Sam Peterson is your average high school student?until he falls through a portal in time and space and lands in the studio of Leonardo da Vinci. This is worse than algebra! Da Vinci was a futurist. He imagined the airplane, the helicopter, submarine, and morelong before anyone else. Who better to design a time machine to get Sam home? Our time-traveler gets hooked on art and science as he gets to know Leonardo. Meanwhile, da Vinci is fascinated by the common items of 21st century life. Yellow highlighters are a revelation! There's plenty of intrigue along the way. Leonardo da Vinci's patron wants to keep the boy from the future, with all his knowledge, right in his court. And since time travel depends on being at the right place at the right moment, a breathless dash ensues with soldiers in hot pursuit.Sam would like to stay with his new friend, and Leonardo would like to see the future. But the artist and man of science knows that each of us must make our world our own.

John Bliss has written several nonfiction books for young readers, including Art that Moves: Animation Around the World, Pioneers to the West, and Designer Babies. His interest in science goes back to long summer nights of his youth, when he would lie on the front lawn, watching the stars through his father's binoculars. John teaches courses in theater and communication at Northeastern Illinois University.