The Magic Hourglass

"The Magic Hourglass" takes readers on a fascinating voyage of discovery into the past!

It's an adventure game that starts and ends in the present, but in between times roams around time from prehistory to the nineteenth century.

Each double page spread portrays two "remarkable moments" from a different historical period - the sixteenth century, for example, is represented by Renaissance Florence and the Empire of the Incas, the second century by the funeral of Tutankhamen and the building of Stonehenge. The reader chooses one of these and follows the marked route (each step of which is accompanied by intriguing period details) to locate the magic hourglass.

The reader then matches the colour of this hourglass to an hourglass on the Time Chart at the beginning of the book to find out what date to go to next.

This process continues until the white hourglass is discovered.

Then start all over again, taking a different route!

As well as being lots of fun, this book gives some absorbing insights into history and the kind of important developments and events taking place at the same time in different parts of the world.

There are also lots of objects from the present to spot in each picture. Heather Maisner is the author of a number of children's books, including four stories about "The Tractors of Thomson's Yard" and the novelty books "Find Mouse in the House" and "Find Mouse in the Garden". "The Magic Globe", a companion volume to "The Magic Hourglass", will be published in 1995. Peter Joyce has illustrated a number of educational titles.

A freelance illustrator, he is a Member of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers.