Mac Travels Back / Story guide
Who's who, and what's where
The people, places and things in Mac Travels Back. Every card starts with what you'd know when they first turn up. Anything later is folded under a spoiler.
Characters
Mac
The time traveler telling the story
A modern kid in the modern age who loves his time, with its tablets and self-driving cars and hot chocolate mugs that never go cold. He also time travels, without ever leaving today.
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
Most trips are great, but when he's startled or put on the spot he turns into a cave kid ready to fight dinosaurs, and coming back leaves him worn out and sometimes sorry. He's working with his parents, school, a therapist and sometimes his doctor to go to dinosaur time less often, and he ends by sharing what he's learned.
Cave kid
The Mac who shows up in dinosaur time
The one of Mac's trips he doesn't like: a cave kid on the lookout for scary things that could hurt him.
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
A little of the cave kid stays with Mac all the time, just in case, which keeps him a bit angry and makes new things hard. When the cave kid takes over, Mac's eyes get shiny, he pants, makes fists and yells, says things he doesn't mean, and sometimes breaks things. The cave kid is there to fight, not to have a tea party.
Mac's therapist
Part of Mac's team
The therapist helping Mac not go to dinosaur time as much.
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
Along with his parents, his school and sometimes his doctor, part of the crew helping him make his usual Mac decisions.
Places
Mac time
The present day
Mac's home time, the modern age, which he thinks is the best time there is.
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
Coming back from a rockstar trip is easy: a sandwich and he's off again. Coming back from dinosaur time is slow, tiring, and sometimes there's leftover damage.
The fun trips
Pirate, space kid, rockstar
The trips Mac loves: a pirate on the seven seas, a space kid blasting to an uncharted planet, or a rockstar from before his parents were born.
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
The rockstar trip, back to the 1970s, is his favorite.
Dinosaur time
Where the cave kid lives
The trip Mac doesn't pick. It comes out of nowhere, usually when he's startled, facing a fear, or put on the spot.
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
Stressful places always send him here. Once he's there his mind runs faster than a space shuttle, and it's easy to get sent right back.
Things
Fight or Flight Response
What Mac's parents call the cave kid
What Mac's parents say he's using when he turns into a cave kid: "the greatest tool of their time."
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
The fight-or-flight response is the body's automatic reaction to a threat. The physiologist Walter Cannon described it in 1914 and 1915: the sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline and related hormones, the heart speeds up, breathing quickens, pupils widen and muscles tense for action.
Spoilers
Mac points out that he doesn't fly, but running and fighting he can do.
The secrets
Mac's tips
The tips Mac has learned, one set for other time travelers and one for the dinos.
First appears: Part 2, The Secrets
Spoilers
For travelers: deep breaths, something that grounds you in the present, someone you trust to talk to, and relaxation like yoga or meditation. For dinos: no threats, keep it cool, keep your space, give the cave kid cardboard boxes rather than new technology, and don't take it personally.
Groups
Mom and Dad
Mac's parents
Mac's parents, who tell him every kid has at least one thing they're going through, and this one is his.
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
They explain the fight-or-flight response to him, and they're part of the team helping him spend less time in dinosaur time.
The dinosaurs
What the cave kid fights
The dinosaurs the cave kid is sure are coming for him. They're dinosaurs, so of course they're dangerous. Right?
First appears: Part 1, Mac Travels Back
Spoilers
Some of them may not be attacking at all. In the secrets at the end, Mac talks straight to the "Dinos," the grown-ups around a cave kid, and tells them what helps: keep your space, keep it cool, don't threaten to take things away, and don't take it personally.
Story beats
Show the story beatsSpoilers for the whole book
Part 1: Mac Travels Back
- Hey you!
Mac introduces himself and his time, the best one there is.
Part 1 ↗ - Time travel without leaving
He explains his time travel: pirate, space kid, 1970s rockstar, all while staying right here.
Part 1 ↗ - The trip he doesn't like
Sometimes he's a cave kid looking for scary things, and his family and therapist are helping him go there less.
Part 1 ↗ - You might be one too
Mac guesses the reader is a time traveler, or knows one, and that stressful places send travelers to dinosaur time.
Part 1 ↗ - Fight or flight
His parents call it the fight-or-flight response. He can't fly, but he can run and fight, and afterward he's sad and super-sleepy.
Part 1 ↗ - Always a little ready
Because the cave kid comes out of nowhere, a little of him stays in Mac all the time, which makes new things and homework hard.
Part 1 ↗ - When the dinosaurs show up
Shiny eyes, panting, fists and yelling; the cave kid isn't there for a tea party.
Part 1 ↗ - Hard to come back
Mac's mind races faster than a space shuttle, and sometimes he goes right back.
Part 1 ↗ - Working on it
He's working with his parents, school, a therapist and his doctor, and he offers to share the secrets.
Part 1 ↗
Part 2: The Secrets
- Tips for time travelers
Breathe deep, find something that grounds you, talk to someone you trust, and try yoga or meditation.
Part 2 ↗ - Tips for the dinos
Don't threaten, keep it cool, keep your space, and move anything that matters out of reach.
Part 2 ↗ - Don't take it personally
The last tip: the cave kid gets carried away and doesn't always mean what he says.
Part 2 ↗