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The Time Bike: Summary and book reviews of The Time Bike by Jane Langton, plus links to an excerpt from The Time Bike and a biography of Jane Langton.

The Time Bike

The Time Bike
by Jane Langton
Hardcover: May 2000,
144 pages.
Paperback: May 2001,
144 pages.

Publication information
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Reader Reviews

Author Biography
Critics' Opinion:   good
Readers' Rating:  4.5 Stars
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BOOK SUMMARY

The strangest things seem to happen to the Hall family--like the time Eddy and Eleanor had an adventure and found an enchanted diamond, or the summer their cousin Georgie flew with geese. Now their adventure is with time itself. It starts when Eddy receives an unusually large packing crate from his mysterious uncle, Prince Krishna, containing an old-fashioned bicycle, complete with a wicker basket--the kind of bike no self-respecting boy like Eddy would be caught dead riding.

The bike possesses more than just a basket, however: It possesses the ability to travel through time, and soon Eddy is on the ride of his life! But trips through time can have unpredictable results, and they're not without danger...

Newbery Honor author Jane Langton's sixth book about the extraordinary Hall family is a magical account of the perils--and surprises--of travel in the fourth dimension.

Reading Age 9-12 years.

BOOK REVIEWS

Media Reviews

Good  Kirkus Reviews
After 16 years of mostly mysteries for adults, Langton resurrects the Concord cast of Fragile Flag(1984) and its predecessors for a charming, if patchwork, time-travel tale. T….The major characters are easy to like (or, in Preek's case, despise), and the magical events are folded into the fabric of everyday life so neatly that they seem to belong there.

Good  Publishers Weekly
Though computer-craving Eddy is a thoroughly up-to-date youngster, this tale has a pleasingly old-fashioned air. A whimsical and enthralling book, infused with a truly American flavor of magical realism.

Good  Bookshelf
In addition to Walden Pond, Concord, Mass., is home to the eccentric Hall family, which has had some remarkable adventures in a series of novels. This time it's Eddy, whose bright red 21-speed birthday bicycle disappears. In its place, a Transcendental Transport truck delivers an old-fashioned one-speed number that can travel through time, with a Time Clock on the handlebars that goes forward and backward. Great fun.

Good  Bookshelf
In addition to Walden Pond, Concord, Mass., is home to the eccentric Hall family, which has had some remarkable adventures in a series of novels. This time it's Eddy, whose bright red 21-speed birthday bicycle disappears. In its place, a Transcendental Transport truck delivers an old-fashioned one-speed number that can travel through time, with a Time Clock on the handlebars that goes forward and backward. Great fun.

Good  School Library Journal
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

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by U.S. weekly
This book was....
This book was really good something new happened when you turned the page. It made it sound like it was a real story. I would recomend this book to people whom like exciting things.



Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Eddie
Time Bike
It was one of the most interesting books I have ever read!

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