Book Review: Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

Title: Charlie Bone and the Time Twister
Author: Jenny Nimmo
Publishers: Orchard books (Scholastic)
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Pages: 402
Rating: 8/10


This book is a series of eight books. Jenny Nimmo has written other books like Midnight for Charlie Bone, Charlie bone and the Invisible boy, Charlie Bone and the Castle of mirrors, Charlie Bone and the Hidden King, Charlie Bone and the Beast, Charlie Bone and the Shadow, and Charlie Bone and the Red Knight. Jenny Nimmo is thinking of writing a trilogy, called the Red King Trilogy.

In this book Charlie Bone is having a crazy day. Charlie’s cousin from the past, Henry, has accidentally gone into the future or Charlie’s present time, by using the time twister. The time twister is a big marble that can make you go in the future only. Since you cannot go into the past using the time twister, Henry is stuck in the future. Now Charlie Bone is going to have to have to think of a way to get Henry back to his time. Henry’s life is very unlucky, because now Henry’s cousin Zeke has found him and will not hold back to kill him. He has sent guards to kill Henry. How can Charlie and his friends hide Henry? At the same time how can Charlie figure out a way to get Henry to the past? The big question is, will Charlie send Henry back into his time?

Here is an interesting excerpt from the book, describing the time when Henry and Charlie meet :

"Are you…?" he began. "I mean have you…well, the thing is, I've seen you in a photo. Are you Henry Yewbeam?"

"That's me," said Henry, beaming. "I think I've seen you, too. Somewhere. Who are you?"
"I'm your…erm…sort of cousin, Charlie Bone."

"No! This is very good news. A cousin, well, well." Henry marched over and shook Charlie's hand. "Very good to meet you, Charlie Bone."

"The news isn't that good," said Charlie. "What was the date when you…just now?"

"January 12, 1916," said Henry. "I always know the date."

"I'm afraid it isn't that now."…

"You're almost ninety years ahead of where you were," said Charlie…

Charlie saw a large glass marble rolling across the hall. "Wow!" he exclaimed, but before he could pick it up, Henry shouted, Careful, Charlie. Don't look at it."

"Why?"

"It's what brought me here."

In the excerpt above, Henry touched and looked at the time twister, so he went in the future. The time twister is a marble which can bring you only to the future. So Henry is stuck in the future, with Charlie Bone and his friends.

I thought Jenny Nimmo put a lot of thinking into this book. I also liked that she put a lot of detail and explained everything nicely. I loved the fact that Jenny Nimmo included two great new characters, Henry and Jamie. I thought the characters were great because Henry was brave and Jamie was a nice brother, who cared a lot about Henry. I liked the story because it had scary moments, funny moments, exciting moments. etc. Compared to other books I would say it was better then the first book because now Charlie is using his powers more often so it is a lot more exciting.

I would recommend this to kids who like fantasy, thick books, adventure, a little action, and super powers.