Tilly and the Time Machine: time travelling, adventure filled fun!

“Tilly is seven and a half – and about to make history. When Tilly’s dad builds a time machine in the shed there’s only one place she really wants to go: back to her sixth birthday party, when she ate too many cupcakes and her mummy was still here. But then something goes wrong! Tilly’s dad gets stuck in the past and only she can save him… Will they make it back in time for tea?”

Tilly and the Time Machine was one of those books I was lucky enough to be sent by the wonderful people over at Puffin and I absolutely loved it! It centres around Tilly, a brave and fun 7 year old, who has to go on an adventure with her dad’s time machine to save her dad. She misses her mum an awful lot and just wants to see her one more time. 

Throughout the story you get to jump through some amazing different time periods – 1966 World Cup Final, Trafalgar, Victorian times, where Tilly meets an amazing friend, jumps back in time to save the very machine Tilly is using – all so Tilly can save her dad. 

I loved the relationship between Tilly and her dad. At the start you can see that they are reluctant to talk about their feelings, but as the book goes on you can see that wall break down and they both need each other. It deals with grief in a very appropriate manner for the age range that it is aimed for. It’s never too heavy, nor taken too lightly. The moments between Tilly and her dad, with appearances from her mam are lovely. Very touching indeed. 

I would totally recommend this book for Y3/4 classes. It would be a brilliant one as a class novel or just leave it on your shelves for your kids to discover. It certainly would go down well with my kids! There’s a lot that could be done with it too! I would definitely recommend it to schools. I gifted my copy to the school library and bought myself another copy! That’s how much I loved it. 

Thank you so much to Puffin Books for sending me a copy!

Have you read Tilly and the Time Machine?
Where would you jump back to if you had a time machine?

Let me know in the comments! Or tweet me @eenalol. I would love to hear your thoughts! 

S x