Customer Reviews

Danny Dunn, Time Traveler, Number Eight

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Danny Dunn series was definitely the most popular science fiction books for children during the 1960's.

If I remember the storyline correctly, Danny Dunn was a teenager(?) who lived with his mother who worked as a livein housekeeper for Prof. Bullfinch, an inventor. The Professor was a father figure and mentor for the young Danny.

Each story centers around some new invention that the Professor has invented and the adventures that Danny gets involved in along with his best friend Joe and girl friend Irene. (If I remember the names correctly.)

Unfortunately, the "science" of these books is a little outdated since some of the inventions that appear (like a personnal computer in "The Homework Machine") have moved from "fiction" to "fact". Still, it was a very enjoyable series and I would love to see them back in print.

The "Time Traveler" story is very similar to the storyline of the "Back to the Future" movies. Prof. Bullfinch invents a time machine which transports his entire house, along with the Professor, Danny and Joe inside, back to the 18th century and it appears in the backyard of Benjamin Franklin. Unfortunately, since there is no electricity coming to his house in the 18th century, the Professor cannot power his time machine to take them back to the future. They enlist the help of Benjamin Franklin and ... well, you can guess what happens next.

The story was very good, but Williams didn't deal with the time "loop" which is the only thing I can think of to call it. When they went 3 days into the future & Possible Joe came into the lab, it was the same Joe who had lived the previous days including the trip back in time. Therefore "Possible Joe" knew all that was going to happen when the machine was activated, but for whatever reason, didn't inform the rest. Maybe Joe wanted to go back & meet Ben Franklin again, maybe he liked the 18th century cooking.

Also in the last chapter (back in the present time) when Joe came into the dining room & was talking about the dispute in the tavern, he talked like he was the one in there with Danny, but he (Possible) was playing ball with the youngsters while that happened. I remember when I first read the book 40 years ago, even then, that didn't make any sense at all.

The story is good, but the obvious poor handling of the details causes me to give it only 3 stars. Jay Williams was a very interesting writer, but he apparently didn't think this one thru. However if the reader can wade thru the obvious problems, it's still worth reading.

It wasn't one of my favorite books to read. Too boring. I mean, Danny D-... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Oops sorry. Just an example what I did while reading the book.