The Rhythm of Time by Questlove

The Rhythm of Time Reviews

• 
  Janae (The Modish Geek)

  This was so much fun! It was fast-paced, funny, and relatable. And we love a young Black girl in STEM. If I read this right, it could be the beginning of a series and I'm here for it.
  
  HIGHLY recommend, especially for the intended audience.
• 
  Ty

  This was a fun read! I loved the friendship between the main characters Rahim and Kasia. They both had very different interests, Rahim wanting to rap and Kasia being into technology yet they were able to connect as friends. This book brings up many topics that would be relatable to young readers such as bullying, peer pressure, following your dreams and the importance of friendship. The time travel aspect of the book was entertaining because we saw the impacts of what happens when a person goes back in time and how that could rewrite the future. The overall story was fast paced and had moments where you really felt for Rahim and just want him to win. I don’t pick up middle grade a lot, but if I can find more books like this, I will pick it up more often!
• 
  Gary Anderson

  The twelve-year-old kid who still lives somewhere inside me has a new favorite book: The Rhythm of Time by Questlove with S. A. Cosby. It has time travel, music fans, smart kids with rebellious streaks, and parents who understand “good trouble” and take the sides of their children against authority figures.
  
  Rahim and Kasia are next-door neighbors and best friends. (There is no romance anywhere in sight, another plus for the twelve-year-old me.) Rahim is an aspiring rapper whose professor father despises technology. Kasia is a home-schooled technology genius who builds a phone for Rahim in spite of his father’s Luddite tendencies. Problems arise when Rahim searches for something on the phone, and he is bodily transported to his search results. That’s right; Kasia has unknowingly tapped into the super-secret government satellites that can bend space and time and hot-wired that ability into Rahim’s phone.
  
  Rahim first uses the phone to get out of jams, but eventually he is transported to an earlier time of his Philadelphia neighborhood where he meets younger versions of people he knows very well. (No spoilers here.) Rahim finds that his love of ‘90s rap transcends time, and he has some adventures in fandom that help him better understand his life’s future version. (Questlove name-checks his own band The Roots at one point.)
  
  In addition to the time travel elements inThe Rhythm of Time, the adult me also appreciates how Questlove and Cosby authentically present middle-class Black life. The parents of Rahim, Kasia, and young characters say and do things that probably would not happen in households of other races.
  
  The fast pace, humor, and intriguing plot make The Rhythm of Time an ideal choice for middle-grade readers who like action, technology, speculative fiction, or music. The social justice threads and lack of romance may also appeal to certain readers. The only thing I didn’t like about The Rhythm of Time was the ending. Again, no spoilers here, but I wish authors wouldn’t do things like that.
• 
  Ronald

  This was a good read. Took a bit to get started or draw me into the story. It is a kids / YA book but much better than many of the other books I have read aimed at that demographic. The story assumes the reader is smart and not a dumb kid.
  
  There are a few points that in other books I would complain about but will let go without comment. I am not a complete fan of this time travel butterfly effects just being random. Will there actually be another book and will this be a series?
• 
  Bookishrealm

  I'm always looking for new sci-fi books to check out especially those that are geared towards middle grade readers. While I was nervouse about Questlove writing this book, I think that the pairing with S.A. Cosby definitely made me more excited to dive into this one. I clearly have taken to long to write my review for this one since I finished it back in May, but I can say that it's well worth a read.
• 
  Tanya Prax

  4.5 stars
• 
  Joy Davenport

  Rating: pg for danger, adventure. No profanity, no sex. No violence
  Recommend: 6th -9 - esp black and brown kids looking for stories with kids like them. Normal family, whole parental units, healthy friendships.
  
