Willie's Redneck Time Machine

August 18, 2014
Duck Dynasty scion Robertson teams with novelist Thrasher (the Solitary Tales series) for the first in a four-book series of choose your own adventure–style stories. At the outset, readers assume the character of Willie Robertson, who heads the Duck Commander company. Written in second-person, the narrative places readers among Robertson family members, confronting a variety of dilemmas and choices. Time travel is the plot device; “you” discover an outhouse in the Duck Commander warehouse that turns out to be the titular time machine. Story variants range wildly over millions of years, from the eras of dinosaurs and Noah’s ark through the 1990s with its fashionable mullets and on to 2319, when people use fantastical devices such as “controllocks” and “batter shatters.” As with the TV show, humor leavens many of the scenarios. Tying everything together is the simple message that care for family and friends and love of God are key elements of living a good life and making good decisions. Ages 8–12.

September 1, 2014
America's favorite redneck patriarch dips his beak into children's publishing with a wacky time-travel choose-your-own adventure. When a mysterious time machine disguised as a wooden outhouse appears in the Duck Commander warehouse, Willie Robertson, president of the Duck Commander empire, toys around with space and time by traveling to various exotic destinations. Depending on readers' choices, Willie engages at various lengths with each member of the Duck Dynasty cast. The scenarios bringing Willie to destinations as varied as his high school prom in 1990 or back to the Civil War era are mixed with humor and fairly fluid time-travel logistics. There isn't much imagination on display, but the book certainly stays on point, putting forth the family's faith-based, Southern-comfort agenda. Those that feel the Robertson's values are troublingly regressive will certainly find a few choice phrases to be bothered by, but fans of the show will be pleasantly diverted. Let's face it: This book isn't literature; it's just another brick in Duck Dynasty's ever expanding multimedia empire. Thankfully, there's enough aw-shucks charm on display that it's an inoffensive brick. There are certainly worse products out there put forth by celebrities looking for an extra buck. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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