Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Race Against Time
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
In this follow-up to the popular Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, the car that can fly and sail can now also time travel! Taking the Tooting children on a wild adventure that plunges from the cretaceous swamp to 1920s New York to the Amazon rainforest, this is an exciting and funny story that takes itself lightly. The plot is fantastical and absurd, and the quirky cast - including the villains - are brilliantly characterised. Frank Cottrell Boyce has created another pacy read in the spirit of Ian Fleming's original stories, with contemporary humour and colourful descriptions that bring to life historical times and places. But as well as an energetic story, there is some beautiful writing here, that raises thought-provoking questions and incorporates social commentary and historical facts.