Wait ‘Til You’re Older

PreS-Gr 4–“Wait until you are older” is a phrase every kid has heard and often gets tired of. Why can’t they be older now? This is what Reha plans to fix. She is tired of her brother Arvan always getting to play with things while she is told she has to wait. So, she decides to go into the future where she will be older. Unfortunately, building a time machine is much harder than one would think. Plus, Arvan points out that while everyone else would be older, she would be the same age. So Reha decides to go back in time. Reha’s research and work lead to her being older, just not in the way she expected. The story is a good reminder that the present is the most important thing we have. Also, it adeptly introduces kids to the idea of time travel, including some interesting facts in the back matter. The illustrations are very colorful, focusing on facial expressions to represent emotions, and showing the process of looking for answers and then creating the different ways of exploration. The little use of Tamil in both the family and author’s Sri Lankan background is evident, and a learning point for many children.