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Johnny Maxwell and his friends have to do something when they find Mrs Tachyon, the local bag lady, semi-conscious in an alley...as long as it's not the kiss of life.
But there's more to Mrs Tachyon than a squeaky trolley and a bunch of dubious black bags. Somehow she holds the key to different times, different ears - including the Blackbury Blitz in 1941. Suddenly now isn't the safe place Johnny once thought it was as he finds himself caught up more and more with then...SMARTIES PRIZE, SILVER MEDAL WINNERSHORTLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL AND THE CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD
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The characters of Johnny’s remarkable friends are fleshed out in this novel to a much greater extent than they were in the previous two novels. Yo-less, a black kid, is less than pleased to find himself dubbed Sambo by the folks living in 1941, and the extremely forceful young Kirsten is almost as upset about being treated like a “little lady.” Johnny, for his part, often finds himself putting his sanity at risk by contemplating the ways and whims of time travel. I found this book to be hilarious; the time travel part of the tale is a little wild and crazy, but hypotheses about the different legs of the Trousers of Time is vintage Pratchett material. Old Mrs. Tachyon is a wonderful character, seemingly rather insane based on her thought processes and tendency to spout gibberish all the time, she is perhaps more sane than anyone else around her; time traveling is enough to warp anyone’s mind, Johnny reasons. I was rather delighted to hear Mrs. Tachyon mumble the words “Millennium hand and shrimp” at one point because these are the very same words often spoken by Foul Ole Ron on the Discworld. This adventure really is the type of thing you might expect to find on Pratchett’s famous planetary creation, and I daresay any Discworld fan should enjoy this book immensely. I find myself wishing for more Johnny Maxwell stories; I feel as if I know these characters now, and they are a fascinating, increasingly funny bunch of guys to hang around with.
Here Johnny and freinds add a little time travel to their list of adventures, and find themselves in in thier home town, but in 1941! A world where girls should play with their dolls rather than worry about technical things which they can't understand, does not go down well with a 90's female.
And as for 'Yo Less' Johnny's black friend, imagine the suprise when the 1940's shopkeeper finds out that 'Sambo' does speak rather good English!
Again another classic combination of humour, imagination and subtle social comment from an author who in my opimion should have far more recognition.
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