The Wonderful Edison Time Machine: A Celebration of Life

Rating:
Summary: An unusual and recommended title for all ages
Review: A lavish and engrossing presentation, this blends an oversized, large-print format with a peppering of color illustrations throughout and will appeal to both young adult and adult readers with its story of Jubee, a boy who discovers a way to go back in time and make a billion dollars in the stock market crash. His social consciousness kicks in and he decides to modify events for a better future in the process, but his experiences in the 1920s era introduce the challenges of living in the era and when his time machine is trashed, he faces the possibility of being stranded in the past. The lively, revealing tone of the story line enhanced by Toby Bluth's color drawings makes this an unusual and recommended title for all ages.

Rating:
Summary: Loaded with cinematic references and humor
Review: Enhanced with 58 color plates, fold-outs and illustrations by Toby Bluth (noted children's artist and Walt Disney animation art director), Malcolm Willits' The Wonderful Edison Time Machine is a delightful "coffee table artbook sized" novel in which four boys travel back through time to 1929 in an effort to prevent "Black Friday", the day the stock market crashed and precipitated the Great Depression. The story is original, loaded with cinematic references and humor, and evokes a sense of adventure in the capstone year of the Roaring Twenties. With its large print format, The Wonderful Edison Time Machine is highly recommended reading for readers young and old alike.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Book - Time Travel From A Youth's Perspective
Review: What would it have been like to be a child in 1929? In the Wonderful Edison Time Machine, Jubee, a youth of the 1990's, and his friends travel back to 1929 and experience all the good and bad that that tumultuous year has to offer. In some ways this book with it many beautiful, full color illustrations looks like a book for children. In fact the language and concepts are perfect for adults who would like to look back in time to see and experience important historical events through the eyes of a precocious child. The text of this fascinating journey through time is by Malcolm Willits, and it is beautifully illustrated by Toby Bluth who has done work for Disney.