Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Teen time travel historical adventure.
Children’s book title: Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller.
Children’s author: Amelia Tait.
Genre: Children’s fiction, diary.
Published by: Starboard.
ISBN: 9781444931983.
Recommended for children aged: 10+.
First published: Paperback May 2026.
This children’s book is ideal for: children who enjoy friendship drama, first crushes, mean girls and history mixed with time-travel adventure.
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Our review:
Lily Pitt is like most almost-thirteen-year-olds. She goes to school, she has an awesome best friend, Poppy, a stuck-up nemesis called Georgia, a long-time feud with Joseph, and she’s in love with Ollie. Like most almost-thirteen-year-olds, except for the minor fact that she time-travels. Every New Year’s Day, since she turned 8, when the clock struck 12 (her birthday is New Year’s Day), she has ended up in a New Old Year. Starting with Victorian times, she’s travelled to Roman Britain and the 1920s… every time with the same people, but no one seemed to know what was happening except Lily. They acted as if they had always been there.
The travels continued until 12 months ago, when, after some serious New Year wishing, she arrived back in 2025, where she belonged (and aced her history assignments ever since). Surely that’s it now? She can enjoy New Year’s Eve and confess her love for Ollie. Except that would be too easy, and at the stroke of midnight, as Lily turns 13, she finds herself in 1621, servant to the dreaded Georgia, and Ollie still completely unaware of how she feels. Will she ever get back to 2025?
The Biggest, Funniest Time-Travelling Middle-Grade Debut of 2026 is a tale of teen life, with the time-travelling seemingly casually thrown in, as the universal themes of friendship, mean girls, first crushes, and generally trying to navigate life as a 13-year-old span the different ages. In 2025, Lily wonders when she will need a bra; in 1621, they hadn’t been invented yet, and in 1972, apparently, women are supposed to be burning them. Awkward social situations have to be dealt with, no matter what the era, although being accused of being a witch in Jacobean times does carry a bit more risk than most.
Readers will learn much about the historical eras that Lily travels to in a fun and easy way as they follow her adventures and dilemmas. At the end of the book, there is a nice section called ‘What’s true in Lily’s diary’, letting us know that the settings, social life, food and fashion are all based on real history.
Despite the time-travelling, this is a story readers will find relatable, as the problems of a teen transcend the centuries, and they will get a crash course in history along the way.
Our verdict:
Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller is a great mix of drama and historical adventure that tweens and teens will love.
Many thanks to Starboard for the review copy.
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