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Summary
Summary
Joe, Sam, and Fred have conquered the summer reading list, Greek monsters, and Roman gladiators, but a haiku-writing assignment lands them in what might be their scariest adventure yet! Samurai warriors, really big swords, and three twenty-first century kids are a dangerous combination . . . unless one of the boys can figure out a way to find the book and get them back home before disaster strikes.
Joe's Time Travel Haiku:
So what cranks the book?
What triggers the time warping?
Almost anything!
"Told at a quicksilver pace, the stories are furious and funny . . . . These volumes will be requested time after time." ( Booklist )
Author Notes
Jon Scieszka was born September 8, 1954 in Flint , Michigan. After he graduated from Culver Military Academy where he was a Lieutenant, he studied to be a doctor at Albion College. He changed career directions and attended Columbia University where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1980. Before he became a full time writer, Scieszka was a lifeguard, painted factories, houses, and apartments and also wrote for magazines. He taught elementary school in New York for ten years as a 1st grade assistant, a 2nd grade homeroom teacher, and a computer, math, science and history teacher in 3rd - 8th grade.
He decided to take off a year from teaching in order to work with Lane Smith, an illustrator, to develop ideas for children's books. His book, The Stinky Cheese Man received the 1994 Rhode Island Children's Book Award. Scieszka's Math Curse, illustrated by Lane Smith, was an American Library Association Notable Book in 1996; a Blue Ribbon Book from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books in 1995; and a Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Book in 1995. The Stinky Cheese Man received Georgia's 1997 Children's Choice Award and Wisconsin's The Golden Archer Award. Math Curse received Maine's Student Book Award, The Texas Bluebonnet Award and New Hampshire's The Great Stone Face Book Award in 1997. He was appointed the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress in 2008. In 2014 his title, Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor made The New York Times Best Seller List. Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger made the list in 2015.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-The Time Warp Trio is off again! This time, Sam, Fred, and Joe are working on a haiku writing assignment when they accidentally trigger their time travel Book and are transported back to old Japan. According to the rules, they can't return to the 21st century until they find the Book in the past. Unfortunately, it tends to hide in difficult and dangerous places-and important features like its "Auto Translator" keep malfunctioning. Posing as itinerant entertainers, the three friends encounter the warrior samurai Tada Honda, his cruel war leader Owattabutt, and even their own great-granddaughters who are time-traveling from the future (and who have a much more advanced understanding of the process). Haiku verses are sprinkled through the text. Elements of Japanese history blend with wild anachronisms and off-the-wall humor in an adventure that will be welcomed by children. The short text and snappy humor make the story a good choice for reluctant readers.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
A school haiku-writing assignment is responsible for Joe, Fred, and Sam traveling back in time to seventeenth-century Japan. A fortuitous meeting with their own time-traveling great-granddaughters saves the boys from having to contend with the questionable intentions of a future samurai shogun. The lightning pace and breezy tone make this an amusing, quick read. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Guys writing poetry? What a radical concept. Horsing around over a homework assignment, the Time Warp Trio inadvertently utters a haiku near The Book, and is "flushed down four hundred years," to ancient Japan where, after heroically wiping out an empty suit of samurai armor, nearly getting sliced into sushi by plug-ugly samurai Owattabut (guess why) and meeting their own granddaughters (see 2095, 1995) paddling along on a temporal jaunt of their own, the three entertain the great Ieyasu Tokugawa himself with a string of haiku that propel them back to Brooklyn-but merit only a C- from their teacher, Ms. Basho. Aswirl with mini-lectures and crumbs of general information about Japanese poetry and society, the arbitrary plot line and wiseacre dialogue will elicit the usual rumbles-of laughter, that is. It's not the freshest of the Trio's escapades, but the author plainly isn't ready to throw in the bowel-er, towel, quite yet. (Fiction. 9-11)
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. In their latest slapstick historical journey, the Time Warp Trio spins back to seventeenth-century Japan, mixing with Samurais and royalty for more nail-biting adventures, near catastrophes, and raucous humor. But there's a new ingredient in this title: poetry. The fun of making up haikus plays a large role here, and even readers sworn off poetry will find themselves captivated by Scieszka's use of haiku and haiku-esque observations in the text, particularly towards the end. The blend isn't always seamless and sometimes it's contrived, but Scieszka makes it work by keeping the laughs and the irreverence high--tough to do with spare, reverent poetry. Fans of the series won't be disappointed, and teachers looking for poetry materials may also find classroom ideas here. --Gillian Engberg
