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Time Trouble

FROM LEFT: STEPHEN BLUE FOR TIME FOR KIDS; GORDON TRICE

In The Seventh Voyage, Ijon Tichy is exploring our galaxy when a meteor damages his spaceship, sending it into a time loop. Ijon’s past and future selves begin to appear. At first, it’s just tomorrow’s Ijon. But the selves continue to multiply, and he has to keep them all in agreement while figuring out a way to repair the ship. The solution, involving a pair of child Ijons, is as funny as it is surprising.

The story was written by well-known science-fiction author Stanislaw Lem. Now it has been recreated as a graphic novel by illustrator Jon J. Muth. “I love Lem’s writing, the way he looks at things,” Muth told TFK Kid Reporter Henry Carroll. “I hope the book makes readers laugh—or at least groan in a good way. It would be great if it helps kids laugh at themselves a little more.”