they abolish slavery early, the Civil War might happen earlier, the South might win, and then America might not beat Hitler. This kind of catastrophizing appears to handily absolve them from changing anything but obliquely pits two horrific tragedies against each other with the presumption that WWII was definitely worse than slavery.

What a terrible slope to start sliding down. I do NOT recommend this book for kids at all. There are elements that are fun, and done well, but the black and white siblings thing feels like a weird gimmick by the end. It’s not necessary for the story, and ends up hindering instead of helping. [not to mention that for them to be blood twins, this just means that they are mixed or black and one of them can pass while the other can’t. So Basket isn’t actually white, she’s just light enough to pass, but she’s apparently internalized being white and does not empathize or even consider the issues her own brother may encounter because he can’t pass.]
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
630 reviews
August 16, 2024
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from a Goodreads' giveaway.

Pew and Basket Church are the only two orphan's living in a very square and vial orphanage. They escape only to find out the orphanage was designed to protect them from an evil time traveler. Their parent have left them a trail of clues leading to the family treasure. The trail leads them in the time of the American Revolution where they become vital to George Washington in his early battles.

The age recommendation for this book is 8-12 and it appropriately written for this age group. It contains pictures with factual information about historical events. Very nice touch. The book ends with a huge cliffhanger which will work to draw kids into the second book of the series. It is a good solid and clean book. However, the length of the book (417 pages) may make it unattractive to some kids. Wondering if it would make a good transition for kids who like the Magic Treehouse and I Survived series into more challenging material.

I will note my school librarian has banned me (somewhat jokingly and somewhat not) from bringing in any more Patterson books. I will add this to the collection though to see how it does. We have a very difficult time matching his books with kids in our school. His books take up 1 1/2-2 shelves and I think only one was checked out last year, and the kid did not pick up the second in the series. This summer, we moved all his books to better highlighted and also put it on some recommendation list to market them more. I know his books sell so I am not sure why they have not been appealing to our audience.
Profile Image for N1c0K1LLM3PLS.
5 reviews
September 8, 2025
This book was great. I’m a teen now and even at my (kind of) grown age, I enjoyed this exponentially. Some parts suffered from the book being directed at little kids, I suppose, like over explaining feelings and treating the audience like they’re idiots (again, expected because it’s made for kids) and those are the reasons I can’t rate it any higher.


Still, the book should be a must read for kids. It was incredibly fun the whole way through. There wasn’t a single moment where I was bored. If you have any children, GET THIS BOOK FOR THEM! Not only is it incredibly fun and easy to get through, it’s very educational on history and sensitive to nuanced subjects like slavery!


I expected the book to gloss over that aspect of the time period when I saw the cover and noticed that one of the main characters was black. My expectations were happily subverted. They talk in detail multiple times throughout the book about the subject. Different people have different perspectives on it, some right and some wrong, that show kids in a none-too-gruesome way the reality of the situation at the time.

This book was a great read. I can’t wait to read the second one.
367 reviews7 followers
November 15, 2024
Do you want the good news about this book first or the bad news?
The good news is that this is a page turner of a book. The bad news is that it is only the first in a new series and (spoiler alert), ends with a cliff hanger. But don’t let that stop you from grabbing this one!
Twin orphans Pew and Basket Church find out, after a horrible childhood in an orphanage where they were the only children, that they are time travelers. Time travel is complicated as you can’t do anything that will change the future, but then how do you stop a time traveling villain who is set on world domination without impacting the future? Visiting Washington’s camp during the early days of the American Revolution and racing to the Liberty Bell to follow a clue they hope will give them insight into their parents.
The next book in a series usually comes out the same time every year so let’s keep a lookout next September for Book #2.
Profile Image for Joan.
2,474 reviews
January 9, 2025
I got to admit this was loads of fun! Two twins (one Black, one White) discover that they are time travelers who have an enemy. They and their family are on the side that protects history from being changed, their enemy likes to change history and get rid of the good guys so he can become the most powerful, richest person in all time. Then and only then will he be happy. He thinks. They all hop in and out of time while fighting with each other and the twins discover more clues to their family history. There’s lots of history in this one devoted to the American Revolution. However, it does not distinguish what is real and what isn’t in the afterword. To be continued, quite clearly! I need to see when or if the next book is out! Drat! No it isn’t and there seems to be no info yet. One person’s educated guess is perhaps every year in September seems logical enough.
Profile Image for Ms. Yingling.
3,928 reviews607 followers
January 14, 2025
Public library copy

