Hello There, Do You Still Know Me? By Laurie B. Arnold

Hello There, Do You Still Know Me?  by Laurie B. Arnold
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Prospecta Press
Number of Pages:  192
Published:  March 7th, 2016
Source: Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. 

Hello There, Do You Still Know Me is the second book in the Hello There series.  I didn't read the first book, Hello There, We’ve Been Waiting For You!, but it was easy enough to follow along. 


11-year-old Madison lives with her grandmother, Florida Brown, in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  At the moment, it's summer and Madison and her friends (Noah and Violet) are spending their vacation in Costa Rica with a family friend, Rosalie Claire.  It's a break Madison really needed as her relationship with her grandmother has been kind of rocky.  Florida has high expectations for Madison and can be very demanding.  Also, Florida really wants Madison to be more girly and not so tomboyish, which causes lots of friction between the two. 

When Florida suddenly shows up ill in Costa Rica with a mysterious illness, Madison's feelings about her grandmother turn completely around.  Suddenly, she is desperate to help find a cure so she won't lose her like her mother.   At times it was difficult to like grandma Florida for the way that she was treating her granddaughter, and how she treated her own daughter in the past.  I'd like to think that she'll change her ways for the next book in the series. 

 In order to save Florida, the trio must first find the remote for the MegaPix 6000, a television that will zap them to the past so they can find a Baltic amber to recharge Rosalie Claire's magical fanny pack and she can make the cure to save Florida.  Madison and her friends go on an adventure to the Amazon rainforest to track down the remote and then travel back in time to 1994 to talk to Rosalie Claire's Grandma Daisy.  The time travel was my favorite part of Hello There, Do You Still Know Me?  Time travel for me has to have certain rules, kind of like in Back to the Future, you aren't supposed to change any of the events because there could be consequences in the future. Which is even more challenging for Madison, because she really misses her mom.  I really liked the way in which Arnold gives Madison the opportunity to spend time with her mother as a teenager and share some fun heartfelt moments together.  Reminds me of when Marty McFly runs into his own father.  The story is full of magical fanny packs, a time-traveling television and lots of adventure making for an overall fun, quick read.