How to Steal the Future – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Challenges, memories, opportunities, escape, maze.
Children’s book title: How to Steal the Future.
Children’s author: Christopher Edge.
Genre: Children’s fiction, adventure fiction.
Published by: Macmillan Children’s Books.
ISBN: 9781035071821.
Recommended for children aged: 9+.
First published: Paperback July 2026.
This children’s book is ideal for: readers who like exciting, fast-paced adventures with a plot twist. As a starting point for discussing the power of thought and how everyone’s memories are different, even when they are about shared experiences.
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Our review:
Drew Blake is about to undertake a dangerous task, trying to complete a secret and secluded maze, which has been undertaken by many other youngsters his age. The only problem is that none of the children who have begun this challenge, including his sister Evie, have ever been seen again. The reward, if successful, is an item called the Avenir, which can, apparently, unlock the future and all it contains. Drew doesn’t want the prize; he is only there to find and save Evie.
With just sixty-seven minutes allowed to him, Drew and his accomplice Meg begin by working out the code required to enter the maze, and then it starts to get difficult. The various pathways are ever-changing as Meg and Drew find themselves racing along collapsing corridors, entering promising passageways which lead nowhere, and, even more surprisingly, finding other children trapped by the dangers hidden within the maze. Gradually, as they get closer to the centre, Drew begins to recognise clues he is sure they should follow, but what if he’s making a mistake? Time is running out, and there’s still no sign of Evie.
Our verdict:
How to Steal the Future is an exciting page-turner of a book, which is pretty much action all the way. The two main protagonists, Drew and Meg, are trying to work out how to reach the middle of a maze by solving the problems in front of them before the time allocated runs out. The prize at the end of their quest is the ability to unlock your future. They have sixty-seven minutes to achieve their goal (be prepared for a class of children calling out ‘six seven‘!)
There is a puzzle to solve to enter the maze, but this is not a book where the reader works alongside the characters; instead, the clues, with hindsight, are all from Drew’s experiences. My thoughts as I read this were along the lines of ‘Why are the memories or situations only related to Drew and not Meg?’ As the book reaches its concluding chapters, it becomes clear why this is the case, and then Meg explains who she is, what is happening, and why.
Written in the first person, we work with Drew to try to understand what is happening to him. We see the long corridors found in the museum and underground stations he and Evie visited on a day out in London, as well as sections of the maze they tried to solve before ultimately failing. This is a very clever book, and the reasons for Drew needing to find his sister gradually become clearer, and although the tube train accident they are involved in is traumatic, because he doesn’t remember most of what happened, the details are minimal. It is also only mentioned in the last few chapters, as Meg explains everything to Drew, most of the maze journey becomes clear to the reader as well.
There is plenty of scope for discussion once the book has been completed. Firstly, around what the storyline appears to be – the quest for Avenir and how Drew and Meg work out the best ways to move towards their goal. Secondly, and this is linked to the fact that the memories and solutions are all Drew’s, the final part of the book shows the way Evie and the doctors are trying to break through the obstacles Drew has put in place to protect himself. There are also explanations in this section which help to show clearly how we got to this point in the story, but crucially not what may happen next because, after all, Drew’s future isn’t ours to determine; that is down to him.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Drew is familiar with the story of the Minotaur, and this is an integral part of his story. How does his brain alter this to fit with his own altered reality?
- Did you realise before the explanations began that all the memories and solutions to the quests came from Drew’s memories alone?
- Once you got to the end, did you understand why Evie wasn’t showing him any of her memories? What was the reason?
- In the first part of the book, the quest for Avenir appeared to be the main storyline. Using this as your starting point, write and illustrate an article to persuade youngsters to undertake this challenge themselves.
- Drew is left to take the final steps into his future alone. Did you understand why that was?
- If you could decide what Drew’s life would look like at the end of the book, what would you have happen?
- How surprised were you by the real reasons for Drew’s maze adventure?
Many thanks to Macmillan Children’s Books for the review copy.
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