Cat Ninja Presents: Time Buddies
In the charming graphic novel Time Buddies, a spin-off from the Cat Ninja series, a schoolboy and a talking owl traverse millennia.
On a museum field trip, Bentley is fascinated by hieroglyphics and sees one image that resembles him. In the future, Hoot the owl also sets out on a class time-travel trip. Klutzy Hoot couldn’t find a field trip buddy, but when her malfunctioning chrono-belt lands her in Bentley’s bedroom, the two of them travel together: to the age of the dinosaurs, Ancient Egypt, the Gold Rush, and Leonardo da Vinci’s studio.
Boy and bird are a complementary pair on these alternative history capers: Bentley is wary but full of facts and practical ideas; Hoot is brave and impulsive. Bentley channels Indiana Jones as he searches for the missing piece of an enchanted jigsaw puzzle “beneath the cushions of the Couch of the Pharaohs,” a stone monolith. Hoot challenges the outlaw Wyatt Burp to a pie-eating contest in 1850s California. Bentley gives da Vinci a pet goldfish to console him for never achieving human flight.
Each of the first four chapters is devoted to a separate time-travel adventure with distinct author and illustrator credits. The stories join up in the fifth chapter, “Glow Time: Rewind,” a zany mash-up of all the locations and characters. A closing fact check section explains where the creators took historical liberties. The result is an engrossing combination of familiar history and joking, made-up details. For instance, during the Mesozoic era, the characters meet a “Mustachasaurus Rex,” who has flamboyant facial hair.
Contrasting science with superheroes and fantastical adventures with the safety of home, Time Buddies is a lighthearted graphic novel that approaches history without fear, because “time travel means you can always be back in time for supper.”
Reviewed by
Rebecca Foster
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
