Al follows his father’s instructions, accompanied by the intrepid and eponymous hamster, excellently named Alan Shearer. The front of the envelope says, in his dad's handwriting, "IMPORTANT: Do Not Open This Envelope Until Sixteen Hours After Receiving It. His family has memories of that Marty and his childhood and this new Marty has none of those memories. Through Al's travels in time, and the letters his father left behind, he learns so much about everything his dad was passionate about.

Since he couldn't go back to the day of his accident (he couldn't as his adult self be with his young self - a rule of time travel), he was hoping Al could fix things.Ross's second book, What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible, will be published in the UK in December 2016. His brushes with danger, his quick thinking to get out of hairy situations, his realizations that he might not be as clever as the thought he was, all of it just blurred together into this gorgeous story that wouldn't let me go. Al discovered all of this in the letter Al's mother gave him on his birthday along with the hamster. Albert did make me angry now and then when he does something dumb, I had to keep reminding myself he is just a kid and he'll figure it out. The author has penned this story with so much thrill and it feels like riding a roller-coaster that only goes back and high up in the air as the ride is filled with adrenaline-rushing moments when the boy and his pet hamster is lurking from one time's dimension to another.

Just like Marty McFly, and indeed Albie Bright, Al is destined to discover that while new dimensions of time and space offer novelty or adventure, the bonds of family and love remain constant, wherever you travel. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading. His books have been published in 22 or more different languages, so for international librarians, that’s also a plus to be able to offer his books in multiple languages. It is set with great affection on an often unloved stretch of the northeast coast, and features a delightful supporting cast, including a grandfather who builds memory palaces.

When Al comes back to a different future after things go horribly wrong in the past (and horribly wrong is a mild way of putting it), it’s his granddad that is changed the most. It is a story that deals with the fundamental themes of the importance of family and its dynamics, grief and adjusting to major shifts in life.