Mortified: Lost in the sands of time by Martin Chatterton

Mort series, bk 3. Random House Australia, 2013. ISBN 9781742758886.
(Age: 9-11) The author Martin Chatterton would probably suggest I should be mortified that I had not read the first two in the Mort series. However, I hope to redeem myself thoroughly by enthusiastically endorsing this hilarious offering of time-travelling exploits, quirky historical characters, completely unlikeable villains and very amusing heroes which all combine with a hugely entertaining plot. Squarely aimed at the 9 years up crowd, both boys and girls will relish this crazy chase through time by Mort and his sister Aggie, in their last ditch efforts to attempt school. While it would be normally unacceptable for children to be allowed to skive off school, Mort and his family have a convincing excuse for doing so. They are frevers - a particularly unusual genetic makeup means that Mort comes from a long . . . longggggggg . . . line of relatives who live for thousands of years and that being the case, Mort feels he has quite enough schooling in his own span of 10 000 years. And after all, having been schooled by such illustrious teachers as Socrates hardly compares to the prospect of being forced to attend the local Unk Shire comprehensive, which is where Education Inspector Trish Molyneux comes in.
At the last moment, just before their imminent departure for the dreaded school, Mort, Agnetha along with H. G. Wells and Genghis Khan (cloned copies of figures encountered in past adventures) whisk off in their Retro 0.2 time machine and career wildly through time bumping into such historical figures as Queen Victoria, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Howard Carter . . . and Tutankhamen, their rather jolly boy-king friend . . . leading the dread education inspector and her hapless sidekick on a chase of epic proportions.
Whether read as part of the series or a stand alone, this book will delight your readers, both boys and girls, of about 9 to 11 years.
Sue Warren