SuitabookTime Travelling With a Hamster
Ross Welford
- Reading
- Read alongside the reader if grief, endangered animals or suspense may feel intense. Pause after major choices to ask what Al knows, who may be affected and whether another response was possible.
- Themes
- Family, grief and responsibility: Al receives a letter from his late father and is given a mission involving his father’s life; family relationships also span different ages through time travel. The premise uses grief and family love as the emotional engine of the adventure, but the complete treatment of bereavement is not established.
- Friendship and mutual reliance: Al travels with or develops relationships involving his younger self and Wilson, while the story highlights reliance on others during difficult challenges. Friendship is clearly presented as valuable and connected with trust, loyalty, compassion and teamwork.
- Courage, sacrifice and consequences: Al faces physical and emotional obstacles and must choose between preserving the future and protecting the present, while undertaking risky actions. The story presents courage and selflessness as important, but also places them alongside lies, theft, fire-setting and unresolved consequences.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the reader would welcome stories involving a parent’s death, a threatened pet, peril, bullying and morally troubling actions. The treatment of the ending and the lasting emotional weight of these elements is unclear.