''Time Machine'' is a series of children's novels published in the United States by

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

from 1984 to 1989, similar to their more successful ''

Choose Your Own Adventure ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...

'' line of "

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

" novels. Each book was written in the second person, with the reader choosing how the story should progress. They were designed by Byron Preiss Visual Publications. The main difference between the ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' series and the ''Time Machine'' series was that ''Time Machine'' books featured only one ending, forcing the reader to try many different choices until they discovered it. Also, the series taught children basic history about many diverse subjects, from

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Only the sixth book in the series, ''The Rings of Saturn'', departed from actual history; it is set in the future, and features educational content about the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

. Some books gave the reader their choice from a small list of equipment at the beginning, and this choice would affect events later in the book (e.g. "If you brought the pen knife, turn to page 52, if not turn to page 45.Mueller, Richard; ''World War I Flying Ace'' (''Time Machine'', No. 24); page 32"). Another main difference between the ''Time Machine'' novels and the ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' counterparts was hints offered at certain junctures, where the reader was advised to look at hints at the back of the book. An example was in ''Mission to World War II'' about the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

uprising, where the reader was given the choice of starting the mission in the Jewish ghetto or the Aryan part of Warsaw, in which the hint read "Ringelblum was Jewish", suggesting the reader should begin in the Jewish section of the city, but not ordering it, or it was possible for the hint to be missed. The line spawned a brief spin-off series for younger readers, the '' Time Traveler'' novels.

Books

1984

* 1. ''Secret of the Knights'' by Jim Gasperini, * 2. ''Search for Dinosaurs'' by

David Bischoff David F. Bischoff (December 15, 1951 – March 19, 2018) was an American science fiction and television writer. General background Born in Washington, D.C., Bischoff wrote science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. He be ...

, * 3. ''Sword of the Samurai'' by

Michael Reaves James Michael Reaves (September 14, 1950 – March 20, 2023) was an American writer, known for his contributions as a script writer and story editor to a number of 1980s and 1990s animated television series, including '' Gargoyles'' and '' Batma ...

and

Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and frontman of the rock band Journey during their most successful years from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He wrote/co-wrote ...

, * 4. ''Sail with Pirates'' by Jim Gasperini, * 5. ''Civil War Secret Agent'' by Steve Perry,

1985

* 6. ''The Rings of Saturn'' by

Arthur Byron Cover Arthur Byron Cover (born January 14, 1950, in Grundy, Virginia) is an American science fiction author. Cover attended the Clarion Writer's SF Workshop in New Orleans in 1971, and made his first professional short-story sale to Harlan Ellison' ...

, * 7. ''Ice Age Explorer'' by

Dougal Dixon Dougal Dixon (born 1 March 1947) is a Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, educator and author. Dixon has written well over a hundred books on geology and palaeontology, many of them for children, which have been credited with attracting many to ...

, * 8. ''The Mystery of Atlantis'' by Jim Gasperini, * 9. ''Wild West Rider'' by Stephen Overholser, * 10. ''American Revolutionary'' by Arthur Byron Cover,

1986

* 11. ''Mission to World War II'' by Susan Nanus and Marc Kornblatt, * 12. ''Search for the Nile'' by Robert W. Walker, * 13. ''Secret of the Royal Treasure'' by Carol Gaskin, * 14. ''Blade of the Guillotine'' by Arthur Byron Cover, * 15. ''Flame of the Inquisition'' by Marc Kornblatt,

1987

* 16. ''Quest for the Cities of Gold'' by

Richard Glatzer Richard Glatzer (January 28, 1952 – March 10, 2015) was an American writer and director. Early life Glatzer was born in Flushing, Queens. He grew up in Westbury, Long Island, and Livingston, New Jersey, then gained a bachelor's degree at the ...

, * 17. ''Scotland Yard Detective'' by Seymour V. Reit, * 18. ''Sword of Caesar'' by Robin Stevenson and Bruce Stevenson, * 19. ''Death Mask of Pancho Villa'' by Carol Gaskin and George Guthridge, * 20. ''Bound for Australia'' by Nancy Bailey, * 21. ''Caravan to China'' by Carol Gaskin,

1988

* 22. ''Last of the Dinosaurs'' by

Peter Lerangis Peter Duncan Lerangis (born 1955, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American author of children's and young adult fiction, best known for his '' Seven Wonders'' series and his work on the '' 39 Clues'' series. Life and career Lerangis's work includes ...

, * 23. ''Quest for King Arthur'' by Ruth Ashby, * 24. ''World War I Flying Ace'' by Richard Mueller,

1989

* 25. ''Special Edition: World War II Code Breaker'' by Peter Lerangis,

Reception

W. Peter Miller reviewed the ''Time Machine'' series for ''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Rune ...

'' magazine and stated that "All in all these book adventures do exactly what they set out to do. They entertain while teaching you a little bit of history (in a painless way) and they work your brain, I enjoy this series a great deal. The physical production and graphics are first rate. There is not a lot of replay, but it usually takes over an hour to finish a book."

External links

Time Machine book list and reviews
(gamebooks.org)

Footnotes

{{reflist Gamebooks Fantasy novel series Novels about time travel Children's historical novels Bantam Books books