15 Minutes:The Time Machine that saves lives...or at least kids from getting swirlied
Summary: "Casey! Get Up! You're going to be late...again!" Casey Little has always been late for school. And Mrs. Loozer (An Amazing name right? To be honest, she says it's pronounced "Low-zer") is sick of it. One more tardy from Casey and he's getting into a bunch of trouble. To make matters worse, Todd Archer, the school's star Quarterback and a professional at making Casey's life miserable. But after searching through the attic, he finds an old watch, which his dad explains, was his Grandpa's watch. Casey thinks that all it could do is (hopefully) get him to wake up early, But after a rough encounter with Amy and Danielle, the cute girls from school, which includes his Mom yelling at him to take a bath and him stepping in dog poop, he learns the secret meaning of the watch. The watch is a time machine, that can warp back 15 minutes on command, He warps back and now, knowing what they'll say and do, impresses the crap out of them. Suddenly, he's riding on cloud 9, becoming the star of the football team and getting to sit with the popular kids at lunch. But is it all worth it if means giving Tractor- the 300 pound running back that literally runs over the other team- a season ending injury or taking away all the glory from Todd (which is worse than you think it is). Steve Young writes a hilarious novel that is sure to make you bust a gut.
What I liked: The book is very funny. There was an abundance of jokes that were integrated so well that the author made each one part of everyday conversation. You understood where they were, but the characters acted like it was no big deal, like it was part of their everyday life. Also, the football scenes are actually quite intense. Are they as good at say... Tim Green? No, but it was enough to make you tense up and feel nervous for Casey. Not to mention... a time-traveling watch? There's no way a book that has one of those can not be awesome.
What I didn't like? First of all, the book is severely underdeveloped. The characters don't have much depth to them and are really "shallow". The plot is basic- a kid is struggling, but finds a mystical object, suddenly he's the king, then he goes through a rough time, and finally he makes the "right" choice and feels good about himself while in reality he's back to being a loser. It was just a basic book that didn't really make me want to read it again. Also, it was short. I know that's not always a bad thing (for ex. the Raymond and Graham series is awesome) but the length of the novel meant it didn't have a lot of time to develop and the end result is basically a joke book with a real life twist to it.
Final thoughts: A great book for kids who love humor and action but don't like reading long books. It had a great concept but if it was written to a length where it could develop, it would be a masterpiece.
Rating on 'the scale'- 7.0 out of ten
Why? It's a great book and I'm sure someone out there is really mad but I'm sorry, just not the type of book for me. 8 year olds may like it but now that im knee deep into YA, It's not right for me.
Related: Any Superhero book because of the whole warp back into time ordeal. I don't really know. Sci-fi has never been my thing.
What I liked: The book is very funny. There was an abundance of jokes that were integrated so well that the author made each one part of everyday conversation. You understood where they were, but the characters acted like it was no big deal, like it was part of their everyday life. Also, the football scenes are actually quite intense. Are they as good at say... Tim Green? No, but it was enough to make you tense up and feel nervous for Casey. Not to mention... a time-traveling watch? There's no way a book that has one of those can not be awesome.
What I didn't like? First of all, the book is severely underdeveloped. The characters don't have much depth to them and are really "shallow". The plot is basic- a kid is struggling, but finds a mystical object, suddenly he's the king, then he goes through a rough time, and finally he makes the "right" choice and feels good about himself while in reality he's back to being a loser. It was just a basic book that didn't really make me want to read it again. Also, it was short. I know that's not always a bad thing (for ex. the Raymond and Graham series is awesome) but the length of the novel meant it didn't have a lot of time to develop and the end result is basically a joke book with a real life twist to it.
Final thoughts: A great book for kids who love humor and action but don't like reading long books. It had a great concept but if it was written to a length where it could develop, it would be a masterpiece.
Rating on 'the scale'- 7.0 out of ten
Why? It's a great book and I'm sure someone out there is really mad but I'm sorry, just not the type of book for me. 8 year olds may like it but now that im knee deep into YA, It's not right for me.
Related: Any Superhero book because of the whole warp back into time ordeal. I don't really know. Sci-fi has never been my thing.
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