Time Twisters: Cape of Slaves - Sam Roth
Title: Time Twisters: Cape of Slaves
Author: Sam Roth
Genre: Historical fiction, Time Travelling, Young Adut, Juvenile Fiction
Publication: Penguin Books South Africa, 29 February, 2012
Pages: 174, Paperback
Age: 12+
Source: Penguin Publishers sent me this to review! Thank you! :)
There's a column of green particles twisting down in the dark. For a moment I forget my desperate situation and that my family life sucks. A thin stream of green dust hovers in the air and then, as if I'm attracting it in some way, it changes direction and moves towards me. As it touches my bare arms, it glows brighter for a second and then sinks into my skin. I jump off the window sill and go to the mirror. I look just the same - a twelve-year-old girl, with pale skin, a dark ponytail and a skew nose. I frown, seeing my forehead crunch up. Am I the same old Sarah?
But Sarah isn't the same, and when she is transported back to the time of witch-hunts through a library book picture, she is lucky to come back alive. Knowing she needs to meet other time-twisters like herself, she finds cool dude, Toby, and science geek, Bones. Together they decide to risk their lives to rescue a missing girl, last seen in front of a painting at the Cape of Slaves Exhibition. It is an adventure that will leave them all changed forever. Will they find her in the past? Will they be sold as slaves? And will the portal in the painting stay open long enough for them to get back to the present?
I really enjoyed this book! The authors (collaboratively written by Dorothy Dyer and Ros Haden) wrote this book with such description, I felt as if I were standing there with the characters, running when they were running, anxious when they were anxious. Don't you just love that in a book? I know I do!
The plot line was very well thought out and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I found that it wasn't a quick book to get into, and that for me I had to concentrate quite a bit when reading Cape of Slaves, but it had a really good outcome and it was really, all worth it in the end.
The main characters, Sarah, Bonisile (Bones) Tau and Toby were interesting. I liked how the authors wrote the chapters from the each of the character's individual view points, like the prologue was from Professor Tambo's point of view, then the next few chapters was Sarah, then Bones and then Toby and then back to Professor Tambo. It is written in first person, which I really like, because then you feel like you are them and that you are definitely in the story.
My favourite character would have to be Bonisile, Bones. I felt like he changed the most throughout the book. In the beginning he was afraid of breaking the rules, afraid of taking chances, he was an A class worrypot and a cleanliness freak and skin and bones, but you really see him grow throughout the book, he takes chances, he develops muscles and he thinks better of himself than before. I also love the relationship him and Elijah developed as friends, it was really pleasant to read about.
I wasn't too crazy about Sarah, I found she was quite a weak character. True, she did bring them all together but she was very clingy onto Toby and when she thought of something that would help them through a dilemma, she would be thinking "That will impress Toby", instead of "Well done Sarah!".
Toby, I thought he was okay, he put on a charade of being a "cool dude" but as the story progresses you can see that he is quite sensitive. He doesn't like Sarah, at first, because he thinks that she will treat him differently because he isn't the same skin tone. But I like that towards the end of the story, he doesn't think as much of that.
It was also really lovely, as it being set in Cape Town, that I could relate to it. When they were talking about places that are in Cape Town that I have been to, I would smile to myself. Its always really nice to relate to a book, isn't it?
This is also a very good, fun and educational book, it taught me a lot about how slaves were treated and about a part of the history surrounding South Africa. It is a really thrilling book about time-travel, friendships and learning to accept each other for who we are. In South Africa, there used to be a lot of conflict involving different skin shades and in this book, the three main characters are each of the three main South African cultures, they are great representatives for the new South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, and reading this book makes me proud that we have gotten past the conflict in which white people used to look down at people who weren't part of the same culture as them. This book makes me really thankful that we are now seen as an equal and that people aren't cast out because of their skin colour. And it just makes me really proud to be part of the Rainbow Nation! :)
I give it: 4/5 CUPCAKES!
