The Time Bike (Hall Family Chronicles)
Grade 4-6-Eighth-grader Eddy Hall and his older sister Eleanor plan to use their time-traveling bicycle to improve the past and avoid hassles in the future, until several misadventures show them that time is too powerful for even an enchanted bike to change. Readers may recognize Eddy and Eleanor as the protagonists in The Diamond in the Window (1973) and four sequels including the much honored The Fledgling (1980, both HarperCollins). The Time Bike retains the charmingly old-fashioned, somewhat breathless style of the previous books, although the Concord, MA, setting is updated with references to computers, mountain bikes, and the millennium. Unfortunately, in this title, the siblings' magical adventures and their experiences with family and community members are not always clearly linked or fully developed, which are the great strengths of the earlier books, and readers unfamiliar with those titles will find the secondary characters unconvincing. Although fans of the previous entries will find The Time Bike more enjoyable than newcomers, it is still the weakest book in an otherwise strong series.Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VTCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.