The Time Warp Trio

The Time Warp Trio is a book series written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith and later by Adam McCauley, which chronicles the adventures of three boys – Joe, Sam, and Fred – who travel through time and space with the aid of the mysterious Book.

The storyline has been adapted into an animated television series.

Plot

For his tenth birthday, Joe receives a mysterious blue book (known only as The Book) from his magician uncle and namesake, "Joe the Magnificent." Using an often unpredictable number of voice and print cues, The Book transports Joe and his friends, Fred and Sam, to a variety of different times and places, from Camelot's medieval court of knights and dragons to the year 2095, where they meet their own great-granddaughters. The only way they are able to return to present-day Brooklyn, New York is to find The Book again within whatever time period they are in. Anna, Joe's sister, is always eager to have the book (which is quite annoying to Joe). Joanie has The Book in the future – 2095. It was passed on from Joe's generation to her generation. The girls often save the boys from trouble with The Book, or come to visit. The Time Warp Trio faces lots of challenges learning how to use The Book.

Characters

• Joseph "Joe" Arthur – An up-and-coming magician and the present-day owner of The Book, Joe is the unofficial leader of The Time Warp Trio. While his penchant for keeping The Book with him and experimenting with it results in many of their adventures, his talent for magical tricks also helps them out of many tough situations.
• Sam – A friend of Joe and Fred who contributes his intelligence and historical knowledge to the group's problems. He wears thick glasses (he is self-conscious about being a nerd) and is lactose intolerant. Sam is also wary of time travel; he is convinced their doom is imminent every time they open The Book. An amateur inventor, he is told by Freddi that he will invent something very important in the future (though it is not revealed what).
• Fred – A friend of Joe and Sam. Fred is a sports fan who is headstrong, sometimes to the point of idiocy. Fred is the most interested in using The Book for material gains, whether hunting for treasure or patenting future technology. He has a bullying older brother named Mike.
• Joe the Magnificent – Joe's uncle, a would-be magician who fails at live performances. He originally sent The Book to Joe, since he could not make it work - he performs his own time travel by means of an enchanted pocket watch. He believes in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.
• Mrs. Arthur – Joe's mother, a sometimes short-tempered woman. She understands how to use The Book, originally giving it to her brother (Joe's uncle) and later showing her son the page for choosing the specific time to visit.
• Anna Arthur – Joe's annoying younger sister, who is revealed to have a better understanding of The Book than her brother does.
• Joanie – Joe's great-granddaughter from the year 2095, who occasionally crosses paths with the trio, along with her friends Samantha and Freddi (all three have a great mastery of The Book). Joanie is usually concerned with her looks or anyway to make herself more comfortable in any situation, yet she looks out for her friends as they do for her. Because she and Fred have pretty stubborn personalities, they usually butt heads at some point when the other is around or attempting to take charge.
• Samantha – Sam's great-granddaughter from the year 2095. Unlike her great grandpa, Samantha is not as erratically apprehensive whenever she finds herself back in time, even when faced with a dilemma. Samantha owns a time-traveling pocket watch that belonged to Sam.
• Freddi – Fred's great-granddaughter from the year 2095. She wears a baseball hat, as her great-grandfather did. Unlike her great grandfather she fears heights and bugs.

Media

Books

1. Knights of the Kitchen Table (King Arthur)
2. The Not-So-Jolly Roger (Blackbeard)
3. The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy (The Wild West)
4. Your Mother Was a Neanderthal (Prehistory)
5. 2095 (The Future)
6. Tut Tut (Ancient Egypt)
7. Summer Reading Is Killing Me
8. It's All Greek to Me (Ancient Greece)
9. See You Later, Gladiator (Ancient Rome)
10. Sam Samurai (17th century Japan)
11. Hey Kid, Want to Buy a Bridge? (New York City, 1877)
12. Viking It and Liking It (The Vikings)
13. Me Oh Maya (Maya civilization)
14. Da Wild, Da Crazy, Da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci)
15. Oh Say, I Can't See (George Washington)
16. Marco? Polo! (Marco Polo)

TV series

The series debuted on July 9, 2005 as a production by Soup 2 Nuts, in association with WGBH Boston, and initially aired on Discovery Kids and CBBC.

External links

• Official website
• Jon Scieszka's website