Because Jon Scieszka's, The Stinky Cheese Man was so clever, I didn't hesitate to pick up book No. 1, Knights of the Kitchen Table, of his The Time Warp Trio series. On the back cover one review promises that the "tongue-in-cheek humor makes for laugh-out-loud reading." That's a hefty promise, and unfortunately The Time Warp Trio doesn't deliver.
Not that it's completely dull, though it's pretty close, but laugh-out-loud? Weird School, by Dan Gutman, that's laugh-out-loud. Time Warp isn't much more than snicker-n-smirk reading. The basic premise is anything but fresh. Three friends, Fred, Joe and Sam, travel back in time when a magic book is opened to a picture of a medieval knight (let me guess, each page of the book will whisk them away to a new adventure--viola, you've got yourself a stock series).
It appears Fred, Joe and Sam, are almost as bored as I am when they suddenly find themselves in a medieval adventure being charged by a black knight (maybe because they've read Magic Treehouse too).
I will say, though it's a been-there-done-that series idea, I do like Schieszka's premise. He brings together classic characters from King Arthur, to Merlin to Smaug the dragon. Older readers like me will even recognize famous lines from The Holy Grail and The Princess Bride. Unfortunately these characters have been dumbed down considerably. They are far too easily outsmarted by the likes of 3 pre-teen boys and reading about them is like eating the carboard cereal box for breakfast rather than the cereal itself.
There was a clever plot twist at the climax, involving a confrontation between a dragon, a giant and Sam, but overall, the writing is simply lazy. Rather than showing us what's going on, Scieszka often cops out by writing things like "It was too disgusting to describe," "I won't even describe it because it would ruin your appetitie for a week," or "he answered in a way too rude to describe." A few more careful revisions could have made a mediocre tale, magical.
This series won't boost your child's brain cells, but if they're into dragons, knights and time travel they may tolerate this read.
Not that it's completely dull, though it's pretty close, but laugh-out-loud? Weird School, by Dan Gutman, that's laugh-out-loud. Time Warp isn't much more than snicker-n-smirk reading. The basic premise is anything but fresh. Three friends, Fred, Joe and Sam, travel back in time when a magic book is opened to a picture of a medieval knight (let me guess, each page of the book will whisk them away to a new adventure--viola, you've got yourself a stock series).
It appears Fred, Joe and Sam, are almost as bored as I am when they suddenly find themselves in a medieval adventure being charged by a black knight (maybe because they've read Magic Treehouse too).
I will say, though it's a been-there-done-that series idea, I do like Schieszka's premise. He brings together classic characters from King Arthur, to Merlin to Smaug the dragon. Older readers like me will even recognize famous lines from The Holy Grail and The Princess Bride. Unfortunately these characters have been dumbed down considerably. They are far too easily outsmarted by the likes of 3 pre-teen boys and reading about them is like eating the carboard cereal box for breakfast rather than the cereal itself.
There was a clever plot twist at the climax, involving a confrontation between a dragon, a giant and Sam, but overall, the writing is simply lazy. Rather than showing us what's going on, Scieszka often cops out by writing things like "It was too disgusting to describe," "I won't even describe it because it would ruin your appetitie for a week," or "he answered in a way too rude to describe." A few more careful revisions could have made a mediocre tale, magical.
This series won't boost your child's brain cells, but if they're into dragons, knights and time travel they may tolerate this read.
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