Ross Welford
Part of the collectionRoss Welford→Ross Welford's standalone sci-fi adventures — big ideas, breathless pacing and real heart. Every book stands alone; start anywhere, though his debut Time Travelling with a Hamster is a perfect front door.
- Books9
- Arcs1
- Span2015–2024
- StatusOngoing
The series
At a glance.
The complete standalone middle-grade novels of Ross Welford, gathered as a single body of work rather than a numbered series. It runs from his debut, Time Travelling with a Hamster — a boy using his late father's time machine to undo the accident that killed him — through What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible, The 1,000-year-old Boy, The Dog Who Saved the World, The Kid Who Came from Space and When We Got Lost in Dreamland, to the parallel-world quest of Into the Sideways World, the rewilded 2425 of The Monkey Who Fell From The Future and the time-machine rescue of Time Travelling with a Tortoise. Every book is self-contained and shares Welford's trademarks: a huge scientific premise, cliffhanger pacing, ordinary and funny young narrators, and a genuine emotional undertow. Read any one on its own, in any order.
Ross Welford's standalone sci-fi adventures — big ideas, breathless pacing and real heart. Every book stands alone; start anywhere, though his debut Time Travelling with a Hamster is a perfect front door.
Primary themes
Overall tone
- Exciting
- Suspenseful
- Thought provoking
- Heartwarming
These are standalone novels and can be read in any order. The one soft link: Time Travelling with a Tortoise is a standalone-friendly sequel to his debut, Time Travelling with a Hamster — reading the Hamster first adds depth but is not required.
One arc
The shape of the series.
- IStandalone collection arcModerate sensitivity
Ross Welford's standalone novels
Nine standalone high-concept Welford sci-fi novels; read in any order.
Nine self-contained Ross Welford adventures, unified by voice and approach rather than plot. Each takes a single audacious idea — time travel, invisibility, immortality, a dog-killing virus, an alien abduction, shared dreams, a parallel world, a rewilded future — and drives it through a ticking-clock plot narrated by an ordinary, funny kid in over their head. From the debut Time Travelling with a Hamster to its late sequel Time Travelling with a Tortoise, all nine pair a huge sci-fi premise with a genuine emotional core, and can be read in any order.
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 9–12
- Read aloud · 9–12
- Independent · 9–12
Reluctant-reader friendliness
Workable
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Not especially
Sensitivity envelope
Moderate overall, and consistent.
Content notes
- Grief
- Death of character
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
Similar in feel
Different shelves, same wavelength.
- The Strangeworlds Travel Agency →
About the author