Theme Party: Time Travel

Gather your group, select your books, and party on!

Welcome! We’re here. It’s our first official Theme Party. (If you missed last week’s announcement, read it here.) Let’s quickly chat about how it’s going to go.

The Gist

The simple goal of a Theme Party is to get everyone (or as many people as possible) in your family (and we use this term very loosely, so gather your group!) reading their own books and coming together to talk about them. I also invite you to do some of your own storytelling (written or oral!).

Today’s book suggestions include adult fiction, middle grade fiction, early chapter books, and picture books. But, there are tons of time travel books out there, and you can use the theme party questions and prompts for any of them. Think of what I give you as a suggested itinerary rather than a mandated schedule.

Why time travel?

Time travel books can be a really fun gateway to nonfiction explorations of topics your family doesn’t yet know you HAVE to take. (And what better time to go on these journeys than the start of summer?!)

Also, because of the nature of time travel (like the fact that it’s not a thing IRL like it can be in literature), the compare/contrast conversations and connections are very accessible and the brain-twisting nature of time travel lends itself nicely to low-pressure debate prompts. 

If anyone in your family is anti-science fiction, this can be a really great place to start. The books I’ve chosen are more sci-fi lite (my category) than hardcore; your die-hard sci-fi lovers will be pleased to have those not as interested in the genre at their party.

Finally, who doesn’t like to think about

What are we going to do?

I’ll introduce you to a curated book selection (again, there are SO MANY OTHERS); give you some background knowledge links if you want to learn more about time travel and provide you with conversation prompts; and, then, I’ll leave you and your young writers with some structure for creating your own stories and/or imaginative play.

Reminder!

A theme party is just as much for your adult brain as it is for your child’s. I find myself getting more excited and into read alouds (or imaginative play!) when I can have my own internal dialogue and compare/contrast sessions about [time travel as a literary tool]. I hope you’ll feel this way, too!