The Many Worlds of Albie Bright

by Christopher Edge

An extraordinary novel for anyone who's ever been curious from award-winning author Christopher Edge.

"A writer of genuine originality" - Guardian

"Proves the theory that novels about science can be enormous fun. Give the man his own element on the periodic table of children's authors" - The Times, Children's Book of the Week

When Albie's mum dies, it's natural he should wonder where she's gone. His parents are both scientists and they usually have all the answers. Dad mutters something about Albie's mum being alive and with them in a parallel universe.

So Albie finds a box, his mum's computer and a rotting banana, and sends himself through time and space to find her...

"A book with a big brain, big laughs and a big, big heart." - Frank Cottrell-Boyce

"I have one complaint about this book. I wanted it to be longer" - Samira Ahmed

Check out these other brilliant books from Christopher Edge:

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• Black Hole Cinema Club
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• Escape Room
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• Twelve Minutes to Midnight
• 
  
• The Jamie Drake Equation
• 
  

• ISBN10: 0857636049
• ISBN13: 9780857636041
• Publish Date: 14 January 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Nosy Crow Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 208
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

The Many Worlds of Albie Bright is one of those books you want to read forever. Albie is such a clever, funny, warm narrator that you’re really rooting for him to find his mum in any of these alternative/parallel universes and once I started the book I didn’t want to finish it. I’m not massively clued up on science, but watching The Big Bang Theory helps massively with understanding a book like this. I mean it’s not overly complex - it’s for 9-12 year olds, but even so, you have to be paying attention. I was incredibly chuffed that when Schrodinger's Cat is brought up I knew exactly what it was, because of Sheldon Cooper.

It’s so easy to understand why Albie wants to bring his mum back - if you had the chance to travel to an alternate or parallel universe to find someone you’ve lost, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you do anything to bring them back? I know I would and Albie’s determination to see his mum again is both heartbreaking and hopeful. It’s such a compelling read and Albie has such a loud voice, he’s a quiet boy, that seems to keep to himself, but his voice is resonant and will stay with me for ages afterwards.

This is an incredible read. I loved the parallel universes Albie visited, I loved seeing the differences to Albie’s personality with each parallel universe he visited. It also tackled grief in such a real way, perfect for kids to understand and make sense of, because at that age it’s HARD to make sense of grief. Albie mentions he hasn’t cried over his mum; that he cried more over the hamster who got eaten by a cat (an evil cat named Dylan) than his mum but there’s no map of how to grieve, or how much to cry, or whether to cry and I loved that this book told kids that.

I loved The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, Albie is a fantastic character, one you want to read about forever and this book is so warm and touching. Christopher Edge has written such a wonderful novel, one I’d recommend to people who do AND don’t love science. It’s easy enough to understand and I loved this book immensely.