Cohen, Rich. Alex and the Amazing Time Machine.

Cohen, Rich.  Alex and the Amazing Time Machine.      Macmillan/Henry Holt 161p $15.99    978-0-8050-9418-3       elem        Good  Science fiction  

Alex has always been fascinated by science, especially the possibility of time travel.  When his brother is kidnapped, Alex must figure out how to actually build a time machine so that he can go back and prevent the kidnapping.  Grades 3-6    

Alex is the classic nerd.  He goes to the library and reads old science books.  He has always been fascinated by the relationship between time and space and the possibility of time travel.  His best friend Todd is totally into sports.  When Alex’s brother Stephen is kidnapped, Alex finds a baseball card that is identical to the one he has in his pocket, which had been a gift from Todd.  Finding this card gives Alex the confidence that a time machine is possible, because he believes that in the future he had built one and gone back to the scene of the crime and left the card.  So he builds a time machine to go back in time and prevent the kidnapping of his brother.

Science and time travel aficionados who can keep up with traveling back in time to change the present and future may enjoy this title.  The often disinterested third-party narration gets pedantic, which slows down the story.  In addition, the reader never gets any information on how Stephen fares with the kidnappers, so he/she feels doesn't become emotionally involved or connect sufficiently with Alex's fear or compulsion to build the time machine and save Stephen.  This title falls short of its possibilities.                                             --Joan Theal