Collins Children’s Books www.harpercollins.co.uk ISBN 978 00 0 8256975 £6.99
This is a story about how the world nearly ends when threatened by a deadly virus; Canine Born Ebola or CBE, and how an eleven year old girl Georgie, her friend Ramzy and her dog Mr Mash eventually save the day. The method is difficult and daring involving travelling into the future by which time a vaccine has been invented and finding a way of transporting it back to the past. Travelling into the future is not normally easy but Georgie has extraordinary friends to help, in particular a brilliant and highly eccentric inventor Dr Pretorius who has taken creating virtual reality environments to a whole new level.
A complex, exciting and intriguing story from the author of the highly popular Time Travelling with a Hamster. It is told with humour and sensitivity particularly when exploring the evolving relationship between Georgie and her step mother to be, Jessica. There are scary bits too, watch out for the some dangerous giant size lobsters! This book could make a great read aloud in an upper KS2 class and might provoke discussion about a range of subjects addressed in the story including virtual reality, time travel, dog ownership, family relationships and the impact of serious epidemics.
Sue McGonigle