  I loved this book adding to the genre of “not only white kids should get to do the fun stuff”.
  Smart girl, boy understanding his dad better, both growing up a little bit. There is some disobedience, some lying, but all is clear and forgiven at the end. A good add to the collection.
• 
  Charlotte

  a neat time travel story staring a young rapper and a genius girl who inadvertently creates a time travel device that sends the boy back to when his father was a kid. This puts the world in danger of utter temporal collapse, and makes for fun reading!
• 
  Kristen Harvey

  What a fun time travel story full of great moments and humor. I absolutely enjoyed seeing how things were messed up and the reason behind everything beginning. I can’t wait to see where the series goes next.
• 
  Rebecca McPhedran

  Ok, this one was really fun! A cool twist on Back to the Future. When Rahim’s best friend Kaisa gives him a phone that might actually be a Time Machine, their entire universe and the construct of time could be in serious trouble. This book was so good! I really enjoyed it!
• 
  Lisad

  So much fun! Fast-paced, engaging, yet still thought-provoking. Loved Kasia, who reminds me of Black Panther’s sister Shuri. Would love for this to be a series.
• 
  Feliciana

  This was so much fun to read! I eye-read it in a day. The ending sets it up for a possible sequel, which I would definitely read!
• 
  Brian Christopher Asch

  Absolutely amazing and good for all ages!
• 
  Glen Krisch

  A fun YA sci-fi novel.
• 
  Kaprisha

  This was a very good read have to make a movie and a 2nd book like big time
• 
  Hobart

  ★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
  This originally appeared at
  The Irresponsible Reader.
  ---
  

  His dad. He was walking and talking with his dad. And his dad was...kinda cool? Rahim didn't know what was more shocking—the fact he had traveled back in time or that his dad was once actually pretty fun to be around.

  
  
  WHAT'S THE RHYTHM OF TIME ABOUT?
  Kasia is a homeschool nerd/computer genius. Her parents run a vegan co-op and help community gardens throughout the city. They know she's smarter than them, but they also know they don't fully appreciate how much smarter she is. For example, she's designed a drone that can adapt, speak, and add features as it sees fit. She's also made a (admittedly unattractive) smartphone for her best friend so he can call her and do homework.
  
  Rahim lives next door to her and to call his father a Luddite is to understate things—and it'd probably result in a lecture from him about the inaccuracy of using the term for him. He's a history professor who won't allow computers, etc. in his home—his encyclopedias are good enough for Rahim's homework, thank you very much*. He's not that crazy about Rahim's love of music or sports, either.
  
  * Sure, it's impossible in 2023 for even a grade school student to do homework without the Internet, we all know that. Shhh. Roll with it for the purposes of the book.
  
  Rahim is overjoyed with his gift (although he does make a crack about its looks) and starts to use it right away. It takes him very little time to see that if he does things in a certain way, the phone will transport him instantly to various places. Kasia doesn't understand that, but before she can figure out how that happens, Rahim discovers (the hard way) that the phone also works to send him to the past.
  
  While Kasia tries to figure out how to get him home, she tells him to keep from interacting with anyone as much as possible. She starts trying to see what the satellites she hacked into to give Rahim his phone are doing to him and Rahim sees a kid about his age being bullied and before common sense can restrain him, he intervenes and saves the kid. The bullied kid turns out to be Omar, or as Rahim calls him, "Dad."
  
  Oops.
  
  And well...things get worse from there.
  
  THE TAKE ON TIME TRAVEL
  

  Time itself is being pulled and stretched, and I'm kinda afraid it's gonna crumble like graham crackers dunked in milk.

  
  Like any self-respecting time-travel story, particularly one where the traveler meets a relative, things start to unravel—the timeline, future events, etc. And not just in the expected ways—the first sign we have that anything's going wrong is that a different team wins the '97 NBA Championship. There's no relation to anyone in the book to anyone in the NBA (that the reader knows of), so the problems in the timeline aren't starting out in the typical way. The authors deserve some big points for that.
  
  Nor do the time travel-induced anomalies continue to play out the way they usually do. It's when things are nearing their worst that Kasia says that about graham crackers in milk (a visual that has stuck with me for days).
  
  (Mild Spoilers ahead in this paragraph) Some things remain constant—Rahim's parents still get together and live next to Kasia and her family. Kasia's just as smart, too (thankfully). And just when you start to think that maybe, just maybe, we're going to get a Back to the Future kind of ending where things went differently for Rahim's father and he found a different kind of success—but Rahim (for reasons you might not expect) decides to try a plan-so-crazy-that-it-just-might-work to restore the timeline. Emphasis on the might.
  
  THE GOVERNMENT TYPES
  Disrupting, disturbing, distracting, and potentially disabling Kasia's efforts are a couple of government agents. They seem like moderately overzealous, humorless types who are trying to do their job—if it happens to allow them to bully a little girl, so be it.
  
