Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: The Time Surfers
NED, ERNIE, ROOP, and Suzi are hot on Vorg’s trail. But when they plunge after him into a timehole, their surfies spin out of control and they’re forced to crash-land. They couldn’t have picked a better place: a tropical island! There are sandy beaches, perfect waves, and blue skies as far as the eye can see. But the Time Surfers soon find out there’s an enemy on this island as bad as Vorg: a gang of teenagers! They’re bossy. They’re mean. And they’re dangerous.
Ned, his buddy Ernie, and their time-surfing pals from the future, Roop and Suzi, are expert pilots. But when their surfers spin out of control, they're forced to crash-land. They couldn't have picked a better place. A tropical island! Bright sunshine, clear blue water, lots of cool plants--and no parents!
But the kids soon find out that this island has a major problem. It's ruled by a gang of teenagers! They're bossy. They're mean. And they're dangerous. Will the Time Surfers sink or swim?
About the Author
Tony Abbott is the author of numerous books for young readers, including the popular series The Secrets of Droon, and the novels, Kringle and Firegirl. He lives and writes in Connecticut.
To begin with, I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived in a small house on top of a hill. Together, my mother, a school teacher, and my father, a returning World War II paratrooper pursuing his college studies, brought tons of books into our small house on Cliffview Road. I guess you could say that these books were my first introduction to the world of literature. My father was always writing, so the sound of the typewriter was like the background music of my early childhood.
When I was eight, we relocated, by car, to Connecticut where I finished elementary school and high school. I went to college at the University of Connecticut, majoring first in music (too hard), psychology (too many theories), and finally English (yes! lot and lots of books!). I graduated UConn with a bachelors degree in English Literature. After that, I traveled to Europe for quite a while, drank a lot of coffee, and wrote notebooks full of strange poetry. When I returned, I found work in a variety of bookstores and finally a library where I met my wife to be.
It was when I began reading bedtime stories to my children that the spark of writing I had had for so many years finally turned to children's books. After many failures, my first published book, Danger Guys, was written while taking a writing class with renowned children's author, Patricia Reilly Giff. That first book, and the series that it began, became the cornerstone of my writing career and has become something of a cult favorite, by virtue of its being difficult to find. Since then, I've written over seventy-five books for readers ages 6 to 14, including the cult favorit popular fantasy saga, The Secrets of Droon.
Over 8 million of my books have been sold worldwide, and my series and novels combined have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Korean, French, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, and Russian. Danger Guys was named a Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection, and the American Booksellers Association voted The Secrets of Droon among the "Top 10 List of Books to Read while Waiting for the Next Harry Potter." The series was also a Main Selection of the Children's Book-of-the-Month Club, and is on many school and library reading lists.
In 2007, my novel Firegirl won the Golden Kite Award for Fiction presented by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. It is the only award given by children's writers to children's writers, a peer award I remain honored at having received. It was also a selection of the Junior Library Guild.
In the Spring of 2008, my second novel for Little, Brown Books for Young Readers appeared. The Postcard is a comedy/mystery about a boy who finds a clue on an old postcard while cleaning his recently deceased grandmother's Florida house, and who has no choice but to follow the mystery wherever it leads. Among other things, The Postcard is my love song to Florida's Gulf Coast, where my grandparents lived, and to old Florida, its architecture, roadside attractions, and Wild-West origins. It is, not least, my homage to the great hardboiled tradition of Hammett and Chandler, translated to a Florida setting. The Postcard won the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.
In 2009, The Haunting of Derek Stone, a series of four books for older readers, appeared from Scholastic Inc. Titles include: City of the Dead, Bayou Dogs, The Red House, and The Ghost Road.
My literary and cultural interests include the films of Preston Sturges, the Road pictures of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and the Marx Brothers, and the writings of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, P.G. Wodehouse, Jules Verne, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Seamus Heaney, Emily Dickinson, Ted Hughes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, The Arabian Nights, Beowulf, James Thurber, Philip Roth, Ralph Ellison, and William Faulkner. I'm currently a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Yale Center for British Art, and other esteemed organizations. With my wonderful wife, two delightful and brilliant daughters, and the best dog imaginable, I live and work happily in Connecticut.
5.0 out of 5 starsI love the Time Surfers series!, October 24, 2010
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Time Sufers #5: Splash Crash! (The Time Surfers) (Paperback)
The Time Surfers series consists of eight action packed and breath taking books that you can never put down. These books vividly paint a picture in your head and are filled to the brim with time travel, peril, fantasy, excitement, and humor. The characters just jump off the pages and you can never tell what is going to happen next, and that is something I just love about Tony Abbott's books.
In the first Time Surfers book (Space Bingo), Ned Banks, a miserable kid in a new school, is nicknamed Ned-the-Nerd in front of everyone and he thinks he is doomed. Until something totally unexpected and unbelievable happens. Two kids, Roop and Suzi from the year 2099 are beamed into his closet at home and they want Ned to join them in being Time Surfers! Ned is ready for action, excitement, and danger! But most importantly, new friends. But when a gigantic comet is hurled toward earth, the Time Surfers need to come up with way to stop the comet from destroying their hometown! But time is running out and the Time Surfers are counting on Ned to save the day. Can he save the planet from total destruction and millions of deaths?
I first started reading these books when I was about seven and I loved them! Just like The Secrets of Droon series, I was hooked! I could not wait to read the next book! And I didn't want the books to end, and I certainly didn't want the series to end. But fortunately, Tony Abbott doesn't completely end the series so you can just continue them in your head and imagine more adventures. And that's another thing that I just love about Tony Abbott's books.
I can't recommend Tony Abbott's books enough, because all of them are truly splendid, brilliant, and magical. Tony Abbott's books are spectacular and got me hooked on reading. But even though I read many other books and series by other authors, his are still my number one favorites!
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