Mad Genius Girl Is Back in Oh No! Not Again!

From Wired: Mad Genius Girl Is Back in Oh No! Not Again!

The little girl whose science project nearly destroyed the world is back, and this time she’s messing with the space-time continuum. You see, she missed a question on her history test about the location of prehistoric cave paintings. Obviously the “simple solution” is to build a time machine, go back in time … and change history so her answer is right.

Of course, things don’t always go as planned. After a couple of failed attempts at getting the Belgian cavemen to paint something, she takes matters into her own hands and paints something herself, but doesn’t notice the cavemen taking a joyride in her time machine. When she finally goes back to her own time … well, let’s just say the present isn’t exactly the way she left it.

This latest picture book from Mac Barnett and Dan Santat has a pretty long title: Oh No! Not Again! (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History) (Or at Least My History Grade). Like the first Oh No! book, this one has just a little bit of text (mostly the girl punctuating the story with a little bit of narration and some interjections) and lavish illustrations. The endpapers show the time machine schematics and a Time Transit Services map, and once again the dust jacket is a huge fold-out poster designed to look like a movie poster. (All the more so since it’s from Disney Hyperion Books. Does that mean a movie might be in store? Keep your fingers crossed.)

So, has our wee mad scientist finally learned her lesson? I hope not — I’d love to see some further (mis)adventures!

Oh No! Not Again! will be released on Tuesday next week and is available for preorder now.