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Book Summary and Reviews of Johnny and the Bomb by Terry Pratchett

Johnny and the Bomb by Terry Pratchett

Johnny and the Bomb

Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, 3.

by Terry Pratchett

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Apr 2007, 256 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This has never been more true than when he finds himself in his hometown on May 21, 1941, over forty years before his birth!

An accidental time traveler, Johnny knows his history. He knows England is at war, and he knows that on this day German bombs will fall on the town. It happened. It's history. And as Johnny and his friends quickly discover, tampering with history can have unpredictable—and drastic—effects on the future.

But letting history take its course means letting people die. What if Johnny warns someone and changes history? What will happen to the future? If Johnny uses his knowledge to save innocent lives by being in the right place at the right time, is he doing the right thing?

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Genuinely hilarious dialogue, fast plot: Pratchett remains the very best-known cure for bookphobics everywhere" - Mail on Sunday (UK).

'Terry Pratchett's storytelling skills are exceptional ... A brilliant story full of Pratchett's quirky and delightful humour" - The Bookseller (UK).

'The stretches of imagination are breathtaking ... The opportunities for Forties-versus-Nineties culture clash are milked for maximum farce" - Daily Mail (UK).

'The third in this series explodes onto the bookshelves ... side-splittingly funny" - Young Telegraph (UK).

'An exhilarating switchback swirl through different but interconnecting versions of the same two days, one in the Nineties and one in 1941" - Times Educational Supplement (UK).

A brilliant, wonderful book ... best of all is the humour" - Sunday Telegraph (UK).

'Enormously entertaining and contains more wry observations than you could shake a Heinkel at" - The Telegraph (UK).

This information about Johnny and the Bomb was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Terry Pratchett Author Biography

Sir Terry Pratchett is the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983.

In all, he is the author of fifty bestselling books. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he is the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood for services to literature. Worldwide sales of his books now stand at 70 million, and they have been translated into thirty-seven languages.

Pratchett's latest novel, Dodger is out now. Other new publications include a collection of short fiction works, entitled A Blink of the Screen and The Compleat Ank-Morpork – a guide to Discworld's premier city, which includes a street map, trade directory and gazetteer.

Sir ...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Terry Pratchett's Website

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