A Message Through Time (Anna Ciddor Timeslip Adventures) - Softcover

Ciddor, Anna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1761180126 ISBN 13: 9781761180125

Verlag: A&U Children, 2024

Inhaltsangabe

A pacey and action-packed time-slip adventure that carries step-siblings Felix and Zoe back to Ancient Roman times - and also, accidentally, drags a Roman girl into the present.

When 11-year-old Felix finds a message in a bottle during a trip to France, he is in for the surprise of a lifetime. Suddenly he is flung back 1700 years to Ancient Roman times, dragging his very unwilling 15-year-old stepsister, Zoe, with him.

They are offered sparrows for lunch and horse-spit as medicine, but that is only the beginning! When they ricochet forward to their own time again, Felix and Zoe discover they have accidentally brought a high-class Roman girl with them... Can they navigate the strange Roman world - from opulent city to distant sacred spring - and return the 12-year-old girl to her family before time runs out?

In this standalone companion novel to the acclaimed The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, featuring a whole new cast of characters, award-winning author Anna Ciddor has created a roller-coaster adventure that will have young readers on the edge of their seats.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Anna Ciddor has been fascinated by the past for as long as she can remember. It would be her dream come true to step through time! Instead, she immerses herself in research and digs out the tiniest details so she can bring the past to life in her imagination - and in her books. Anna is based in Melbourne, Australia, but her research quests have led her across the world. She has hunted for druids in Ireland, Vikings in Norway, and her grandmother's childhood in Poland.

Anna's work has won her many accolades, including the Nance Donkin Award for Children's Literature, a grant from the Australia Council, Notable Book awards from the Children's Book Council of Australia, and shortlistings for numerous other awards. Some of her best-loved books include Runestone, The Family with Two Front Doors, and The Boy Who Stepped through Time.

To find out more, visit annaciddor.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

1
MESSAGE IN ABOTTLE
‘ D O N ’ T YO UD A R E T R Y TOorder frogs’ legs for lunch
again,’ said Zoe, shoving open the cafe door.
Felix grinned. ‘That’s what you’re supposed to
eat in France,’ he retorted.
As they stepped inside, a waiter glanced their
way and held up two fingers. ‘Deux?’ he called, over
the noisy clatter of the cafe.
‘Oui,’ Zoe called back, and she glanced round at
Felix. ‘Deuxmeans ...’
‘Two,’ said Felix. ‘I know.You’ve told me twenty
times. And I can count in French anyway.Un . ..
deux ... trois!’
The waiter beckoned them to a table and Zoe
snatched up both menus.
‘I’ll order,’ she said.‘Une pizza marguerite,’ she told
the waiter.
Felix shrugged. He didn’t really want to eat
frogs’ legsanyway. He’donlywantedtofreak
Zoe out.
When the pizza arrived, he grabbed a slice with
both hands, and sank in his teeth. Cheese and tomato
oozed everywhere.
‘Use your serviette,’ hissed Zoe.
He gave her a look, then picked up another slice,
and made sure the cheese dripped across the table in
long, messy strands.
‘You are so embarrassing,’ growled Zoe.
She picked up a knife and fork and ate her own
slice neatly, cutting off all the crusts and pushing
them aside.
‘Why don’t you eat your crusts?’ he demanded.
‘They have no nutritional value. They’re just
empty carbohydrates made from highly processed
flour,’ said Zoe in a superior voice. ‘Mum doesn’t
believe in eating rubbish, like your dad does.’
Felix shrugged. ‘Well, you’re missing out on the
best bits!’ he said.
He crunched his own crusts as noisily as he
could, and watched her, impressed that she managed
to keep her mouth turned down even while she was
eating.
I’m not keen on having a new family either, he
thought, especially a big stepsister. But I don’t spend my
whole life sulking about it!
Dad kept making excuses for Zoe. ‘Fifteen’s a
hard age to get a new father,’ he’d say, or, ‘It’s just
been Zoe and her mum for years.’
Dad thought Zoe would come round eventually,
but Felix couldn’t see how.
When it was time to leave, he snatched up Zoe’s
leftover crusts, and bounced ahead of her out of the
cafe.
‘The Roman bathhouse now!’ he sang out.
‘You don’treallywant to go there, do you?’
groaned Zoe.
‘Yes! You promised your mum you’d take me.
And it’s our last chance.We’re leaving in a few hours.’
‘Okay, but it’s a waste of our last few hours in my
opinion. It’s just a ruin.’
‘Of course it’s a ruin,’ said Felix. ‘It’s ancient
Roman. It’s thousands of years old.’
‘Actually, less than two thousand,’ corrected Zoe.
‘Hey,’ Felix sniggered, ‘what goes up but never
comes down?’
He waited, ready to burst out laughing, but of
course Zoe didn’t answer. ‘Your age!’ he crowed.
‘Get it? Your age always goes up!’
He hurried along the narrow street, glancing
eagerly at the crumbling side of the bathhouse.
Behind an iron railing, he could see an exciting
excavation pit – broken archways and ancient floors
poking out of the dirt.
At the corner, they found a little carpark, with
a few cars nestled under a big shady plane tree, and
on the left ...
‘Wow, this wall’s hardly broken,’ said Felix.
A large, curving wall rose out of the excavation
pit. It had high arched windows, and a pattern of red
bricks and pale stone visible under the dirt.
‘Why did the Romans build their bathhouse in
a hole in the ground?’ he asked.
‘Don’t ask me,’ said Zoe, crossly. She never liked
it when she didn’t know something.
‘Come on, let’s find the ticket office,’ said Felix.
Beyond the wall was a modern structure made of
large sheets of brown metal.
He ran up to it, then skidded to a halt. Attached
to the closed doors was a big sign:FERMÉ. He
knew that notice very well by now. Nearly every-
thing in Arles seemed to be closed half the time.
‘It’s shut,’ he sighed, when Zoe joined him, ‘but
I think it says it opens at two again.’ He looked at his
watch. ‘It’s one twenty-eight now.’
‘Good,’ smirked Zoe, ‘we can go look at some
shops.’
As Felix dragged his feet after her, back around
the corner, two pigeons came flapping out of the
ruins.
‘I know!’ he said. ‘I’ll wait here and feed the
birds.’ And he began to break up bits of pizza crust.
‘Don’t be an idiot.You can’t stay here by yourself,’
said Zoe.
‘I’m eleven! I’m not a baby.’
He crouched down, holding out a bit of broken
crust on his palm. One pigeon with very pink
feathers on its neck took a wary step towards him.
Felix stayed still.
‘Come on,’ said Zoe. ‘You know I can’t leave you
here on your own.’
‘Shh,’ he hissed.
‘Felix, stop mucking around,’ said Zoe.
Felix blew out a huff of frustration and stood
up. The pigeon immediately rose in the air. But
instead of...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: A&U Children
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2024
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1761180126
• ISBN 13: 9781761180125
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 318
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar