Summer Reading is Killing Me!

Time Warp Trio #7

by Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith (Illustrator)

Everyone’s favorite time-travelers are changing their styles!  The Time Warp Trio series now features a brand-new, eye-catching design, sure to appeal to longtime fans, and those new to Jon Scieszka’s wacky brand of humor.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Humor, Science Fiction, Chapter Books, Juvenile

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Jon Scieszka is an American children's writer, best known for picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers."

Reviews

[Darla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the concept of this book, but so much was crammed in the 80 pages and I was dizzy from looking this way and that at all the famous literary characters. Boys will love this book and the skateboarding tricks that save the day!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe, Sam and Fred are about to have the most epic summer ever...until they get caught in a time-warp of all of the characters from their summer reading book list...
What happens when Long John Silver, the Queen of Hearts, Dracula and other villains try to take over the likes of Frog and Toad, Peter Rabbit and Ramona?
How can they escape?

Scieszka, author of Stinky Cheese Man, brings the Time Warp Trio, into the wonderful world of books, a perfect book for any Biblio-phile. The other great thing about Scieszka, is that his books are great for reluctant readers. They're action-packed, fast-paced and funny.
While some of the books referenced may feel a bit outdated for some kids (like George and Martha), the humor and heart of these enduring stories lives on in this adventure.

Not gonna spoil anything, but if you haven't read it yet, the Charlotte's Web moment will make you laugh.

[Monique Franco]

Summer readings, indeed they are killer. When three boys, Joe, Sam, and Fred, get transported into a world of their summer reading list, they find themselves trapped where the villains of the books are trying to take over the good guys. With a crazed teddy bear directing the madness, the boys must figure out how to get back home.

I chose this book because there have been one too many summers where reading was an unplanned adventure. This book perfectly illustrates how even though opening a book may not be your idea, you never know the exciting adventure you will embark on as your imagination creates a vivid picture of the words written.

[Maximilian Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

😀😃😄😁😆😅😂😊💩😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😃😃😃😃😃😃💩💩💩💩💩💩😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😃😃😃😃😃😃😄😄😄😄😄😄 I liked this book because the book was about a bunch of characters from books all mixed into one world. I also liked this book because a TEDDY BEAR was the boss. A TEDDY BEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!😀😃😄😁😆😅😂😊💩

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the beginning of this book i thought it was really boring and i wanted to abandon it but i am glad i did not because when i got more into the book it got GREATER and GREATER as i went on and on.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Chapter Book)

Opening with three young boys being chased by a chicken this book is sure to make kids want to keep reading.

Even at my age this book kept me entertained with the time warp trio as they misplace their summer reading list into a magical time traveling book. The boys must find this book in order to save the characters in their summer reading list from an evil teddy bear. I found this book enjoyable considering I had read most of the books that these characters are from in the story. I thought Jon Scieszka had a great imagination when thinking about, what if all the books characters interacted with one another? What would happen between them?

[TurningPages · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've enjoyed the other installments of the Time Warp Trio series, but this one was just plain offensive. I'm not sure what was worse: the sexist dismissal of books targeted at girls, or the portrayal of the daemon from Frankenstein (predictably and erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein") as being evil? If you're going to write a book about other books, at least take the time to read those books first. Anyone who's even just skimmed Frankenstein's Wikipedia page knows that the daemon is the novel's protagonist/an anti-hero, not an evil, pyrophobic villain! If you're a fan of good books, don't let this dud try to kill you.

[Ginny Kaczmarek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the action is funny and fast-paced, I was deeply disheartened to find that all the female protagonists from great children's books are lumped together into one unnamed Girl. Worse, she defeats the bad guys by discussing the plots of famous, best-selling books geared toward girls...which puts the bad guys to sleep!

After reading this with my son, we had a discussion about what the author must think about girls: that they are interchangeable and boring, and how unfair that is. Books offer unique opportunities for understanding other perspectives, which seems to be the point of this series. That respect must extend to women and girls, both within pages and without.

[Karina Enriquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This transitional book brings to life characters from other stories. It can lead to an interesting discussion on intertextuality and blending of characters, but the storyline fell flat for me.
Plot was rushed, conflict was unrealistic, and I didn’t see any character growth. It was hard to understand what was happening most of the time because it had too much packed into each moment with no explanation.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered this isn’t book #1 after we finished but it didn’t much matter. You can pick up the story pretty easily.

Fun! I laughed out loud several times. It was cool to hear the kids identify where all the characters were coming from.

Super easy read for your 4th grade reader :)

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a LOT of references to other books in this one, and can be even more fun to read if kids know the books being referenced.

[Charles Parke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frankenstein in Wonderland, The Devil in the Willows, Green Eggs and Dracula, Headless Horseman the Pooh

This is a fun mix up of classics and childrens books

[Cecilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'Oh no,' I said. 'We are in huge trouble. If this means what I think it means, all of the characters from every book on the summer reading list are mixed up here in Hoboken. And none of them are in their books where they're supposed to be. The librarian is going to kill us.'"

Setting:
Summer vacation, Hoboken (in the book, The Hoboken Chicken Emergency)

Age:
7-9

Characters:
Joe - the main character, owner of The Book, does magic
Sam - the "nerdy" one, wears glasses, fearful
Fred - the "cool" one, skateboards, doesn't care for school
Mr. Teddy Bear - the antagonist, tired of seeing as cute and cuddly

Summary:
Joe's uncle gifted him The Book, a magical book that takes him and his friends on various, magical adventures if they open it. The only way they can return to their time and place is by finding it again. The friends vow not to open it so that they can enjoy their summer vacation. However, Fred hides Sam's summer reading list in the book which transports them to Hoboken in the book, The Hoboken Chicken Emergency. What they find is unusual - all the characters from the other books have been transported there as well, and the villains are rounding up the heroes to be destroyed. They need to find The Book, which they think is in the library. But can they get The Book in time? Or will they be crushed under other books too?

Review:
This book was adorable. To me, it read more as a short story than a book, but there is nothing wrong with that. It's actually good because it would be perfect for younger children or readers who need a beginner's chapter book. It was short and to the point without a lot of "fluff" that would bore weaker readers. The tone was super silly and adventurous, which I'm sure will keep a lot of the readers' attention. Additionally, having the villain be a giant teddy bear made me chuckle because it was the very LAST person I'd thought would be "The Boss"... especially after The Devil made himself known. Plus, the illustrations were delightful and added to the humor of the story (how was Mr. Bear so much scarier than The Devil?). The fact that it's part of a series makes me want to read the other books and see what other adventures the characters took part in. This is something I can see a lot of kids enjoying, plus I thought it was so clever how the characters were so "meta" in describing themselves as the Time Warp Trio when they were asked if they belonged to a book (they do in our world) and who the author was (well his name starts with S). This book was a delight and I'm sure a lot of students would agree with the characters: summer reading is killing them!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: Summer Reading is Killing Me! is the seventh installment of the Time Warp Trio series by Jon Scieszka. Joe, Fred and Sam have just begun their summer vacation and want to enjoy it without any crazy adventures in The Book, a mysterious gift from one of the boys’ uncles which allows them to travel through time, but usually ends up a disaster of some sort. In this adventure, the boys get caught in the middle of their summer reading list with characters and villains all mixed up in one library. The head villain is quite a surprise and adds to the humor of the story. The boys barely escape a certain death by stacks of library books when they are saved by The Girl, one girl who represents every female character in the most popular of novels.

Teaching tool: This series is a lot of fun! Packed with adventure and humor, I think it would inspire readers young and old. I haven’t completely decided how I would use this book in the classroom, because it does present one problem. It is beneficial to have had exposure to the texts mentioned in the story or some of the references and jokes will be lost on readers. While I was reading it, I did not realize this, but it made me want to read those books I didn’t recognize, which I would hope would happen for students. It could even turn in to a literature circle type project.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extra Credit:
Summer Reading is Killing Me! Time Warp Trio No. 7 by Jon Scieszka

