I’m sure we’ve all wished we could time travel so that we could go forwards or backwards in time.  Have you ever wished that you could travel to a different dimension?  Things would be different there.  In another dimension we could be living underwater, there might be no One Direction, or the world could be ruled by cats.  In Christopher Edge’s fantastic new book, The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, Albie just wants to find a dimension in which his mum is still alive.  He’s determined to find that dimension, and he’s going to do it with just a computer, a Geiger counter, a cardboard box and a banana.

When Albie’s mum dies, it’s natural he should wonder where she’s gone. His parents are both scientists and they usually have all the answers. Dad mutters something about Albie’s mum being alive and with them in a parallel universe. So Albie finds a box, his mum’s computer and a rotting banana, and sends himself through time and space to find her.

In The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, Christopher Edge takes you on an inter-dimensional journey with lots of laughs and a whole lot of heart.  One moment you are laughing at Albie’s interactions with himself from another dimension and the next your heart is aching because you wish Albie could find his mum and find his way home. It is Albie’s longing to see his mum again that leads him to discovering her research in the garage and setting out to find her in another dimension.

Science plays an important part in the story.  Albie’s dad is a scientist who has his own TV show about the wonders of the universe, Albie’s mum was a scientist, so Albie knows a lot about science.  Christopher has woven information about all sorts of science in to the book, which I found really interesting.  I know a lot more now about the Large Hadron Collider and what scientists are trying to achieve with this from reading this book.  It’s a great book for those kids (especially boys) who like reading nonfiction but struggle to find something to read.

My favourite thing about this book is that its all about traveling through different dimensions rather than through time.  I haven’t come across a story like this before so it was a really interesting read.  I love the idea of things being different in different dimensions.  In a book written by his dad Albie reads that there could be just small differences between dimensions, but Albie discovers some big differences.  In one dimension Albie is a girl in a wheelchair, in another there are two moons orbiting Earth.  It was fun picking these differences when Albie traveled to another dimension.

Covers are extremely important for children’s fiction and I think Matt Saunders’ cover for The Many Worlds of Albie Bright is wonderful. It will certainly make the book jump off the shelf.

Grab a banana, a cardboard box and copy of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright and take the journey of a lifetime.