The Time Museum

The Time Museum is a fun time-travel tale drawn in a wonderfully cartoonish, jaunty style. The plot follows an adolescent named Delia Bean who finds out that her Uncle Lyndon is actually a curator of a museum that exists outside of time and that chronicles all of time. It is a place where time travel is not only possible but regularly practiced.

 

She is bright and is offered the chance to compete for an internship at the museum. She has to go up against a few others who have been plucked from various time periods, including the far future, medieval Scotland, prehistory, and ancient Rome. These competitors have to complete three separate tasks, each more dangerous than the last, and I don't want to spoil much, but they sometimes have to rely on each other in the process. There is much peril in the past, including dinosaurs, natural disasters, and occasional arsonists. Also, they run into at least one person who is not when they are supposed to be.

 A few shifty things happen along the way that reveal some surprising info about the Time Museum and its origins. The story is full of twists, turns, action, and playful aspects of time travel. I have to say it was very tough to put down, and I enjoyed reading it very much.

This book's creator Matthew Loux has a few other graphic novels to his credit, including SideScrollers and the series Salt Water Taffy. He has been lauded by the American Library Association's YALSA, having works listed as Great Graphic Novels for Teens as well as placed on the Texas Library Association's Maverick list. He speaks more about The Time Museum and his work in general in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been glowing. Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review that summed up, "A first rate kickoff: fresh, fast, and funny." Johanna Draper Carlson called it "an enjoyable, rollicking adventure story that I couldn’t put down." Zack Barnes wrote, "The plot and illustrations are just that superior, and the action and thrilling sequences leave you hoping to pick up the second book right away." Dustin Cabeal added that Loux "creates more than one character for you to care about and drops them into a setting and story that you’re sure to enjoy."

The Time Museum was published by First Second, and they have a preview and much more available here. This book is the first of series, it seems, and I am looking forward to seeing how future volumes flesh out this very promising premise.