L. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 3.5
Reading Ease 85.1
Word count: 59,000.
Discussion Questions for The Time-Jinx Twins
1. What are some of the risks Ellie and Kat took in the story? Do you enjoy reading about wild things you probably wouldn’t or couldn’t do in real life? Why or why not? RL.4.1, RL.4.3
2. How are the twins alike? How are they different? Does this change by the end of the book? RL.4.3
3. Do you believe humans will time travel some day? Would that be mainly good or bad? RL.4.1
4. If you could go to the past or future, what place and time would you choose? Why? RL.4.1
5. What do you think would happen if Professor Wilkes really did carry out his plan to steal the world’s greatest inventions? What would life be like today? RL.4.1, RL.4.3
6. If a time traveler from the past landed on your doorstep and wanted to see “the future,” what would you show them first? RL.4.1
7. How believable is the time-travel gizmo in this story? Grade the believability with a score from 1 to 5, where 1 is “Completely ridiculous” and 5 is “A pretty good attempt to sound realistic.” Explain your answer. RL.4.1
8. Were you surprised by Mom’s confession near the end of the book? Talk about what it must have been like for her to wake up in the past when she was young. RL.4.1, RL.4.3
9. At the beginning of the book Ellie wishes she could be a better student. How does she change by the end of the story? RL.4.3
10. At the beginning of the book Kat wishes she could make friends. What changed for her that helped her be less shy? RL.4.1, RL.4.3
11. Do you think the environment has improved since 1970? If not, what environmental issues are worse than before? RL.4.1, RI.4.1
12. Ellie and Kat were surprised that some things were the same in 1970 as in 2020: the electricity, the money, the old buildings in downtown Chicago. What things were different? How many years in the past do you think you would have to go for things to be so different it might be hard for you to survive? Why? RL.4.1, RL.4.3
13. In the book, the character Lucy Jennings was inspired by a real-life professor of physics named Lorella M. Jones, the first woman to receive tenure in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. Look up Lorella M. Jones and find ways Lucy and Lorella are alike. What are some reasons a writer would model a character on a real person? RL.4.9, RI.4.1
14. In 2020, the year The Time-Jinx Twins takes place, the entire world was dealing with the Covid-19 virus. In the story, there is no mention of the pandemic. How do you feel about that? Are there rules for writing fiction? RL.4.1
15. Professor Lucy Jennings asks the twins if “the computer guys from PLATO” are playing a joke on her. Read about the PLATO computer system in the early 1970s and tell why Lucy would suspect the PLATO guys. RL.4.1, RI.4.1
16. The girls figure out that thinking the same thing is a “necessary but not sufficient” cause for launching time-travel gizmo. Lucy mentions that water is a necessary but not sufficient cause of growing beans. Identify some other process in nature or science that has a necessary but not sufficient cause. RL.4.1, RI.4.3
17. There are many stories in the news about long-separated twins finding each other. What are some ways that can happen that didn’t used to be possible? RL.4.1, RI.4.1
18. Almost nothing remains of Piper’s Alley in Chicago today. Ask an older friend or relative to name something they enjoyed when they were young that no longer exists. RL.4.1, SL.4.1
Resources and Further Reading
1970
Bjorkegren, Francesca. “A Year in History: 1970 Timeline.” Historic Newspapers, October 22, 2021.
Important Inventions
Burke, J. “Invention.” Encyclopedia Britannica, May 2, 2024.
Wolchover, Natalie, and Jessica Leggett. “22 Inventions That Changed the World.”
Logic and Computing
“1960’s Computer History: Remembering the IBM System/360 Mainframe Origin and Technology (IRS, NASA).” Computer History Archives Project.
Norman Swartz, “The Concepts of Necessary Conditions and Sufficient Conditions,” Simon Fraser University, 1997.
Time Travel Theory
Scoles, Sarah. “Is Time Travel Possible?” Scientific American, April 26, 2023.
Stein, Vicky, and Ailsa Harvey. “Time Travel: Is It Possible?” Space.com, February 24, 2024.
Twins
Solomon, Benjamin, M.D. “Identical Twins.” NIH, National Human Genome Research Institute, July 24, 2024.
Fierro, Pamela Prindle. “What Parents Should Know About Identical Twins.” Parents, July 1, 2024.
Women in Science
Ignotofsky, Rachel. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World. Emeryville, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2016.
“The Untold History of Women in Science and Technology,” Obama White House Archives, accessed July 24, 2024.
Ellie and Kat’s Favorite Time Travel Books and Movies
Anderson, John David. Ms. Bixby’s Last Day. New York: Walden Pond Press, 2016.
Back to the Future. Movie, 1985.
Henderson, Leah. The Magic in Changing Your Stars. New York: Sterling Children’s Books, 2020.
Konigsburg, E. L. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. New York: Atheneum, 1967.
Korman, Gordon. Operation Do-Over. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2022.
Mass, Wendy. 11 Birthdays: A Wish Novel. New York: Scholastic Press, 2009.
Meet the Robinsons. Movie, 2006.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. London: Bloomsbury, 1997.
Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2009.
Stewart, Trenton Lee. The Mysterious Benedict Society. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007.
Welford, Ross. Time Traveling with a Hamster. London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2016.