Time Travellers: Adventure Calling

Sahana, Ayaan, Mia and three Londoners are on a trip to visit the Houses of Parliament, after being shortlisted for an art competition.

They are fascinated by all the history and then somehow Sahana’s mobile phone time travels them all to 1911! Here, in Parliament’s Westminster Hall, Sahana and her friends are astonished to meet some fascinating women from that time at a Suffragists protest, a sister org to Suffragettes, who didn’t believe in violent actions.

Sahana thought everyone in British history was white but now she meets a group of women from over 100 years ago, including Lolita Roy; women with brown skin like her, who have generally been overlooked by history, but who played an important part in gaining women’s right to vote. 

Apart from a high-speed adventure, this is a fabulous introduction to the political system and history for 8-10 year-olds, full of vital nuggets of empowering information such as how MPs are in parliament to serve us, and some basics on how things work that should spark all sorts of questions. And that’s before the really exciting time-travel adventure begins and we get to meet historical figures up close and personal.

This would be a great book to read in primary classes with Year 4, 5 and 6 to introduce politics and suffragettes/suffragists and the true history of the UK, minus the whitewash. It’s all very digestible and easy to read. And thrillingly it’s just the start of a new series!