  Eventually, however, these agents prove to be better than we think. In doing so they show that some of the government assets that Kasia has been, um, "helping" herself to aren't exactly what she thinks they are. In fact, there's a connection between them and The Philadelphia Experiment. But we're not just treated to the typical urban legend version of the Philadelphia Experiment, Questlove and Cosby give the reader a Hidden Figures version of it. Which makes it all the more fun.
  
  But just because there are all sorts of adults running around with official powers and equipment, don't think that it all doesn't come down to what Kasia and Rahim do. This is a Middle-Grade novel, after all.
  
  SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE RHYTHM OF TIME?
  It just felt so odd to be having so much fun on just about every page with Cosby's name on the cover. I enjoy his stuff, but it's not often that "fun" enters into the conversation. And fun is the best word to describe this.
  
  The whole concept and the way it plays out are ridiculous—but they're entertaining, and if you can accept any part of it, you'll accept it all. And there's no reason not to suspend your disbelief enough to buy into the story—because it's not trying to be more than a fun adventure for grade school readers.* So just sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and enjoy.
  
  * Even if it had higher aspirations, you could still make the case for going along with things.
  
  Rahim's a great guy, and you can see where Omar ends up becoming the Dad that he is—and how his parents become the versions of themselves Rahim would come to know as his grandparents. All of that was really well done.
  
  Kasia is the type of impossible genius making tech in her bedroom that has been the stuff of cartoons and Middle-Grade fiction since I was reading it (when it was called "Juvenile Fiction.") Think Flavia de Luce meets Penny from Inspector Gadget meets Richie Foley (from Static Shock). I will read something about her anytime. If Rahim's along for the ride, so much the better.
  
  The book ends with a clear sign that the story goes on, but none of the online sources I see refer to this as the first of a series. I hope it does go on—but it's also one of those endings that doesn't require a sequel. We know that Rahim and Kasia are going to be up to more adventures, and in a way, that's enough. By this point, the reader has enough to know how their adventures will go.
  
  But I really hope the series keeps going.
  
  Pick this up for some nice, uncomplicated fun for yourself or grab it for the Middle Schooler in your life (and then borrow it).
• 
  Wendy Post

  Too far fetched and way too busy. Couldn’t wait for it to be over!
• 
  Jake Chavez

  Set-up to be a sequel. Lots of holes in the plot as well as an unsatisfying ending.
• 
  Ms. Yingling

  E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
  
  Rahim Reynolds lives in Philadelphia with his older sister, Yasmine, his father, who is a professor, and his mother, who gives music lessons. He's bullied mercilessly at school by Demarcus and his henchmen, Lavell and Tron. Luckily, his best friend is neighbor Kasia, who is homeschooled and heavily into technology. This is helpful because his father doesn't believe in all the newfangled garbage like cell phones. For his birthday, Kasia gives Rahim a phone that she has cobbled together and connected to a sketchy network so that he doesn't have to pay for it. Kasia has better skills than she imagines, and the two soon find out that Rahim's cell phone can teleport him around town. When it teleports him back in time, things get complicated quickly. Kasia's computer equipment is taken away by government forces, so she is having trouble getting Rahim back to the present. He's landed in his same neighborhood in 1997, and has met his father when he was young. Luckily, his future grandparents take him in, since he claims he can't go home, and they figure he has run away. He finds out that his father was always a bit geeky (wearing a tie when everyone else is wearing sagging jeans and oversized white t shirts), but loves music. The two plan to use the phone to attend a Four the Hard Way Concert, but this involves breaking his grandparents' rules. There are bigger issues at stake, and Kasia work is opening wormholes and vorteces, and releasing extinct animals all over the place, in both the present and the past. When she manages to get Rahim back to the present, they realize that he presence in the past has changed a lot-- his father is now a struggling rap artist who still writes lyrics like a twelve year old and hasn't been successful, and his artistic mother has a stressful job at a bank. The two find out some things about WWII technology and meet Dr. Evelyn Jackson, who worked with Project Philadelphia in 1943. She is the key to all of the problems that Kasia has released, but will she be able to help Kasia and Rahim undo all of the damage to time they have caused? A second book seems necessary.
  Strengths: There is a lot of science based theory surrounding the time travel that was intriguing; I'm convinced that time travel will eventually be possible through cell phones. (I may have once had a long conversation with a phone salesman about why the "Go To Date" feature on my phone didn't work; apparently, the unlimited time travel package is prohibitively expensive!) I love that Kasia is great with technology and that her parents support her in this, and also that she wanted to share it with Rahim. The time travel also hits a lot of essentials like the Butterfly Effect, and what middle grade student doesn't want to travel back in time to meet parents? Page's Rewind was one of my daughter's favorites. There is a lot of information about 1990s hip hop music that might appeal to younger readers who want a throwback; certainly, we are well past the stage where they want to travel back to meet the Beatles. Of course, now that is a book that I totally want!
  Weaknesses: A middle school library has Stephen King's 1987 700+ page long The Tommyknockers? A college professor doesn't understand that his son's school has a lot of work that has to be done on the computer and doesn't provide one for him? There were a lot of little things like this (and the atomic wedgie style bullying; in 25 years, I've never heard of this happening) that made me wonder if either of the authors had been in a middle school or talked to 12 year olds lately. Also, wouldn't Dr. Jackson be over 90 years old?
  What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Giles' The Last Last-Day-of-Summer and Henderson's The Magic in Changing Your Stars.
• 
  Hundred Acre

