Me Oh Maya #13 (Time Warp Trio) [Paperback]

Jon Scieszka (Author), Adam McCauley (Illustrator)

Book Description

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

One minute Joe, Sam, and Fred are shooting hoops in Brooklyn; the next they're on a court that is definitely not in New York, and surrounded by a bunch of players wearing feathered headdresses and not much else. And the other team is saying something about losers being the next blood sacrifices. Uh-oh. Tossed back in time to ChichŽn Itz‡, Mexico, in the year A.D. 1000, the Time Warp Trio is at it again. But can the guys score and find The Book before the Mayan High Priest and his team force them into "sudden death" overtime?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-The Time Warp Trio takes yet another unscheduled trip to the past. One moment Fred, Sam, and Joe are teasing one another on the basketball court in Brooklyn, and the next, they're playing for their lives on a Mayan ball court. The three boys must rely on their wits, one another, and the kindness of strangers to get out of a dreadful jam. Newly independent readers will find plenty of momentum in the dialogue and action. Scieszka introduces just enough about the Mayan people to set up plenty of puns and even a little bathroom humor. McCauley's cartoons underscore the crazy sense of high adventure. This time-tested formula succeeds again.
Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries, NE
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-6. Scieszka's ever-popular Time Warp Trio is off again, this time to Chichen Itza, Mexico, circa 1000 C. E. Joe, Sam, and Fred land in the middle of an ancient ball game, similar to basketball. Unfortunately, an evil high priest, Kakapupahed, is determined to sacrifice the kids to appease the harvest gods. Joe, Sam, and Fred have other ideas, of course, and with the help of the high priest's nephew, Jun, the three manage to embarrass and depose Kakapupahed, save their own lives, and return safely to Brooklyn. As in the earlier titles, this story is full of improbable situations, anachronisms, bad puns, and silly high jinks--in short, all the qualities that have endeared the author to young readers for so many years. At the same time, Scieszka manages to work in a fair amount of information about Mayan culture, especially the calendar and number system, without ruining the story. McCauley's black-and-white art is appropriately goofy. For series fans as well as newly independent and reluctant readers. Kay Weisman
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
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (April 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142403008
• ISBN-13: 978-0142403006
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( S ) > Scieszka, Jon
  • #80 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > Fiction > General

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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Insubstantial, December 25, 2006

By 

Lisa/Edkela (southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Me Oh Maya #13 (Time Warp Trio) (Paperback)

This book was entertaining. My six-year-old listened to it avidly and thought it was funny. We read it as part of our homeschool unit on the Maya people. It did present some history, but I felt that the irreverant and flippant tone of most of the book was disrespectful and unnecessary (e.g. the character named "Kakapupuhed"). The author seems to have the perspective that history is boring and needs to be made more interesting so that children will find it appealing. It was fun and it was funny, but I didn't think it was worthwhile for building his character or his understanding of history or other cultures.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sam and Company are back again, March 7, 2004

By 

james hatfield (Berea, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Me Oh Maya #13 (Time Warp Trio) (Hardcover)

The time hopping friends are back again, this time they are 1000 years in the past in Ancient Mexico. My kids love the Time Warp Trio. Knights of the Kitchen Table was the first chapter book my 8 year read, and he was hooked.

This book is great for the reluctant readers (generally boys). Sam and company find adventure, play some sports, and have some fun with puns (as usual).

I gave this book only 4 stars because some of the names in the story may be hard to pronounce for young readers.

3.0 out of 5 stars Series is getting a little tired, July 3, 2011

By 

Pop Bop (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Me Oh Maya #13 (Time Warp Trio) (Paperback)

I like the Time Warp Trio series. The jokes and puns are inventive. The three boys interact well together. The informative bits, (Maya calendar, number system), are interesting without breaking the flow of the adventure.
But. The first few volumes have more of a sense of fun and adventure. These later books have a little bit of a weary, here-we-go-again, flavor, and reading them seems more like a task than an entertainment. Maybe that's inevitable when you have an invariable formula for each book. And it's probably OK for big fans of the series. But, this might not be where to start a new reader of the series.
And remember, these books are all so much better than the fart/poop/booger books that are usually flogged off on "boys and reluctant readers", whatever that dismissive description is supposed to mean.