For those of you who have been following along with graphic novel week, you may have noticed that the first three reviews were of books for teens and adults. However, The Time Museum, by Matthew Loux, is the first volume in a middle grade series about Delia, a science nerd character with lots of agency. I strongly dislike the cover, because I felt having all of the characters look down at their wrists or at the ground and not being able to see anything but the building shut me out of the scene as the viewer. I also disliked that the girl one in from the left in the blue headband looked so much like the girl who was front and center (before reading it, I presumed that was Delia, the protagonist), and I wondered if they were both supposed to be her in different times, or if there were just two characters who looked so similar to one another. Either way, it was confusing and did a poor job of setting the mood or scene for me. Also, it didn't do well at showcasing the vibrant colors which come alive within the book.
Delia, a smart, awkward girl, knows she'll be visiting her Uncle Lyndon over the summer, but she doesn't know he works at a museum with exhibits from all eras of time, and portals to those eras. Delia also doesn't know that she has the chance to compete in a contest for an internship position within the museum, and she'll have to travel back and forth through time to complete the challenges, besting five other kids--competitors from different time periods.
I really had trouble buying in to this story. The whole setup felt too stilted and contrived. The commentary as the kids wander through the museum didn't feel natural to me, at all. I felt Delia had honest emotional responses to whatever situation she was in, but I really wished I'd been able to read more scenes of quiet conversations with just her and her roommate to better understand both characters and observe their dynamic in a quiet setting before things got crazy. As the book progressed, I felt like there was too much action and chaos, and not enough character building and development to keep me interested. I longed for the characters to have more personal connections with the historical exhibits they were experiencing, instead of just clowning around. The colors were beautiful and the glossy pages decadent, but the art style really grated on me the more I read. All in all, I only finished the book because I was reviewing it, and I wouldn't pick up the second volume. I don't recommend this one.
(As a point of comparison, other middle grade graphic novels I have liked are the Secret Coders series, Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova, the Bone series by Jeff Smith and El Deafo--reviews to come.) I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
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