“Fast Forward” by Judi Curtin, was about a girl called Molly and her best friend Beth. Beth lives with Molly but his doesn’t seem to affect their friendship. There is a new girl in their class called Heather. She seems to be very shy. In the story it turns out to be her birthday but the girls have other plans so they cannot attend the party and this is when things get very interesting!!!! It is at this point that we discover the time travelling phone.
Using the phone the girls travel into the future to see the place where Heather is hoping to have her birthday party. They look in the window and discover that nobody has turned up for the party. The only people there are her parents, her bother and Heather herself. They feel so bad that they travel back to the present, change their plans and encourage everybody else in the class to go to the party. They also buy her some fantastic gifts and this shows a very generous side to the girls.
It was a good read but riveting would be a bit of a stretch. The part that I liked most was when Rico, the owner of the shop where the time travelling phone is, read Molly and Beth’s minds. It was a bit weird but that was the interesting thing about him. The author gave me a clear message that you should be kind to your friends and try not to let them down. She also showed me that if I do time travel that it is important not to change the future or bad things could happen.!!
I would recommend this book for children aged between seven and nine. I would rate the book 6/10.
Kayla, 11, 5th class, Belclare NS, Tuam, Co. Galway
Disclaimer: The book was provided by the publisher, O’Brien Press, free of charge to Seomra Ranga for the purposes of this review
