Time Travel discussion

Back to school season, time to read a book marketed to kids! Time Traveling with a Hamster by Ross Welford looks like fun!

Samantha and Dean, you were the ones who kinda-sorta nominated this. If either (or both) of you can come up with some pre-reading questions in the next couple of weeks I'd really appreciate it.

I will do my best, but I didn't know that by nominating something you became responsible for the group discussions on it. I'm still waiting for it to arrive from the library.

Well, I do put that advice? requirement? in the introductory post. But of course I will 'help' too. No worries! Meant to be fun, not stressful!

I will help as well since I am really looking forward to reading this. I am on vacation the middle to the end of September but will try to follow the thread as best I can.

Thank you! (And have a great vacation!)

Do you have experience with step-parents? Was it uncomfortable and awkward like it is for Al?

Did you take care of a pet as a child? What kind and what was its name?

Al celebrates his "golden birthday" when he turns 12 on the 12th. Which date was your golden birthday, and did you do something extra special to celebrate?

We had cats. They needed very little care, but I sure did love having them on my lap when I read. I was born on the 9th, and learned about golden birthdays the next year. :sigh:

I was a step-mother for a little while, to a teen. I had no idea how to be one, and she had no idea how to be a step-daughter. We survived, but she is and always has been independent so we're no longer close.

I love reading stories & memories of others' lives. At heart we're all human, but cultural influences matter so much!

Probably not going to read this since it isn't available in our new library system, but I want to tell you about the pets we had as kids. We had 2 pet gerbils, named Mike and Mike. They looked alike so the names didn't matter. LOL. We also had a couple of parakeets (Banzai and Sterling,) a bunch of frogs, a dog and a cat.

:chuckle: At least the birds got interesting names!

I've started to re-read it. I only gave it three stars the first time, but I think that was in great part due to misguided expectations.

So far so fun. I like that a typewriter is described as 'an old-fashioned computer with no memory... keyboard and printer in one."

And I like Grandpa, for saying things like:
"... neither memory nor knowledge is the equal of wisdom."

Glynn wrote: "We had 2 pet gerbils, named Mike and Mike."

That's too funny! My husband had gerbils as a kid named Pepper 1 and Pepper 2.

I am fascinated by the step-parent dynamic because although my parents divorced, I was 18 at the time and neither of them ever remarried. I think it would be hard to introduce another person into an intimate home situation that someone else chooses for you.

My sister had lots of small furry pets, hamsters and guinea pigs and a rabbit. We had a family guinea pig and a hamster, but I never felt super bonded to them. I wanted a chinchilla but my parents said they were too expensive so I never got one. However, we had a family cat (also named Pepper) and later on we took in a stray that I named Paige. She became my cat and I had her for 13 years. I bonded more strongly with the cats than the smaller critters, maybe because they had a much longer lifespan.

The step-parent dynamic can be so different for different people. The one in this story is not terribly well-developed, but interesting nonetheless. It doesn't rely on the cliche of the step-father being awful and the mother being a victim, but neither is it a happy Brady Bunch family.

I finished the book. I got comfortable, got engrossed, and before I knew it I was done.

Right near the beginning though I knew it was going to be even more chaotic than it needed to be. The kid goes to all sorts of trouble to retrieve a message, and then doesn't read it until later. Why didn't he read it right away, while he was in a position to do something about it?

I finished the book. It was a quick enjoyable read. The family dynamics were interesting and I appreciated the step-father doing his best to reach out but recognized they had nothing in common. A few parts seemed convoluted to me but they were necessary to make it all work.

I did have three sets of step families since my mom married three times and my dad remarried as well. It was not easy with the step dads since they each had different issues but I am in touch with most of my step siblings. Oddly, one step sibling who I hadn't heard from for about a year texted me last night while I was finishing the book.

We had mostly dogs growing up and a few cats. I would never have taken any of them with me to time travel.

I turned 22 on the 22nd of May (back in the day). I was in college and of drinking age so yes it was a nice celebration.

I found an interesting discussion question online here: https://d3ddkgxe55ca6c.cloudfront.net...

"Because Pye, Al’s dad, desperately wants to undo the accident hat results in a killer piece of metal in his brain, he asks Al to ‘use my device – follow the instructions incredibly carefully – and prevent me from having that accident’ . Do you think this is an ok request for a dad to make of his twelve year old son? Give reason(s) for your reply."

I admit that I felt a bit bothered by that, but didn't pay attention to my feeling because I wanted to focus on the story. And, as best as I recall, the author doesn't really address the issue. Pye wants to live, Al misses his dad, so what could possibly be wrong with 'fixing' the past?

Well, according to Grandpa, death is supposed to final. I forget, do we find out his reaction to the 'happy' ending?

I thought it was a big ask of a 12 year old and a huge assumption that the time machine would still be accessible. Having read Dead Father's Club by Matt Haig which had a more inappropriate ask I think it was a way to create a coming of age story with a unique plot so it didn't really bother me even though it was rather narcissistic.

Ah, that's why it reminded me of Haig. Yeah, I usually like Haig, but I gave DFC only two stars.

Al learns a musical mnemonic device from his grandfather to remember the order of the rulers of England since William the Conqueror. What are your favorite mnemonic devices?"

In high school, our choir warm up was to sing the 50 States that Rhyme song from Animaniacs.

King Philip Cried Oh For Goodness Sake. If you don't know it, see if you can figure it out. Hint - science (not history).

I've heard of the Memory Palace 'trick' before but never so elaborate or complete as Grandpa's.

Would you like to be able to remember so much so well?

My mom said she did that a lot when she had to memorize things for nursing school.

Do you agree with the grandfather that one shouldn't mess around trying to fix the past?

Do you think it's ok that the father tells his young son to mess around and rescue dear old dad?

Yes I do agree with the grandfather. I think it was inappropriate of the father to have his son rescue him. There were so many things that could have gone wrong that by the end I just thought the dad was selfish and narcissistic.

I guess you can tell by the way that I phrased the question that I agree with the grandfather and with Lizz. I hope all the characters are happy with the 'fix' - but then of course most of them know of no other possibility.

Why do you think Pi bought the house formerly owned by his childhood bully?

Something that took me out of the story: (view spoiler)[You can't lock someone INTO a car. The step-sister could have unlocked it manually and gotten out. (hide spoiler)]

Yeah there were a couple of things that seemed not to line up and that was one I was wondering about as well.

Oh, missed that about the door lock.

And at this remove I have no idea about the house, but I am curious, now that you mention it.

Grandpa Byron is a great character. I really enjoyed his scenes. He was eccentric and loveable.

The story took a while to get going but I got really invested in the plot and enjoyed the book.

He was the best!