Wells Bequest
Fiction
Nancy Paulsen Books
June 13th 2013
260
The story starts off by describing Leo’s family and life. Leo is the main character who thought that time-travel machines never existed. But, one day while Leo is reading his book, in his room he notices a small time machine in the shape of a small clock. He also notices two little mini versioned humans, one of them is himself and the other is a strange girl. Then, the strange little girl and boy give a warning to Leo about making the right decision and future, after that the time machine disappears. Leo starts to search for the time machine, the strange girl and warning. His fate leads Leo to a place called the New-York Circulating Material Repository. New-York Circulating Material Repository is a magical library that lends objects instead of books. Kept away in the basement of the building is the Wells Bequest. The Wells Bequest is a unknown collection of objects. As the story goes on, other characters will be introduced to the story, and some of the characters will lead to a few blunders due to their behaviors. Then, towards the end of the book Leo’s life turns out to be insecure because he has to use the time machine and travel back to the 1895 and warn a scientist. Soon, what happens at the end of the story shall be what what the future holds.
MY OPINION:
When I first opened the book, I thought the book will be no different than the other books Although I found the book title and summary quiet interesting. When I began to read it, I thought that the story had good and interesting paragraphs that made me want to continue reading. Then, I realized that the author was using quite a few dialogues between the characters in the story which was paused me from reading on and finding out what happened next. I would recommend this book to ages twelve through fourteen. Also I think the author had a great usage of words because the words she choose made her sentences more interesting and strong. I am guessing the typical and hard words she picked would’ve made the her readers feel like looking up them in the dictionary to see what the words mean. Overall, I would rate this book 8 stars out of 10.
STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:
FIRST SECTION:
1. Which day did the whole time-travel adventure began?
1a. Wednesday
2. Why are the science fair projects a big deal in Leo’s family?
2a. Because his dad is the chief technology officer, his mom is cognitive neuroscientist, his brother is a physics major at MIT, and his sister is interning Franklin Morse Hospital’s immuno-oncology lab.
3.Who are Dimitri and Sofia in this story?
3a. They are Leo’s brother and sister.
4. Who appeared on the time machine?
4a. They were mini version of the future Leo and a girl.
5. Why was Sofia staying back?
5a. To discuss something with Leo.
Ignominious (pg. 5)
Arabidopsis (pg. 7)
Drosophila (pg. 19 )
Automaton (pg. 27)
Zither (pg. 39)
MIDDLE SECTION:
6. What is the time machine’s name?
6a. Kerr
7. On what date did Auntie Shanti travel back to by accident?
7a. 1930
8. Who won the fight?
8a. Jaya
9. Who did Jaya turn out to be later in the story?
9a. The girl who showed up on the time machine as a mini version with the future Leo to warn the present Leo about something that will happen in the future.
10. What is a death ray?
10a. A death ray is a electromagnetic weapon, that was invented in the 1920s.
Projectivized (pg. 95 )
Marmalade (pg. 107 )
Deconstructs (pg. 117 )
Repository (pg. 127 )
Dormers (pg. 129 )
LAST SECTION:
11. Who were Twain and Tesla?
11a. They both were twins from the past.
12. Why did Twain think Madame Langtry was a crooked grandmother?
12a. Because she looked short, with white hair, and was crooked.
13. Who was Mr. Smith?
13a. He is Simon’s social studies, who helped him understand what and how time machines worked.
14. According to the book, what is a serbo-croatian?
14a. Its the nickname of the oldest time machine that was invented in 1995.
15. What happened in the end?
15a. Jaya returns to the future, Simon goes back to the past, and Abigail goes with Leo to the present.
Telelectroscope (pg. 209 )
Nagging (pg. 215)
Infinitesimal (pg. 202)
Unscrutinized (pg. 201)
Stilts (pg. 177)