Finders Keepers - Hardcover

Rodda, Emily

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688105165 ISBN 13: 9780688105167

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 1991

Synopsis

"Patrick seems to be in luck when he's invited to be on a television game show, `Finders Keepers.' The only problem is that...there's no such game show. But when the boy tunes in on Saturday morning, he's pulled through the television into a parallel universe....Patrick makes friends, rescues lost souls, and learns a little about the space-time continuum in this lively adventure....Anyone who has ever wondered where odd socks go....will enjoy this time travel story."--School Library Journal.

About this title

About the Author

Emily Rodda has written many books for children, including Finders Keepers, which School Library journal dubbed "a lively adventure," and several novels about the likable hero Rowan. The first of these novels, Rowan of Rin, won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Younger Readers Award when it was first published. In fact, Emily Rodda has won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award an unprecedented five times. A former editor, Ms. Rodda is also the best-selling author of adult mysteries under the name Jennifer Rowe. She lives in Australia.

Reviews

Grade 4-6-- Patrick seems to be in luck when he's invited to be on a television game show, "Finders Keepers." The only problem is that there's no such channel where he lives and there's no such game show. But when the boy tunes in on Saturday morning, he's pulled through the television into a parallel universe. There, he must decode the riddles of three "seekers" whose possessions have been lost through the barrier between the worlds. Patrick must go back to his world and return with the lost objects in order to win fabulous prizes (including the computer for which he yearns). He faces many dangers, and his ingenuity is tested as he plays the game. Patrick makes friends, rescues lost souls, and learns a little about the space-time continuum in this lively adventure. Family values are strong, and the solid realistic setting makes the fantasy element credible. Anyone who has ever wondered where odd socks go and why keys are so often not where they've been left will enjoy this time-travel story with a computer twist.
- Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Patrick's skill at a computer game earns him a place on Finders Keepers , a positively dizzy and dizzying game show transmitted from a parallel dimension, in which Finders from our dimension win valuable prizes by hunting for objects that have accidentally fallen through a barrier from the parallel universe into ours. As Patrick struggles to win the computer he desperately wants, he is forced to learn a hard truth about valuing things over people. In addition to teaching this poignant lesson, Rodda serves up at least one scream ingly funny riotous situation per chapter and keeps her adventure moving at lightning speed--making for an uncommonly satisfying read. Young's line drawings deftly keep pace with the story's changing moods. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An original fantasy from Australia takes middle child Patrick across the ``Barrier'' between alternate worlds to play in a strange quiz show: he's given riddles about three items lost in his own world and told to bring them back for game-show prizes. The items won't look the same in his world: they'll seem less valuable. The quiz-show host is a robot (``What human being could smile like that for hours at a time?''), and the items lost mean much more to the contestants than anyone is at first aware. As his search goes on, a power breakdown almost makes it impossible for Patrick to complete the tasks, but he does restore the items, plus a game-show staff member's sister; he also makes friends, realizes the importance of his family, and ends up with his heart's desire: his own computer. Patrick's family, arguing but caring about each other, and the boy's abandoned daydream about having a quiet house to keep his computer in ring true. Though the fantasy is limited to the barrier and the passage of things between the worlds, it's clever; it even includes an explanation for single socks and other misplaced things. An amusing product of an age of game shows and wishful thinking. (Fiction. 9-12) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688105165
• ISBN 13: 9780688105167
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Young Noela
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184