Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 3-5. You say there's nothing in your library for boys to read? Can't find anything that mixes adventure, comedy, and a tad of hocus-pocus? Never fear, the Time Warp Trio has arrived. Joe, the narrator, and his two pals, Fred and Sam, make their trips through time with the help of Joe's Book, a gift from Joe's magician uncle. In The Knights of the Kitchen Table, the trio hangs out with Lancelot et al. and makes Camelot safe from a very smelly giant. Bluebeard is the troublemaker in The Not-So-Jolly-Roger, a nasty hulk of an outlaw who takes special pleasure in singing "sixteen men on a dead man's chest" and then thinking of ways to push the number up to 17. Scieszka and Smith who wryly retold The True Story of the Three Little Pigs [BKL S 1 89], are just as cheeky here. Told at a quicksilver pace, the stories are furious and funny, with just enough raunch to delight middle-grade boys (and girls who don't mind their giants on the gaseous side). Less than 50 pages long and profusely illustrated with Smith's inventive artwork, these tales will be requested time after time. ~--Ilene Cooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-By Jon Scieszka. Can the Time Warp Trio escape death and destruction and still make it back to the 20th century for lunch? (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Two short books about the magical adventures of three boys will have appeal to those looking for a little action. One story tells of the three friends and their visit to King Arthur's court, and the other is about their meeting with the infamous pirate, Blackbeard. Very quick, a bit violent - though all in fun - and filled with slapstick humor. From HORN BOOK 1991, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The author of the hilarious The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (1989) comes up with an entertaining formula in this first ``Time Warp Trio'' story: Narrator Joe is given a magic book (''The Book'') that transports him and two friends to King Arthur's Britain, where they find themselves confronted by a fearsome Black Knight--who's easy to defeat with some quick dodging when he's in mid-charge. Then Lancelot, Gawain, et al. happen by and take the boys for heroes--a reputation they sustain by tricking the loathsome giant who's menacing the castle into fighting the terrible dragon (Smaug) that has also just turned up. Scieszka unobtrusively slips in several classic references and defines some chivalric jargon by having the boys comically paraphrase it; there is some daring juvenile humor on the subject of the giant's various atrocious smells, and the contrast between the boys' breezy manner and the knights' pseudo-formality is also good for several laughs. A little forced, but this should serve its purpose. Smith's drawings deftly reflect the blend of everyday kid with zany, mock-gruesome adventure. See also a simultaneously published sequel, The Not-So-Jolly Roger, reviewed below (in brief). (Fiction. 8-12)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
