The thylacine and the time machine by Renee Treml

Violet hasn’t started her project about the de-extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger due on Monday so she will be working on it all weekend. She starts well with a definition “de-extinction is the process of bringing an extinct species back to life” and online research tells her that to do this, scientists need a dunnart, a mouse sized marsupial. As Violet finds out more she shares her thoughts with Tassie, the family dog, named after the Tasmanian devil, not the tiger, in fact she finds out the correct name is the Thylacinus cynocephalus. Having fallen asleep in front of the computer the ghost of thylacines past present and future arrives and offers to show her the backwards-facing pouch they share with some other marsupials. Violet is not keen to see up its bum but is full of questions and keen for help with her project, even if it means going in a time machine with a cute but grumpy ghost. Together they visit the past, looking at habitat and how threats emerged, then they visit a laboratory in the present, looking at how a thylacine can be recreated from dead thylacine DNA pieces slotted in to their near relative, living dunnart, DNA and eggs, and finally they travel 25 years into the future to consider what the consequences might be if these extinct creatures are brought back to life.

The charming graphics in a limited blue/orange palette give a light touch to the serious science which permeates this graphic novel. Not only the pros and cons of de-extinction research are considered but also the “sticky bits” the ethical and social implications of manipulating genetics. Sometimes I thought there was too much packed into the one story but the jokes and deprecating humour kept up the pace and the end section has a summary of the research behind the narrative. Middle school students will enjoy this fun approach to what is a complex area of research so entertainingly presented.

Themes: Adventure, Ghosts, Extinction, Science, Thylacines.

Sue Speck