I really wanted to like this one, as Patterson's name on the cover (no matter who is writing the book) immediately draws my students to it, but there are a lot of very quirky things in the beginning chapters that make this one hard to get into. The names of the characters (Pew and Basket), their origin story (found abandoned in a church and raised in an evil orphanage), and some of the situations (there is one scene when they have to hide in manure) make this seem like a book that younger readers (3-5th grades) would enjoy, although the length (417 pages) makes it more suitable for older ones. There's a lot of historical time travel, so readers who have outgrown Osbourne's Magic Treehouse books or Messner's Ranger in Time will want to pick this up, along with Gutman's The Flashback Four and Lerangis' Throwback series. There is a sequel.
287 reviews13 followers
August 17, 2024
I received an advanced copy of The Time Travel Twins through a drawing and am delighted that I won. It is a cross between historical fiction and juvenile fantasy, with a healthy dose of humor throughout. The atypical "twins" travel through time to the Revolutionary War era as they search for clues about their parents and background. Having grown up in a harsh orphanage, they "escape" through an odd acquaintance and time travel to colonial America.

A pleasurable and enjoyable read, I definitely anticipate the second installment.

Highly recommended.
342 reviews
January 8, 2025
This took a little time, no pun intended, to get into. And at times, again no pun, it was a little heavy on the history. But it makes sense that one of the authors, Tad Safran, worked on the Lemony snickett TV series because I found myself comparing McCauley to Count Olaf on several occasions...Still a good book and I'm looking forward to the next one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Carole.
1,628 reviews
February 21, 2025
Basket and Pew are twins; one is white and one is black. They were put into an orphan's home soon after birth. When they were 12 they met a man who told them they were time travelers. When he was disappearing, Basket grabbed his foot and Pew's hand and disappeared with him. They landed in the American Revolutionary time. And....
406 reviews2 followers
April 6, 2025
I try to read all James Patterson books - and get teased by some for reading his children’s books. The Time Travel Twins was brilliant ! I hope it is the first of many in what I hope is a new series. Great writing with imagination and also facts. Great review of the American Revolution - but fiction as well. A wonderful way to get younger readers hooked on historical fiction.
Profile Image for Sharon Bromberg.
388 reviews8 followers
April 11, 2025
I rounded up from 2 because I decided to finish it and didn't just give up.
It's a less fun version of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Too formulaic in that it felt like he took a list of things to cram into a book, and voila. Basket and Pew didn't sound like different people other than Basket came up with dumb ideas.
Profile Image for Kris.
540 reviews
November 25, 2025
I listened to this one. This was a fun time travel book, but fell flat on entertainment. The story was good, but it seemed to drag on a lot of the book. If you're listening there are so many characters to keep track of. I normally listen at 2x speed, this one I had to slow down to 1.5 to be able to understand it.
Profile Image for Shanna.
91 reviews10 followers
Read
January 15, 2025
Great book and I appreciate the level of grammar and vocabulary in the book as I read it aloud to my 10yo but who leaves such a huge cliffhanger without even explaining there is a book #2??? No mention it’s a series, no #1 on the spine to notate a series. Slightly annoying to say the least.
1 review
September 6, 2024
Magic Tree House meets History lesson

If you like history and the Magic Tree House books then you'll want to read this nonstop. Perfect book for readers of any age.
Profile Image for Sean Harding.
5,756 reviews34 followers
September 30, 2024
More atrocious codswallop from the master of inane crapola.
Do yourself a favour and find an old doctor who script or something else to read.
Straight to the recycling bin one would think!
140 reviews2 followers
October 28, 2024
Love James Patterson endings to books but this one left me scratching my head otherwise a great read
Profile Image for Jim Parker.
88 reviews1 follower
December 6, 2024
Enjoy reading US history

I loved the mix of humor and teaching n this book . Thank you for a fun kind of history lesson.
171 reviews2 followers
May 20, 2025
DNF didn’t like the arrogant portrayal of Lafayette or that the boy kept bring race into it I just didn’t think this was one of his better books
182 reviews5 followers
June 25, 2025
417 pages

Pretty interesting concept. Like the Churches' names, they're creative.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews

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