Set in the rather quiet English town of Whitley Bay, this story revolves around two adorable characters- Georgie and her friend, Ramzy Rehman. The novel is fast-paced, with all the excitement of a sci-fi story packed in. Georgie(short for Georgina) lives with her dad, her teen brother Clem, and her dad’s girlfriend, Jessica. There’s another important member of her family- her mongrel Mister Mash. Mr. Mash eats anything that comes his way and breaks smelly wind at the most inappropriate times. He should have been living with them in their home, but is sent away to a pet home due to Jessica’s dog allergies- which does nothing to help Georgie accept Jessica into their lives( and their home.)
Georgie is an ardent pet-lover, and she loves her dog, Mr. Mash to bits. In fact, she lets herself be guided by the ‘Wisdom of Dogs” that hangs on her wall( the opening of the book).
Georgie ends up hanging out with her beloved dogs( Mr. Mash and his friends) at the St. Woof’s animal shelter and her best pal, Ramzy Rehman at the beach and the streets of their little town. Little do they know that they are being watched by a crazy scientist, and their lives are about to change shortly!
Dr. Pretoria is an eccentric scientist working on a Time Travel machine that uses an algorithm using the present as the input to predict the future. the duo are initiated into Dr. Pretoria’s mysterious existence through her Virtual Reality Time Travelling Machine, secretly housed in a big domes space where a restaurant had stood earlier. Dr. Pretoria recruits the two kids to test her big experiment with a bit of luck through Mr. Mash.
Georgie and Ramzy come to view their secret rendezvous with Dr. Pretoria as one giant adventure until it is no longer just an adventure. When Georgie inadvertently causes a deadly dog-flu outbreak from St. Woof’s, what follows is a rollercoaster ride of sudden, exciting and big changes in the lives of everyone.
Georgie is stunned by the pace of changes around her- she can’t see or touch her dogs, her town is being cordoned off by the Police and there are shoot-at-sight orders for every stray dog in the town. Through a gritty adventure in the middle of the night, Ramzy and Georgie succeed in smuggling out Mr. Mash from St.Woof’s just before he was to be put down.
The rest of the story is a mix of miracles, magic, adventure, science fiction, friendship, hope, stupidity, disappointment – all in one rollercoaster ride! Will Mr. Mash recover? Will he be the reason for the discovery of the vaccine? How long would it be before the vaccine is found? Will it be too late? What happens if you can truly bend time? What are the possibilities?
The book is a perfect blend of empathy and emotions without being cloyingly sentimental. Georgie is a very adorable and realistic character who struggles with the tinge of resentment she feels at Jessica, just because she is not her mum. She is a wild, strong-willed child with a rare ability to discern others’ magnanimity in comparison to her own. Her friend, Ramzy’s brilliant character is brought to light in Georgie’s voice and perspective. She often says, ” It’s nice of him not to mention it as I would have.” The book particularly shines in the parts where the author brings forth the quality of empathy that is so natural in children- for example, when Georgie is understandably embarrassed about undressing in an emergency, Ramzy sprints to get her a change of clothes, while keeping his eyes fixed to the ground so as not to add to Georgie’s discomfiture.
Devishobha is the founder of Kidskintha- a global parenting and education collective, and the host of the global virtual conferences hosted on the platform. You can also find her voice on the Huffington Post, Mother.ly, Entrepreneur, Lifehack, TinyBuddha, Thought Catalog and many other publications.
I cannot thank you enough for supplying these talks. I am a special education teacher, PreK-6th grade, in Montana, USA. I am so grateful to have instruction and insight from so many experts available to me. Thank you also for providing the links for follow-up questions and diving deeper into their areas of expertise. This summit will make a difference in the way I approach
assessment, instruction, and intervention in my classroom, as well as how I collaborate with my general education colleagues and parents. All that and I am only halfway through day 1!
Kidskintha Summit Participant
Urja Nagaria
I am impressed with your hard work and your immense curiosity, passion, and determination to execute this summit at this hour when the world is battling. All the lectures were well organized and planned, and cherry on top well lined up! The best feedback I want to tell you is I was so woven with the lectures that I managed to complete them on the designated days! I was so glued to all the lectures that I carried my screen and hands-free to the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom to complete them and generate notes to share with my colleagues and apply them at work.
Kidskintha Summit Participant
Sangita Krishnamurthy
I am thrilled to see a conference hosted by an Indian parenting website that has brought together renowned names in the various fields of parenting. Not only are the presenters known, but the topics have also been curated to give parents practical ways to better themselves. Areas like resilience, social-emotional well-being, skilling for adolescents,
etc. are relevant and needed areas of discussion. I got to see a preview of a session on mindfulness by Christopher Willard and was impressed with the ease with which Devishobha guides the discussion to the needs of the Indian parent community. I am
looking forward to listening to more of the speakers during the conference.
Special Educator, Kidskintha Summit participant.
Sherryll Kraizer
Devishobha has been a great collaborator with my organization on behalf of preventing child abuse. She has been brilliant at getting simple, effective, and actionable advice and tools to parents. She brings together the best people in an easy-to-access online format. It is so unusual to work with someone who has a sense of quality and accessibility for parents!
Ph.D.; Director- Coalition For Children; Speaker, Kidskintha Parenting Consciousness Summit.
Yashwardhini Chauhan
I would like to thank you very much for holding the special kid's international summit. I had applied to more than 20 alternative schools all over India two years ago for my son's admission, but nothing worked out. I knew the existing school was not good enough for him. I felt frustrated and could not understand what plans God had for me. However I am very grateful to you for making me aware of so many aspects, now my son has got admission to a school specially meant to teach children like him, in New Jersey and my son is very happy.
Kidskintha SPINS Summit
Lisa Lynam Piar
I am an avid researcher regarding parenting techniques, especially for complex or spirited children, and have already found this summit so helpful. I especially loved Bonnie Harris’s piece. Thank you for bringing all of these great resources to the world in a way we can easily access.
Early Educator, & participant, Parenting Consciousness Summit
Neeru Tyagi
It was a very insightful experience. As a preschool teacher, I can relate to the importance of the early years, which can have a lifelong impact on our children. Thank you for bringing us to this summit.
Kidskintha World Early Years Summit.
Rupa Sharat Kumar
An information-packed presentation. There were some great parenting tips for neuro-typical as well as neuro-diverse kids.
Kidskintha SPINS summit participant.
Trupthi Dabhade
The session was wonderful and the highlight was the 5C strategy.
Kidskintha SPINS Summit participant.
Gayatri Suryanarayan
Very very interesting session! It was really wonderful the way the whole thing was explained with regard to the Indian context with practical solutions! Great job!