Aaha! Racing to Rescue a Bear Trapped in Time 

by Jonathan Brough

A book that combines astronomy, comedy and holidays... what's not to love? This was wonderful, full of jokes that will delight kids and interesting space facts for everyone. The end truly got me all emotional! I'll definitely be picking up the next in the series, I wonder if Aaha will time travel again.

Read on for more about the book, a guest post from the author and the recipe for an Aviation cocktail. 

Book Summary

She’s ten. She’s off on holiday… But she’s going fifty years the wrong way!

Ten-year-old comedian and astronomer Aahana (Aaha) Kapoor has two big problems: a holiday she doesn’t want and a stepbrother she really didn’t ask for. But when a lost teddy and some hot chocolate send her fifty years into the future, she discovers that time travel is no joke… and neither is family!

With the help of a rebellious robot and a suspiciously familiar commander, Aaha races to fix the future before her flight takes off without her.

A hilarious and heartwarming adventure about family, responsibility and second chances.

Author Post

Children growing up have always found the world to be a confusing place, and the issues which they hear about in modern times mean that has never been more true than it is today. But ever since the days when cave people painted stories on walls, humans have used narrative to help them make sense of what is happening around them.

When I began writing the Aaha! series of books for children aged seven to eleven- the first of which, Aaha! Racing to Rescue a Bear Trapped in Time, has just been published by Tiny Tree- I wanted to create accessible, fast-paced stories which have an excellent role model as their central character. That is why Aahana- known to everyone as Aaha because she solves problems and makes scientific discoveries- is always cracking jokes and doing her best to make the world a better place for everyone around her.

However, I wanted the stories to do two other things as well, directly linked to that initial idea that when readers work their way through a story they live vicariously and derive valuable experience and wisdom from events in the plot. So, during each book, Aaha tackles a particular social issue that affects readers or their friends, and she gains first-hand experience of an area of the curriculum that children encounter in school. Of course it is important that such matters are tackled in sufficient depth and with appropriate respect for the gravity of the situations depicted. These carefully structured chapter books of around 128 pages respect their readers for being able to appreciate an enjoyable adventure story with an appropriately moral message. The texts are not joke books wrapped up with a thin plot: rather, I aim for them to be transformational experiences in the tradition of the best children’s fiction.

In the first book, Aaha’s social challenges involve coming to grips with living in a blended family. Her new stepfather has just moved in and brought his son, Barun, with him. Barun is somewhat of a challenging brother and rarely speaks, which means he gets a lot of their mother’s attention and Aaha resents that. But by the end of the story- after Aaha has found herself in a position where only she can avoid family disaster- she has realised her fondness for him, her responsibilities as a big sister and her commitment to their parents’ relationship.

During the course of the first book Aaha also, quite literally, navigates her way around the solar system and therefore reinforces work on the Earth in Space that children learn at school. By the time they finish the story, they will have revisited concepts such as the order of the planets and the composition of each one, as well as- possibly- having enjoyed some “aaha!” moments of their own such as the date of the moon landings.

There are facts, there are emotions, and they make children think. At the end of the book, there’s also a hint of what’s coming next for Aaha: she’s off to Vindolanda to tread in the footsteps of the Romans, accompanied by a new best friend, a refugee…

After thirty years in the primary school classroom, twenty of which were spent as a headteacher, Jonathan Brough recently retired from full-time teaching. He is now working as an educational consultant and children’s writer. He can be emailed at aaha@jonathanbrough.net and he has a website at www.booksbyjonathan.website

Of course I had to make an Aviation cocktail for Captain Bear. Add the following ingredients to a shaker with lots of ice, shake and strain into cocktail glass. 50ml gin, 15ml maraschino, 10ml creme de violette, 15ml lemon juice and 10ml chilled mineral water.