School Library Journal
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 3-5-This talented author/illustrator team has produced some great picture books, but the "Time Warp Trio" chapter-book series is just as funny. This installment offers nonstop literary humor, as Joe, Sam, and Fred get mixed up with characters from every book on their summer reading list. Well-read kids will enjoy seeing characters they recognize in this bizarre setting, as the trio is captured by a crew of villains and rogues from children's literature. Subtle pokes at series fiction, boy books vs. girl books, and teddy bear stories add to the fun. "The Girl," whose identity is a mixture of female heroines from Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and several other titles that the three heroes would never be caught dead reading, bores the villains to sleep with her plot summaries. Booktalk Through Humor Award: The Summer Reading List at the end is actually quite a good one. Kids will recognize some old favorites and maybe try new ones. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In this latest Time Warp Trio entry, Fred, Joe, and Sam have sworn off using that volume of dangerous time-travel, The Book. When Fred sticks Sam's summer reading list inside it, they find themselves whisked off, not to another time, but to a world where all the characters from the books on the list are congregated, where the evil characters are determined to crush all the good characters and take over the stories. Aided by the Girl, who seems to be a composite of female heroines from all the formula series books the boys never read, Fred, Joe, and Sam battle the leader of the bad guys, an embittered Mr. Bear (``Just because I'm a teddy bear, I get no respect'') to find The Book and get back to the real world. Filled with humorous action and suspense, this book will have special appeal to those who get the hip-deep references to dozens of children's books (without such understanding, the middle section becomes somewhat incomprehensible). With plenty of action and silly humor, the book itself is a pretty good addition to summer reading lists. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 7-11)

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Gr. 3^-6. The farce is as furious and silly as ever in the latest hilarious spoof about the boys in the time-warp trio. Here, they travel not through time but to the library, where they get mixed up with the characters from the books on the summer reading list. An evil teddy bear and his gang try to kill off all the characters and take over every book. The trio is aghast to see Dracula dragging Winnie the Pooh in a headlock, George and Martha being chased by Long John Silver, and Frankenstein holding Pippi Longstocking. As in Smith and Scieszka's fractured fairy tales, you have to know the original stories to get the jokes. The funniest spoof is of Little House on the Prairieif only there were more of it. You will want to stay longer with each character, but it's just as well the story jumps around: if the parody were sustained, you would never be able to read the classic stories again without hearing these solemn takeoffs. The art was not included in the galley; it will be fun to see what Smith does with the various scenarios. A natural choice for reading aloud and acting out, this includes the bonus of a perfectly serious summer reading list at the back, with a not-so-serious study guide. --Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 3-5?The Time Warp Trio is back. This time, the mayhem begins when Fred puts their school's summer reading list in The Book, the mysterious tome that has magically transported the boys to the past and the future in previous escapades. This causes Fred, Sam, and Joe to encounter the Hoboken Chicken, George and Martha, Peter Rabbit, Curious George, Frog and Toad, and a host of other children's book characters. It seems that the bad characters?the Twits, Long John Silver, the Wild Things, etc., all led by a maniacal Teddy Bear?have decided to do away with the good ones. The boys initially manage to convince the villains that they, too, are villains from an action-adventure series (whose author "starts with an s...maybe...?"), but they are soon found out. It takes a girl (Laura Ingalls? Anne of Green Gables? one of the Little Women??they can't tell since they haven't read them!) to help them find The Book so that they can put an end to the shenanigans. Nonstop action and lots of laughs prevail throughout as the friends try to find their way out of their current predicament. Smith's black-and-white illustrations are filled with his traditional brand of zany humor. The literary references will delight teachers and librarians, and perhaps inspire readers to learn more about those characters (good or bad) unfamiliar to them.-Robin L. Gibson, Muskingum County Library System, Zanesville, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.