Marco? Polo! (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Time Warp Trio (Pb)) [Library Binding]

Jon Scieszka (Author), Adam Mccauley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Time Warp Trio (Pb)

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Joe, Fred, and Sam embark on their 16th time warp adventure, which takes them to 13th-century China. They encounter sandstorms, desert bandits, a smelly camel, strange horoscopes, the emperor, and a very famous explorer named Marco Polo.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6–This installment in the series takes Joe, Sam, and Fred over the Silk Road into China. As it opens, the infamous blue Book transports Joe from the pool of his local YMCA to the desert where he meets Marco Polo, who is on his way to meet Kublai Khan. The boy is reunited with his friends only after rescuing himself and Marco Polo from bandits and a sandstorm. He also teaches the explorer how to play the game named after him, which provides for some very funny moments. The book concludes with a description of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. This title is as rich in historical detail as it is in humor and will have special appeal to reluctant readers.–Kathleen Meulen, Blakely Elementary School, Bainbridge Island, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The Time Warp Trio hits the Silk Road in this new installment. While playing a game of Marco? Polo! at the pool, Joe suddenly finds himself alone in the desert "somewhere between Italy and China," clad only in his swim trunks. Luckily, Marco Polo himself hears Joe's cries for help. One joke--an Asian character named Ding Dong--falls flat into stereotype. That puzzling choice aside, Scieszka continues his formula of absurdity, slapstick puns, and nonstop action that has won the series plenty of fans. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Library Binding: 90 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606032053
• ISBN-13: 978-0606032056
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Jon Scieszka was born in Flint, Michigan on September 8th, 1954. He grew up with five brothers, has the same birthday as Peter Sellers and the Virgin Mary, and a sneaking suspicion that the characters in his Dick and Jane reader were not of this world. Those plain facts, plus his elementary school principal dad, Louis, his registered nurse mom, Shirley (who once took Jon's Cub Scout den on a field trip to the prenatal ward), Mad Magazine, four years of pre-med undergrad, "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show", an M.F.A. in Fiction from Columbia University, Robert Benchley, five years of painting apartments in New York City, his lovely wife Jeri Hansen who introduced him to Molly Leach and Lane Smith, Green Eggs and Ham, his teenage daughter Casey and almost teenage son Jake, ten years of teaching a little bit of everything from first grade to eighth grade, and the last twenty years of living in Brooklyn...are just some of Jon's answers to the questions, "Where do you get your ideas?" and/or "How did you become a writer?" I don't know, just because, none of your beeswax, and flapdoodle poppycock and balderdash are some more of Jon's answers to questions you can imagine on your own. Jon met up with Lane Smith around 1986 or so, and nothing has been the same since. Their first book, the wiseguy fairy tale retelling, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! was initially rejected by most publishers as "too weird" and "too sophisticated". Published by Viking in 1989, The True Story has now sold over a million copies, been translated into ten languages, and been called a "classic picture book for all ages". Jon and Lane's The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) took the world of the picture book a few steps further. Goofing with the conventions of fairy tales and even being a book, The Stinky Cheese Man became a household word, sold another mess of copies in multiple languages, offended a few purists, and still managed to win a Caldecott Honor medal. Math Curse (1995) further stretched the notion of what subjects make good picture books, selling more books faster than either 3 Little Pigs or Stinky Cheese, and winning a whole slew of awards --all for a book full of mathematics.More recently, Jon and Lane have resurrected fables (in the smart, funny, and a little bit wicked way Aesop would have wanted them) in their latest collaboration, Squids Will Be Squids (1998). No telling where they might take the picture book next. Someone once wrote, "Jon Scieszka has forever changed the face of children's literature." And while there is still some confusion over exactly who that someone was, and whether children's literature does, in fact, have a face, most would agree-from The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! to Squids Will Be Squids, since Scieszka put pen to paper, children's literature sure has been...different.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny as usual, March 19, 2010

By 

Chaim D. Zions - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marco? Polo! #16 (Time Warp Trio) (Paperback)

Like all the rest of the Time Warp series this book strikes the funny bone pretty hard. Enjoyable and quick read.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Time Warp Trio's adventures with Marco Polo, January 19, 2010

By 

Raj "raj_thatsme" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marco? Polo! #16 (Time Warp Trio) (Hardcover)

Synopsis: The story starts off with Joe finding himself in the middle of a desert. The last thing he remembers is being in the YMCA Swimming Pool swimming with Sam and Fred and playing Marco Polo with them. He doesn't recall how he suddenly appeared in the middle of a desert, and feels like this is the end for him, when who other than Marco Polo arrives to save him. Marco Polo thinks Joe is an astrologer and takes him to meet his father Niccolo Polo and his uncle Maffeo Polo. They tell him that they have seen the book Joe is looking for, at Kublai Khan's court, and that they are on their way to meet Kublai Khan. Will Joe find his friends, and get the book, especially since it turns out to be in the hands of Ding Dong, the astrologer for Kublai Khan who hates the Trio and wants them

Review: I must say this was definitely an exciting Time Warp Trio book to read. Firstly, I liked it because it was the first time (at least for me), to read the Time Warp Trio separated from one another in the time period. This kept me wondering as to how they would find one another. Secondly, I liked how the author added humor into this book by creating names such as "Ding Dong" and getting Marco Polo to play "Marco Polo". Even though this is the first book of the series I read that had Adam McCauley as the illustrator, I enjoyed the illustrations in this book, and thought they fit well with the story.

Overall, this is another nice addition to the series, and I can't wait to read more!

NOTE: The reviewer previous to mine had a complaint that pages 29-30 were missing from the book. I am pretty sure this is not a misprint and the author intended to have those pages blank. I was also a little surprised when I saw it in the beginning in my version, but after reading the chapter, I am sure they were intended to be written that way.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buyer beware!, February 7, 2007

By 

Kat Hebert - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marco? Polo! #16 (Time Warp Trio) (Hardcover)

Our first edition copy of this book had a printer error. Pages 29 and 30 were completely blank. I sent it back to amazon and they promised me a refund. I don't know if all of the first edition books are like this, or if we were just unlucky. But if you want this book, you might consider waiting for the second edition or the paperback to come out.