Characters: Joe, Sam, and Fred

Target Audience: Second to Fourth Graders

Quote: “ A book like no book I’ve ever read before or since. It’s a time-warping book.” p 6
Summer Reading is Killing me is a fun creative book that clustered different characters from different leveled books. Joe, Sam, and Fred are planning their summer vacation. Joe, insist in choosing their summer reading books so they can enjoy their summer break and not worry about it anymore. No one was to think about books, so Joe puts the list away. Little did he know that he inserted the list inside THE BOOK!! The book where the kids are warped into the story, but this time is different. All the characters of all the stories are in the book. Mr. Bear, the villain, along with all the other villains are gathering the good characters and want to destroy them so they can become the books’ main characters. Joe, Sam, and Fred need to find the book and take out the list before Mr. Bear is successful in destroying the good characters.
This was a fun easy read for children that are beginning to read chapter books. The story line is a little slow in the beginning, but quickly becomes fun and exciting when they reach the library. I like how the book uses real books and characters, which I feel will inspire young readers to read the books mentioned in this story line. The summer reading list is located at the end of the book. I have only read this book from the series, but I am enticed to read the others and add them to my classroom library.

[Alex Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best of the Time Warp Trio books so far! Instead of venturing to a point in history (or the future) this one sees the trio mistakenly being transported to a world full of characters from their school's Summer reading list for 1st through 8th graders. Scieszka writes in a fun way that describes the characters first before the boys in the story announce who they are, so the reader can guess based on descriptions.

This was really fun to read aloud to my 5 and 6 year old as they shouted out characters they recognized and I chuckled to myself about jokes they don't quite get yet ("kill the pig, spill his blood"). I highly recommend this one to avid readers of any age!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This time the Time Warp Trio is whisked away to Hoboken by the book which has had their summer reading list inserted between the pages. In Hoboken, they find that all the bad characters in the list's books (The Horned King, The White Witch, Long John Silver, the Devil and many more) are rounding up the good characters and taking them to the library to crush them and take over the stories. "The Boss" is Mr. Bear, a bitter Teddy bear, angered by the fact no one ever takes him seriously.

Hilarious! And a great way to get kids interested in other books.

[Michele Virtue · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun! A quick read, we read it in one sitting (about 45 minutes) and some of the book references in it got my 9yo interested in books he might not otherwise have looked for. A suggested summer reading list is published in the back that provides full title and author info for each story referenced in the book. It was so entertaining...I highly recommend for all ages as an end-of-school classroom read aloud or Summertime home reading.

[Micaela Varela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! From the very first page, it was funny and engaging. I liked that the background of the story was already established, so we could just jump right into the story. The plot twist with "The Boss" was so ridiculous, it was pretty genius. If you want to know what a crossover between your favorite books is like, you might consider picking this up.

[Christina (TinyTinaTales) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 Stars

This was definitely not my favorite book I’ve ever read. It was cute and fun, but it didn’t really do anything for me. It was fairly predictable and lacked detail. I understand that it’s for a fairly young audience, but I feel like their are other books that do this kind of adventure better. This just wasn’t for me, and that’s okay. I’m sure there are people who love this.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun one with lots of different characters you probably know, and did not really have the historical inaccuracies of others since it was all fiction based this time.

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[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was ok. The idea for the Plot was intriguing, but I must have not cared for it as much as the others, or it didn’t hold my attention for some reason. I read it only a couple of weeks ago but I’ve already kind of forgotten it.

[Emma Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for a class on children’s lit. it was cute and made good references. also particularly enjoyed that he included the reading list. did have to roll my eyes at the “girl books” bit. over all cute though, a bookish kid would get a kick out of it

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooh, I loved this one! The boys decide they are not going to open the book, but one of them puts their summer reading list in it, and they are transported to Hoboken and surrounded by lots of book characters, friend and foe.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, funny, excellent introduction to the beginning of summer reading season! I especially like how the "Summer reading list" is included at the back of the book.

[Desiree' · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm using this book for a elementary school reading group and it's a great resource! The students love the storyline.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this book 4.5 🌟. It was funny that a teddy bear was the boss😂. I was surprised because they didn't squashed by books😮. This book was kind of cool😆.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hysterical!

[J.S. Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read for kids!

[Elan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Joe Sam and Fred when they get trapped in books.
The parts which were "terrifun" were the one where Mr.Teddy Bear traps them. This book took one hour in one day to finish.