The Time Museum

Gr 4–6—Delia Bean loves science and history and excels at school, but when summer vacation begins, she's bored. When Uncle Lyndon invites Delia's family to visit him, she discovers that he's a curator at the Earth Time Museum, where the planet's greatest wonders are displayed. The museum is growing, and more and more employees are needed to time travel in search of exhibits. Uncle Lyndon offers Delia a chance to compete for an internship. Going up against young people from all of human history, Delia attempts to prove she's got what it takes to be an intern, all the while realizing that she's a natural born leader. The Bean Team, as she and her fellow travelers come to be known, must work together, but they learn the hard way that not all time travelers can be trusted. The narrative shares some elements with superhero comics: the members of the Bean Team all have interesting origin stories, and there's quite a bit of training and competing, but there's a good balance among action, character development, and theme. The pencil and ink illustrations with digital coloring call to mind television programming aimed at this audience, as does the pacing. The cliff-hanger ending is sure to leave middle graders anxious for the next volume in this new series.