From Publishers Weekly
Precocious whiz kid J.J. Russell knows he's a lucky guy. At 16, he's the only graduate student selected to work as research assistant for the brilliant Professor Poplov. What's more, J.J. is well on his way to inventing a computer program chip that will make him a fortune. And he's been going out with gorgeous, blonde Polly for four blissful years. But then slick Max Sharp inventsand sellsa chip that's nearly identical to J.J.'s. And on the very same day, J.J. discovers that Polly has been dating Max on the sly. Broken-hearted, J.J. goes to the lab to drown his sorrows in work. There he stumbles on Professor Poplov's most secret inventiona machine that can send people back in time. Impulsively, J.J. sends himself into the past and comes face to face with Jacko and Mutt, his 12- and eight-year-old selves, respectively. J.J., Jacko and Mutt team up to solve a mystery and make some big changes in their shared future: bad guys are disposed of and good guys get their reward. J.J.'s good-natured, wisecracking narration unravels the complicated plot with ease and keeps this story moving at a rapid clip. Lots of fun. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7-8 All this book has to offer is silly characters in a lightweight story combined with a difficult concept.Through the use of Professor Poplov's time machine, boy wonder J. J. Russell goes back to his childhood to fix up his romance with the insuffrable Polly Armbruster. He teams up with his younger selves to discover the industrial spies who have been stealing inventions from the university, and, in the course of that, discovers that Polly isn't worth his interest. While the characterization is on the level of a '50s sci-fi movie, as is the scientific gadgetry, the plot, with its back-and-forth shifts in time, is intricate and fairly difficult to follow. The preoccupation with avoiding the paradox of changing one's past from a future dependent on that past gets in the way of the mystery and adventure. The exploration of the paradox pushes the readership up to junior high where the story and characters will seem awfully juvenile. The jacket illustration fits the older group but only a few of them will stick with the story. Carolyn Caywood, Virginia Beach Pub . Lib .
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
