Newton And The Time Machine

Having saved the Kingdom of Merriwarts and united his giant friends Queen Gertrude and King Herbert in blissful (if smelly) marriage, 10-year-old genius Newton is in need of a new project. For a boy fascinated by dinosaurs, there's only one thing to do: build a time machine so he can go back and see them! But when the test voyage of the time machine-with Herbert and Gertrude on board-ends in a smoky explosion and a missing time machine (not to mention missing giants!), Newton finds himself with new problems to solve.    With the help of his friend Max, talking toy soldier Commander Joe and the repulsive but friendly Witch Hazel, Newton is able to trace his time machine to the hidden kingdom of the leprechauns, the world's greatest thieves. Whether he'll be able to get it back, along with Herbert and Gertrude, is another story-one complicated by the police arrest of a real giant, the soccer tryouts of his sports-crazy quadruplet brothers and the arrival of Gertrude's good-for-nothing brother, Prince Raphael, in the Kingdom of Merriwarts.    With the same deft sense of children's humour that made his debut novel an award-winning bestseller, Michael McGowan's Newton and the Time Machine strikes the perfect balance between wackiness and authenticity. Kids will love Newton's crazy adventures as he and Max track down their friends and learn a lesson in confidence along the way.