Bookaholic
Title: Time Twisters: Cape of SlavesAuthor: Sam Roth
Genre: Historical fiction, Time Travelling, Young Adut, Juvenile Fiction
Publication: Penguin Books South Africa, 29 February, 2012
Pages: 174, Paperback
Age: 12+
Source: Penguin Publishers sent me this to review! Thank you! :)
There's a column of green particles twisting down in the dark. For a moment I forget my desperate situation and that my family life sucks. A thin stream of green dust hovers in the air and then, as if I'm attracting it in some way, it changes direction and moves towards me. As it touches my bare arms, it glows brighter for a second and then sinks into my skin. I jump off the window sill and go to the mirror. I look just the same - a twelve-year-old girl, with pale skin, a dark ponytail and a skew nose. I frown, seeing my forehead crunch up. Am I the same old Sarah?
But Sarah isn't the same, and when she is transported back to the time of witch-hunts through a library book picture, she is lucky to come back alive. Knowing she needs to meet other time-twisters like herself, she finds cool dude, Toby, and science geek, Bones. Together they decide to risk their lives to rescue a missing girl, last seen in front of a painting at the Cape of Slaves Exhibition. It is an adventure that will leave them all changed forever. Will they find her in the past? Will they be sold as slaves? And will the portal in the painting stay open long enough for them to get back to the present?
I really enjoyed this book! The authors (collaboratively written by Dorothy Dyer and Ros Haden) wrote this book with such description, I felt as if I were standing there with the characters, running when they were running, anxious when they were anxious. Don't you just love that in a book? I know I do!
The plot line was very well thought out and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I found that it wasn't a quick book to get into, and that for me I had to concentrate quite a bit when reading Cape of Slaves, but it had a really good outcome and it was really, all worth it in the end.
The main characters, Sarah, Bonisile (Bones) Tau and Toby were interesting. I liked how the authors wrote the chapters from the each of the character's individual view points, like the prologue was from Professor Tambo's point of view, then the next few chapters was Sarah, then Bones and then Toby and then back to Professor Tambo. It is written in first person, which I really like, because then you feel like you are them and that you are definitely in the story.
My favourite character would have to be Bonisile, Bones. I felt like he changed the most throughout the book. In the beginning he was afraid of breaking the rules, afraid of taking chances, he was an A class worrypot and a cleanliness freak and skin and bones, but you really see him grow throughout the book, he takes chances, he develops muscles and he thinks better of himself than before. I also love the relationship him and Elijah developed as friends, it was really pleasant to read about.
I wasn't too crazy about Sarah, I found she was quite a weak character. True, she did bring them all together but she was very clingy onto Toby and when she thought of something that would help them through a dilemma, she would be thinking "That will impress Toby", instead of "Well done Sarah!".
Toby, I thought he was okay, he put on a charade of being a "cool dude" but as the story progresses you can see that he is quite sensitive. He doesn't like Sarah, at first, because he thinks that she will treat him differently because he isn't the same skin tone. But I like that towards the end of the story, he doesn't think as much of that.
It was also really lovely, as it being set in Cape Town, that I could relate to it. When they were talking about places that are in Cape Town that I have been to, I would smile to myself. Its always really nice to relate to a book, isn't it?
This is also a very good, fun and educational book, it taught me a lot about how slaves were treated and about a part of the history surrounding South Africa. It is a really thrilling book about time-travel, friendships and learning to accept each other for who we are. In South Africa, there used to be a lot of conflict involving different skin shades and in this book, the three main characters are each of the three main South African cultures, they are great representatives for the new South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, and reading this book makes me proud that we have gotten past the conflict in which white people used to look down at people who weren't part of the same culture as them. This book makes me really thankful that we are now seen as an equal and that people aren't cast out because of their skin colour. And it just makes me really proud to be part of the Rainbow Nation! :)
I give it: 4/5 CUPCAKES!
Bookaholic