Time Vandals by Craig Cormick
Omnibus Books, 2012. ISBN 978-1-86291-947-1.
Recommended for 11 to 15 year olds. In an action packed opening,
kidnapped teens Mei and Jack begin a time adventure that has them
meeting famous historical characters such as Napoleon and Stalin.
Due to their unique set of genes, Jack and Mei are recruited by a
secret agency to travel back in time to fix historical errors. At
present, Australia is a French colonized country and this is all
because Napoleon didn't have hemorrhoids. You'll have to read the
novel for this to make sense.
This is a crazy, fun story that jumps between times, has plots that
continually twist and turn as well as a bizarre collection of
characters. Ixi is their guide and a garden gnome, a gargoyle is
also on the loose with its own agenda and there are scary flesh
eating Zombies as well.
You'll need to have your wits about you as the time jumping can be
confusing but don't take anything too seriously and you will have an
entertaining and original reading experience.
This novel might work best in the primary classroom with teacher
support as students may not be aware of the historical references in
the text. There are teacher
notes available.
Jane Moore