|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Engaging, exciting and educational Aug 23, 2010
The alliteration was unintentional! These are the three words that came to mind the moment I reached the gripping finale of The Time Cavern. And I write as a fifty-something who is still growing up and learning something new from books like these, even though the intended market is "juvenile" (can't think of a better word).
The Time Cavern is engaging throughout, firstly by its charming introduction to a "normal" Minneapolis family that has moved to an old farm in Amish country, and secondly in presenting such human characteristics in young Aaron and his chum, Jake (short for Jacqueline). I really liked this pair, not least because they have well-observed child characters, but you get the impression their experiences are going to make them better than average teenagers in a few years!
The book is exciting because Fonseca builds the pace well. I tried to read this in one sitting and would easily have achieved that except that I began after a long day's work. Up with the dawn for the last few chapters... and not disappointed. You need plenty of mental energy for the finale (find out for yourself!).
One of the most important aspects, given the targeted age group, is that The Time Cavern is educational. Here you'll find plenty on science, religion, chemistry, astronomy, electronics, engineering and more. Never a lecture, always brightly and skillfully passed on within the storyline. Excellent. Strongly recommended. For any age!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Not just for kids Jun 17, 2010
As a kid, when the summer bookmobile came to town I was always dragging armloads of books home. Mom had to drive me in the car. I would read in the lawn chair for hours. Those were the years. Now I do the Kindle thing and I'm over fifty. Here's the thing....
Todd Fonseca's The Time Cavern would have been one of those books back in the day. I had been seeing it around AMAZON and the cover is good, the description sounded like fun, interesting. But it was a YA, so I didn't read it. And then I got the KINDLE and thought, 'Why not?'
It's a lot like the spirituality fiction and mysticism fiction I love. I enjoy a little time travel, a lot of questions about the possibilities of the Divine Mystery we barely understand.
I loved Jake, she reminds me of my youngest daughter. The voice in the wind made my scalp tingle, and I really am over fifty so that was cool, being frightened a little. I am going try to get Hubby to read it too. He liked Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I loved Happy Hollisters. Todd Fonseca manages to make it just as good.
Essa Adams
A Breath Floats By mysticism fiction
A Breath Floats By (Spirituality Fiction) kindle
Awesome story! Mar 24, 2010
My daughter and I fought over who would read The Time Cavern first. I lost. She loved it, and when it was my turn, I did too.
This is a fantastic book. Mr. Fonseca's carefully crafted mystery, characters and setting will capitvate readers of all ages right from the start. They'll enjoy getting to know Aaron and his friend and neighbor, Jake (short for Jacqueline); they'll be scared (in a good way) and intrigued immediately when Aaron camps outside his new home and hears his name in the wind; they'll be eagerly uncovering the mystery right along with Aaron and Jake; and they'll be learning about the solar system, another culture (the Amish), another lifestyle (farming), chemistry, and so much more without even realizing it. We can't wait for the next book to come out.
As Good As It Gets Mar 05, 2010
Todd Fonseca has brought this avid reader back to the point where words and images leapt off the pages and captured my imagination as a child. The Time Cavern will certainly be the catalyst for some young readers to begin their love of books. The characters of Aaron and Jake seem so familiar because their curiosity and sense of adventure is what we all experienced as children. What an amazing way to be reminded of secret places and the wonderment we had exploring, even if it was no further than our own backyards. Besides the rich characters and intriguing story, for me it was an overwhelming feeling that The Time Cavern brings about beautifully. The sense of adventure between these two friends is so familiar, that I was repeatedly struck with that odd deja vu feeling. You will no doubt find yourself smiling while perhaps remembering a time when as a child, an adventure could be just around the corner.
5 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 had potental, but... Mar 03, 2010
This book was on a recommended reading list for 5th grade boys. I wish I could remember what list so I'll know to ignore it next time. I read aloud to my kids a lot and so we read this one.
This book had potential. It had concepts that any 11-year-old boy would be interested in and issues they can all relate to. The author has good storytelling instincts. Unfortunately, he lacks craft. (If the author should read this, I'd like to say that craft can be learned, but storytelling can not. You have talent. You just need to learn to write. Get a book. Take a class. Write a good book next time.)
The book was filled with little mistakes; sentences that didn't make sense, words that were in the wrong form, typos, etc. I found the use of the same boring word like big or large used twice in a sentence and multiple times in a single paragraph extremely distracting, and careless. The author's tendency to switch back and forth between the point of view character was confusing. I don't like reading a badly written book to my kids because it teaches bad writing.
Worst of all, the author fails to follow through on his themes. His primary theme is about the desire of a pre-adolescent to obtain greater personal freedom conflicting with a parent's fear that the child doesn't yet have the sense of responsibility to justify said freedom. The author begins to show the hero of the story learning that being honest with his parents and following through with promises is earning him greater freedom. But as the story continues, the hero just finds better ways to lie, even when the truth could have gotten him what he wanted. In the end, he doesn't learn. The idea that a hero learns and grows into a better person is important in any literature, but even more so in children's literature. Even my 11-year-old son picked up on this. He said he did not like the main character because he was rude to his parents (even though he is very polite in the pleas and thank you way) and he lied when he didn't need to.
This book came so close to being good, but because of lack of writing skill, it just didn't make it.
|
| | |
