Customer Reviews

Da Wild, Da Crazy, Da Vinci #14 (Time Warp Trio)

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Joe, Sam and Fred have a book that when they open it emits a vapor that will serve as a time machine. In this adventure, they go back in time to Italy during the life of Leonardo Da Vinci. Considered by many to be the all-time greatest breadth of talent, Da Vinci had a wild imagination, a sound scientific mind and the skills of the most talented of artists.

When they go back, they have no trouble finding Da Vinci, unfortunately they also meet Lord Borgia, Captain Nassti and Niccolo Machiavelli. The minds of these people are on war and the power to make more effective war, so they have no interest in anything that it not a war machine. Therefore, the Time Warp Trio ends up cleaning the toilets in the army of Lord Borgia. It is only after they come up with some clever ruses that they recover the book that allows them to return to their proper time.

History presented in an accurate and interesting way is history learned and in this case there are some laughs included. Written for the young boy, it will also teach some basic history about one of the greatest personalities of history.

Synopsis: The story starts off with Joe, Fred and Sam standing on a sandy hill with a wooden flying-saucer tank in front of them, that is ready to be fired at them! Soon, they realize that the tank is an invention of Leonardo Da Vinci. They are happy to meet him because they had time traveled just to see him. Since one of his drawings was in "The Book", they thought he would have some answers as to how the book works.

However, before they have a chance to talk with him, Captain Nassti barges in and tells Leonardo to invent new machinery for the army, confiscates the book from them, and takes the Time Warp Trio as army volunteers. The Time Warp Trio are subjected to cleaning the outhouse toilet with wooden toothbrushes, which they hate doing! Can they seize the book and escape from the clutches of the evil Captain Nassti and Lord Borgia (who he works for), and see Leonardo Da Vinci once again? Will they finally get the solution as to how the Book works?

Review: I thought this was an excellent Time Warp Trio book to read because it had humor, suspense, action, and interesting tidbits that go so well with the series. I found it humorous because of Fred's reaction to Thomas Crapper; suspenseful when the boys try to escape from Captain Nassti; adventurous when the Time Warp Trio and Leonardo help Lord Borgia capture the town of Urbo; and as with other books in the series, was amused by the interesting tidbits on how Joe uses his 'magic' powers to outsmart the Captain. I also enjoyed the educational information that was added about Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions. The illustrations provided by Adam McCauley blend in well with the storyline. Another reason why I thought the story was better than the others in this series was because while most of the other books only deal with the Trio accidentally falling into another time period and searching for the book, this was the first book I read where the Trio intentionally time traveled in order to get more answers about the book.

Overall, this is a good addition to the series, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes the Time Warp Trio.