The Tinkerers

By: Caroline Carlson

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

The astromancers in Peter’s star-touched village have an amazing device that nudges time—surely it wouldn’t hurt if Peter used it to fix a few mistakes? Cozy fantasy alight with wonder from the author of Wicked Marigold.

When Peter leads two Tinkerers to his family’s inn in Stargazers Valley, he imagines they’re like other astromancers, researchers from the Imperial College who study starstuff. The valley is a special place, where the magical aurora called the Skeins appear in the sky and starstuff falls in their wake, as thin and wispy as fluff from a seed pod. But starstuff is powerful, and astromancers are the only people allowed to handle it—a law enforced by the strict and stealthy Outbounder Task Force. When Peter discovers the Tinkerers have used starstuff to invent an incredible not-a-clock that can turn back time for a few minutes, he realizes it’s his chance to undo his mistakes: if he can go back and put away his new boots, he doesn’t need to add their destruction by falcons to his list of ten worst mistakes (#7: stepping on a star-eating newt). But while using the not-a-clock is easy, stopping using it is hard. And maybe not everything that feels like a mistake at the time actually is. Family, friendship, and budding self-confidence are at the heart of Caroline Carlson’s stellar fantasy.

A terrific book, perfect for family road trips - and great narration!

Kids and adults alike will fall in love with the magical village of Stargazers Valley, where a miraculous “not-a-clock” can turn back time long enough for 12-year old Peter to undo the mistakes that he constantly worries about. Praised by The Horn Book in its starred review as a “brilliant synthesis of plot, theme, and good-natured chaos,” The Tinkerers is a fabulous tale of family, friendship, and community. But not everything is idyllic in this world, so tension builds to an exciting conclusion where Peter and his family become subject to outside forces beyond their control. Narrator Michael Crouch is pitch-perfect, as Peter finds that achieving perfection is not always possible - or even desirable - in a complicated world.