  What do you get when you team up an award-winning musician with an award-winning writer? A story that features a young boy just trying to make his way as a rap artist and his best friend / next door neighbour who is some sort of tech genius! Curious? It is but it also very clever a funny story featuring music, tech, time travel, school bullies, homework, old fashioned parents, there are so many aspects to this story it is almost a little difficult to know where to start. I think that as The Rhythm of Time opens with the day that changed the life of Rahim then maybe there is also where Questlove and S. A. Cosby would want the review of their title to begin too.
  
  Rahim Reynolds may only be in seventh grade but he already knows what he wants to do with life. He wants to be a rapper, to go to music college. Firstly, however he is struggling to bring his parents into the modern world with some technology so he doesn’t have to keep sneaking next door to see his tech genius best friend, Kasia, and lay down tracks. When Kasia gives him a phone which looks prehistoric but promises great results what neither expect is that it will become a time travel device transporting him back to 1997! Trying not to change the past, or future, get home, evade bullies and government agents all adds up to a fantastic adventure story.
• 
  Janice

  Rahim loves rap music especially an old school group. He is making his own music on the sly because Dad doesn’t let him have electronics. His best friend, Kasia, a genius, is also his recording producer. Kasia build Rahim a cell phone so he can get internet, etc. She ties it to a government satellite so no fees. But this cell phone transports Rahim to different places and times. When he sends himself back to see his favorite rap group’s first concert in Philly, he gets stuck. It doesn’t help that the government has tracked Kasia and confiscated her equipment before she can get him back. Rahim has trouble in his timeline from a bully named Man Man because Rahim’s song for a contest was better than his.
  
  While back in time, Rahim steps up when another kid is getting bullied because he can relate. The other kid being bullied is Omar, Rahim’s dad. As Rahim breaks more of the time traveling rules, more things go wonky. Rahim ends up in a timeline that’s nothing like the one he left.
  
  So they fix it. And the reason I couldn’t give this book 5 stars. It felt rushed and not explained well -- the fix, I mean. Everything else felt like it had been better planned. Although the set up for book 2 was well done.
  
  This one kept me reading when I should have been doing other things. It was good.
• 
  Deborah Zeman

  Great story that showcases the butterfly effect when playing with time-travel and how it can effect both the future and the past. Lesson to be learned: don’t play with the timelines.
  
  Loved the characters of Rahim and Kasia; Kasia is true genius and STEM girl. The introduction of Dr. Jackson from the Philadelphia Experiment was interesting but after further research, I couldn’t find any info about her or the “Black Rosies” of the project. An added touch to the whole time travel piece of the story, just a bit inconsistent. Doesn’t take away from the story.
  
  Lots of technology used in the book and the possibility of time-travel via cellphones is intriguing and a story line that I don’t recall reading before.
  
  As you read the book, you wonder why Rahim’s dad is so against technology, that he’s all about the books. You definitely come to learn his why.
  
