Customer Reviews

The Time Bike (Hall Family Chronicles)

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

 

 

While not as wonderful as Diamond in the Window and the novels that follow (Swing in the Summerhouse, Astonishing Stereoscope, Fledgling, Fragile Flag) this is nonetheless a lovely, funny, thoughtful book and a worthwhile continuation in the saga of the eccentric Hall family of Concord, MA. I'm not sure how well it stands alone. The entire series is best appreciated in relation to the other novels (why, why, why doesn't the publisher put out a boxed set of paperbacks for the current genenration? )However, my children and I enjoyed it immensely, and we all hope against hope that Mrs. Langton will write more books in the series. They even inspired us to go to Concord for our spring break vacation last year!

The Time Bike is the sixth book in Langton's loosely-connected Concord series for children. Although it does contain references to the prior novels, it can stand alone. Unfortunately, it can't stand too well, with or without its predecessors - The Time Bike is a disappointing entry in a series that contains wonderful books like The Astonishing Stereoscope and The Fledgling.

Edward's new bike is stolen, but he recieves another one from Prince Krishna, the deus ex machina of this series. To Eddy's dismay, the replacement bike is old-fashioned. At first he's embarrassed to be seen with it, but he feels better about it after he discovers it can travel through time. He and his associates have a few disjointed temporal adventures and defeat the nefarious Prawn and Preek.

The Time Bike lacks both the intelligence and the magic that made the first four books in this series so marvelous. The other books, too, benefitted from a sense of unforced depth and penetrating insights, while this book skims along the surface and very deliberately does not look too long or too hard at anything.

Over all, a rather depressing book, with flaws I hope will be corrected in future entries in the series. Jane Langton's children's fiction is well worth reading - but please, start with The Diamond in the Window. Starting with The Time Bike is a disservice both to the series and to the author.

This book is about a boy who gets a bike for his birthday. The bike was the newest one in town. When the boy leaves it unchained on his front porch it gets stolen. A few days later a prince that is that is married to his older sister sends him a new bike from the 1980's but the boy didn't know that it was magic and could travel through time. The boy makes some big mistakes while traveling through the past and future. He makes a really big mistake but you will have to read the book to find out what it is.

I think you should read this book because it is a great fantasy book. It will really blow you back on your heals! It is also a great children's book. You should read it today.

-Brendan

Are you intrested in the past, or the future? Do you like science fiction? I do not, but if you do, The Time Bike is the book for you. The book is about a boy named, Eddy, who gets a mysterious bike. He doesn't know what kind of bike it is until he sees a clock on it. When he figures that it is a time bike, he uses it many times. I gave this book two stars because I liked some of the adventures that Eddy went on, but not all of them. For example, on one of them, Eddy went back in time to learn about Henry David Thoreau. One of the adventures that I liked was when Elenor (Eddy's sister) had a turn on the bike. I wish that I could go to some of the places they went. I was disappointed that I didn't learn about Mr. Thoreau when Eddy went back in time. I recommend this book to an eleven or twelve year old.

I am currently reading this novel. This is a great book and should have been a Newbery candidate!!!!

Well The Time Bike is a great book to read in your spare time since its short but still I may be wrong ,right?If your 9,10,or 11 this book would be great for you.It might not be better then Jane Langton's other books like The Fledgling but i may be wrong I havn't read it yet but I am!I dont really want to give the book away but ill say one thing so im warning you if you dont want to know STOP READING NOW!Well if you choose to listen here it goes, dont say I didnt warn you:Eddy gets a bike and its a time bike.Since I dont want to tell everthing about the book and ruin it hmmm...thats all folks.Haha!Well for the One sentence 9 words summary.Haha!Ive got one more thing to say though.If you look I gave this book 5 stars because I like time well not like how I like math,science,and school.But time traveling would be how should I say this.....FUN!Not that I tried it but theres not a lot of time traveling in the book.The books about... at least I think its about a boy who gets a bike and finds out the bike is special very special and he wants to to change the world and history!Just read the book alredy!