Publication Date: April 30, 2004 | Series: The Time Warp Trio
They've conquered the summer reading list, Greek monsters, and Roman gladiators, but a poetry assignment? Stuck writing haikus for English class, Joe, Sam, and Fred take one little break from doing their homework and BAM!-they land smack-dab in the middle of seventeenth-century Japan. But how will the boys search out The Book and find their way back home when they're busy dealing with grumpy samurai warriors with really big swords?
"You say there's nothing for boys to read? Never fear, the Time Warp Trio has arrived." (Booklist)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Between hightailing it down the Tokaido Road, eluding a hot-tempered samurai named Owattabutt, and trying to fix their malfunctioning Auto-Translator, the Time Warp Trio may never get out of 17th-century Japan alive. Especially with all those razor-sharp katanas poised and waiting to lop off their heads.
Joe, Sam, and Fred were working on a haiku homework assignment when they somehow triggered the mystical Book again, only to find themselves--thanks to some nearby books on Japan--summarily "flushed down four hundred years" and far from their native Brooklyn. And even if they can overcome the language barrier, our time-hopping pals will soon discover that they need to learn a thing or two about Japanese culture if they want to make it out alive. ("Our daimyo is Rudy Giuliani," while hilarious, isn't going to cut it.)
Jon Scieszka's traveling companions are in fine form, as ever, alongside the occasional illustration by Adam McCauley. Readers should love learning about ancient Japan with the boys, and Time Warp Trio fans in particular will get a kick out of the fact that a certain other trio--do you remember any great-grandaughters from the year 2095?--ends up saving the day. (Ages 8 to 11) --Paul Hughes--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
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.
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.
My son is not reading at this level yet (7 years old) so I read it to him. It's easy and a lot of fun to read. I read to him, at most, 2 chapters a night (chapters are short) and he'd beg me to keep reading! I could get him to finish his homework and get ready for bed quickly if I reminded him about reading "Sam Samurai". When we finished the book he wanted more, so I purchased a couple more in the series.
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