Grace & Bobo - The Trip To The Future

By: P.J. Blakey-Novis

Narrated by: Christopher Preece

When Grace’s teacher asks her to write about the future, it’s the perfect opportunity to build her own time machine! Join Grace, and her pet monkey, Bobo, as they set off on a thrilling adventure to a strange land, and learn a valuable lesson from the creatures they meet.

©2017 P.J. Blakey-Novis (P)2018 P.J. Blakey-Novis

It Still Seems Odd To Me…

While I absolutely adore audiobooks, and have really come to enjoy them in the last year, it still seems odd to me to make audiobooks from short children's picture books. In general, picture books are meant to be seen and enjoyed, not just listened to. Also, I believe parents or caregivers are the best story readers for a child in their care instead of having some unknown person as the narrator read them the story. There's only one children's audiobook I think was truly excellent, and it was not this one. That one was actually truly acted by the narrator with music added, making it almost more like an old-style radio play than a simple book. So, I wasn't wild about this book as an audiobook. I really felt like it needed whatever visuals the regular picture book would have had. In fact, since this is my first book with Grace and Bobo as the stars, I didn't know from the book itself that Bobo was definitely a monkey; I only know that from the book cover at the review site where I got access to the audiobook.

In the story itself, Grace and Bobo—rather easily, I might add—build a time machine that takes them to 3016, where they are surprised to find a very different world. However, one inhabitant of the area tells her that all is not as it seems, as the future is yet to be written and she can ultimately control her future. Not a terrible message, but it feels like it was driven home with a blunt weapon instead of with finesse. I'm not a fan of children's books that are too preachy or that espouse the idea that life is wonderful all the time if you only just believe. For all these reasons, I do not feel like I can recommend this book or audiobook.