Summer Reading Is Killing Me (Time Warp Trio) - Hardcover

Jon Scieszka

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670880418 ISBN 13: 9780670880416

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, 1998

Synopsis

Joe, Fred, and Sam have no idea why they?ve been transported to a playground. All they know is that there?s a 250-pound chicken and it?s headed straight for them. While Joe?s racking his brains for the magic words to stop a charging chicken, he suddenly has a flash of what?s going to happen next. It?s exactly like the book he just read. Turns out Fred put their summer reading list inside The Book (the magic one, that is)?and now they?re destined to spend their summer living stories that were only meant to be read. Only one thing is clear: writing a back-to-school book report will be no sweat.Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith also collaborated on Math Curse, The Stinky Cheese Man, and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.Jon Scieszka lives in Brooklyn, New York.Lane Smith lives in New York City.

About this title

Review:

Sam, Fred, and Joe--the Time Warp Trio--find themselves face-to-beak with a giant, 266-pound chicken ... who, unfortunately, looks hungry. As the chicken begins to chase them, the boys realize with horror that they are smack-dab in the middle of Daniel Pinkwater's The Hoboken Chicken Emergency! How did they get there? Fred accidentally stuck the school's summer reading list between the pages of "The Book"--a time-warping, green-mist-expelling book that triggers time travel in all of Jon Scieszka's well-loved Time Warp Trio action-adventures.

In Summer Reading Is Killing Me!, illustrated by innovative artist Lane Smith, the boys find themselves trapped in a dreadfully skewed literary world where Joe, the narrator, says "I saw Homer Price being carried by the Headless Horseman. Dracula was dragging Winnie the Pooh in a headlock. Mr. Twit was breaking Harold's Purple Crayon." It becomes the boys' charge to find "The Book" and yank the summer reading list out of it before children's literature is destroyed forever as the "bad" characters knock off the "good" characters and take over the stories. The literary references accelerate to a breakneck pace: "We stepped over a very hungry caterpillar eating his way through a dictionary.... We made our way through a crowd of Robinson Crusoe, a blue moose, Julie with some wolves, a snowman, a plain and tall lady named Sarah, a kid with a hatchet, and a very confused-looking Robin Hood helping Eeyore reattach his tail." Whether or not young readers register every literary allusion is inconsequential--Summer Reading Is Killing Me! is a rollicking, sarcastic, ultraweird, suspenseful adventure that kids will like regardless. And for teachers, parents, and librarians who are deeply enmeshed in kid-erature--it's purely delicious. (Ages 8 and older) --Karin Snelson

About the Author:

Multiple award-winning author Jon Scieszka grew up in Flint, Michigan, the second oldest and the nicest of six boys. Jon went to school at Culver Military Academy in Indiana where he was a Lieutenant; Albion College in Michigan where he studied to be a doctor; and Columbia University in New York, where he received an M.F.A. in fiction. He taught elementary school in New York for ten years in a variety of positions. He is the author of many books for children including the New York Times Best Illustrated Book The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (illustrated by Lane Smith), the Caldecott Honor book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (illustrated by Lane Smith), and Math Curse (illustrated by Lane Smith).  In addition to his work as an author, Jon also runs a web-based literacy program called “Guys Read” that is designed to encourage boys, particularly reluctant readers, to get involved with books. In 2008, Jon was named the country’s first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, a joint effort of the Library of Congress and the Children’s Book Council. During his two-year role as Ambassador, he acted as a spokesperson for children’s literature, speaking to groups of parents, teachers, and children to encourage the importance of reading. You can visit Jon online at www.jsworldwide.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0670880418
• ISBN 13: 9780670880416
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80
• Illustrator: Lane Smith