Julius & the Watchmaker by Tim Hehir

Julius lives with his grandfather, who owns a bookshop.  He does deliveries, cleans up, dusts, and anything else he can to help.  When he goes out, he has to avoid the local bullies who like to hit him, steal his goods or money and, in general, show him how worthless he is.  The fact that the older boy isn't too smart and isn't moving up the grades as he should doesn't make him any less mean.  When a proper gentleman stops and defends him, he's grateful and thinks he's found a friend.  Not exactly...

Text Publishing Company and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book (thank you).  It has been published, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

This is a rousting tale that keeps you reading and worrying about Julius.  Julius is naive; because this gentleman dresses well and has manners, he thinks he's a good citizen.  After he's done some errands for him and has earned a little money, he thinks he's found someplace better than the bookstore.  Alas, his next task is to steal a book from his grandfather.  If he does that, he won't be able to go back there.  However, the new life sounds more exciting.  It sure is!

Two more mysterious characters show up, Julius learns about time travel with a watch, and he gets caught up in the middle of a battle between good and bad.  It's up in the air about which group he will decide to help but as the tale goes on, he really doesn't have much choice.  I might add that you didn't just travel back and forth in time; you can go sideways, too.  Confused yet?

On thing I really liked about Julius was that he might be an innocent victim but he's smart.  He figured out on his own what he should do and he also figured out a mystery in his own life.  I enjoyed this read a lot.  I know that reluctant readers will get caught up in the story and keep reading.  Share this one with the young ones in your life; they'll thank you.