Brandon and the Totally Troublesome Time Machine - Perfect Picture Book Buzz #PPBF

I don't know about all of you, but I have always wanted a time machine, especially if it was a T.A.R.D.I.S! As a kid, I always thought that was such a cool idea to be able to go back in time. Maybe that's why T.V. shows - Timeless, Legends of Tomorrow, and of course Dr. Who have been so popular. Well, this ingenious boy creates a time machine and discovers things about himself and some hysterical pitfalls of time travel.

Book cover - child created time machine in the center surrounded by seven different age Brandons. And the original Brandon at the bottom right.

Brandon and the Totally Troublesome Time Machine

Author: Seth Fishman

Illustrator: Mark Fearing

Publisher: Penguin Workshop/Penguin Random House (2024)

Ages: 5-8

Fiction

Themes:

Time travel, humor, procrastination, self-confidence, and responsibilty.

Synopsis:

A fun, inventive romp of a picture book about a boy who travels back to yesterday to fix his homework but gets into a battle across time with his past and future selves, from award-winning author Seth Fishman.

Brandon built a time machine! (It wasn’t that hard.)

Now, he can visit super cool moments in world history (as well as family history). But what Brandon really wants to do with his time machine is FIX HIS HOMEWORK. (He might have done poorly because he was busy building his time machine.)

Will future Brandon be the solution to all of past Brandon’s problems? Or is not wanting to do homework a timeless dilemma?

Perfect for fans of Corinna Luyken’s The Book of Mistakes, this humorous yet heartfelt story playfully explores the importance of being on your own team and facing challenges head-on rather than fixating on the past or looking to the future. Illustrator Mark Fearing's fresh, retro art style brings wit to every page.

Opening Lines:

The morning started like any other day.

EXCEPT THAT. . . .

What I LIKED about this book:

That's a pretty cool opening and one that makes you want to see what happens next. Now, combine that with the opening spread. . . this colorful, humorous (baby eating the dog's food), cartoon-like image is so intriguing. With that mysterious, yellow, sparkly glow emanating from behind Brandon, and his totally oblivious family.

Internal spread - on the left Mom, Dad, and sister around the breakfast table. Dog lying under table, with cat perched on the counter and baby eating the dog's food. On the right, boy peeks out of a glowing room toward the kitchen.

Text © Seth Fishman, 2024. Image © Mark Fearing, 2024.

The difference in this day is that "Brandon invented a time machine" and immediately went back to the time of dinosaurs, the Colossus of Rhodes, and Alexander Hamilton. Normal time machine things. Then, he decided to revisit his favorite memories and specific family moments. Except for his birth, it's all great fun. Eventually though, he came back to the reason for making the machine in the first place - to fix his homework. I am not entirely sure how I feel about his parents posting his and his sister's work on the fridge. In addition to his parent's glares, even the looming fridge seems to radiate anger at Brandon's homework F with an explosion of red and orange erupting from underneath it. I do love the orange cat, with it's funny expressions, that Mark Fearing added as Brandon's comical side-kick.

Internal spread - on the left boy looking at his newly created time machine made from boxes and parts. On the right, three spot images of the boy visiting dawn of life and the dinosaurs.

As PAST Brandon continues to daydream, FUTURE Brandon does the homework. And his plan works! The page on the fridge now spots a gleaming A+ and his proud parents are beaming. But mucking with time never turns out well. When FUTURE Brandon realizes that PAST Brandon was going to rely on him to do all the cleaning - while he played video games and continued to make a mess - he decided to slack off as well. Sparking a prank war involving a pie and mustard!

So FUTURE Brandon "called for reinforcements." Oops! The range of Brandons - from baby to adult is wonderfully humorous. Though inexplicably, a few historic figures appear as well. When the resulting battle broke the time machine, Brandon discovered that "the thing about fighting your past and your future is that you can't possibly ever win against yourself." With lots of blame to go around, can any of the Brandons figure out how to solve this mess?

Internal image - humorous double spread of part and future Brandon's fighting each other.

With a humorous twist at the end, this book takes a roundabout look at the judgments, from ourselves or others, which we internalize (whether true of not). The unintended consequences of shortcuts. And our own responsibility for our actions (or inactions). This is a funny picture book with a message about believing in yourself and buckling down to do the work woven into a wild time-travel adventure.

Resources:

make your own time machine. How is your machine different from Brandon's? What makes your extra special?

if you had a time machine, where would you go? Why? Could you just watch, or would you mess with time?
create an "I AM" journal and fill it with drawings, collages, photos, poems, or stories about YOU and all the things you like to do. Things you are good at. Things you wish or dream about. And anything else you want to put into your journal.

If you missed my interview with Seth Fishman and Mark Fearing on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.