  I look forward to seeing the completed book with the corresponding illustrations.
• 
  Matt Glaviano

  Copy I read was an ARC - no art present (except the dumb cover), but cool pages describing what the art would depict when finished ("Illustration: Kasia saves Iago while agents get hot dogs").
  
  Questlove has been a hero of mine for a long time. Of course I'm gonna read a Questlove J Fict novel.
  
  Forula: take Sal and Gabi. Add in time travel and some Back to the Future vibes. Throw in 90s Philadelphia and... voila.
  
  I didn't find a ton to celebrate or to disparage in this book. Kasia was underutilized - she didn't have a lot to work with and it was a shame.
  
  The writing was functional but not too special. The dialogue didn't always come across that well - it felt canned.
  
  The best part was probably the 90s Philadelphia setting. That was more unique and lived in than any other aspect of this book.
  
  The end... was rough. I'm glad the whole book didn't just feel like it was setting up for sequel... but it sure felt tacked on at the end of this one.
  
  
• 
  Karen

  Rahim lives in Philadelphia next door to his tech-genius best friend Kasia who is home-schooled and has all the latest and greatest computing tools at her fingertips. Rahim has no cellphone, no television, no video games, and no computer because his professor father didn’t need all that tech when he was younger. Kasia makes a cellphone for Rahim and hacks into satellites to get free cell service. Unfortunately, she also managed to hack the space/time continuum because Rahim’s cellphone allows him to teleport and time travel. Just after he returns to the 1990s and meets up with his own father as a middle schooler, government agents catch on to the hack and confiscate Kasia’s computers. Will Rahim make it back to his own timeline? Will he change the course of history? Most importantly, will he find a way to attend a concert of his favorite 1990s rap group? I hope there is a sequel to this fun – and at times funny – sci-fi adventure!
• 
  Pam Bales

  My, oh my. I picked this up because I was intrigued with Questlove and when he and S A Cosby appeared on Jimmy Fallon as guests, instead of Questlove being on the drums, the duo introduced this book. Yes, it's Young Adult, but that doesn't stop older people from enjoying it. I decided I had to read this and S A Cosby's books as well. Best sci-fi I've read in ages, and I've read a lot. Set in Philadelphia home of The Roots, a couple of "misfit" kids manage to change the world as we know it. Teleporting, bullying, friendship, hip-hop, time travel, FBI intervention, the butterfly effect, an exciting mention of the Roots, and a reminder that everyone, no matter age, should reach for the stars and follow all their dreams. These and much more cumulate in a rip-roaring good read. Plus, wait for it - it has a cliffhanger. Highly recommend.
• 
  Shannon

  I’m out of practice with reading juvenile books. (I read more of them ten years ago when my daughters were younger.) That lack of recent juvenile reading made this book a bit hard for me at first - it skims the surface in places. But as I kept reading, there were components I really liked.
  
  I was especially fond of the incorporation of historical figures and female, Black STEM heroes. Kasia and Rahim were a great example of middle grade friendship. Finally, as a former homeschool parent, I loved seeing a homeschooled scientist as a main character.
  
  If you have an 8-12 year old, share this book with them!
• 
  WKPL Children's/YA Books

  Miss Lori gives this book 4.5 stars! What a fun story! I am a fan of time travel and this one hits the spot! The main character gets sent back to 1997 Philadelphia and meets his dad as a kid! Lots of references to 90's music artists and culture. Science. Super smart side character (girl!). Bullying. Strict parents. Family life. Adventure!
  
  Reader has to suspend disbelief on some of the events, but it's such a fun read that it makes the story exciting and the end seems to lead one to think there might be a sequel????
  
  Great read for 5th grade and up!
• 
  Liv CG

  SUCH a fun one!! Questlove was already infinitely cool, but he is even more so now that I see how he writes for tweens! S.A. Cosby's adult work keeps coming up for me, but I'd never actually read anything by him. Now I'm putting his new release on the top of my TBR.
  
  I loved this time-travelling action story of dynamic duo Rahim and Kasia. It's got twists and turns to keep you reading, and a cliffhanger ending (which I normally hate, but this one was so well done, I liked it!). There's music, tech (yay girls in STEM!) and Black joy in abundance. Definitely going to be pressing this book into readers' hands come September.
  
  Note: Some illustrations included - think along the lines of Clean Getaway - making this a very quick read.