Marco? Polo! (The Time Warp Trio Series #16), Vol. 16
Did you ever wonder what might happen if someone had a time-warping book they got from their uncle who was a magician and they took it to the local YMCA pool while they played Marco? Polo! with their two best friends?\ Well, wonder no more. In the sixteenth adventure of the Time Warp Trio, it happens to Joe (and Fred and Sam). And what happens is: sandstorms, desert bandits, a smelly camel, strange horoscopes, the emperor of all China, hungry hunting dogs, attack leopards, killer hawks, and...
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The Time Warp Trio meets Marco Polo! What would happen if someone had a time-warping book he got from his uncle who was a magician, and he took it to the local YMCA pool while he played Marco? Polo! with his best friends? In the sixteenth adventure of the Time Warp Trio, it happens to Joe (and Fred and Sam). And what happens is sandstorms, desert bandits, a smelly camel, strange horoscopes, the emperor of all China, and one very famous explorer. If the explorer is Marco Polo, this must be thirteenthcentury China!Children's LiteratureThis sixteenth installment of the popular series is just as irreverently funny and enticing to reluctant readers as its many predecessors. Joe, Fred, and Sam are playing Marco Polo in the Brooklyn YMCA pool ("Very interesting that the name of a famous explorer would become a game played in swimming pools," observes Sam), when Joe's thin blue magical Book transports them back to the time of, yes, of course, the original Marco Polo himself. Marco Polo, as it turns out, enjoys replying "Polo!" every time anyone calls out "Marco?" and soon Joe and Marco are off on a camel ride into a desert sandstorm, while Fred and Sam are kidnapped by bandits. The boys' ability to predict the future gains them respect as learned astrologers, until they meet up with the fabled Kublai Kahn and his Royal Astrologer, Ding Dong, who is not at all pleased to have his exclusive expertise undermined. While it's fun to come across the blank two-page spread representing the sandstorm ("If you had to read a whole chapter for an assignment, you could just read that little bit at the beginning, look at the empty sandstorm pages, and then you would be done with a chapter"), even the laziest readers will hurry on to see what happens next to the immortal trio in their uproarious, wisecracking adventures—and actually learn something about 13th-century China in the process.
\ Children's Literature\ - Claudia Mills\ This sixteenth installment of the popular series is just as irreverently funny and enticing to reluctant readers as its many predecessors. Joe, Fred, and Sam are playing Marco Polo in the Brooklyn YMCA pool ("Very interesting that the name of a famous explorer would become a game played in swimming pools," observes Sam), when Joe's thin blue magical Book transports them back to the time of, yes, of course, the original Marco Polo himself. Marco Polo, as it turns out, enjoys replying "Polo!" every time anyone calls out "Marco?" and soon Joe and Marco are off on a camel ride into a desert sandstorm, while Fred and Sam are kidnapped by bandits. The boys' ability to predict the future gains them respect as learned astrologers, until they meet up with the fabled Kublai Kahn and his Royal Astrologer, Ding Dong, who is not at all pleased to have his exclusive expertise undermined. While it's fun to come across the blank two-page spread representing the sandstorm ("If you had to read a whole chapter for an assignment, you could just read that little bit at the beginning, look at the empty sandstorm pages, and then you would be done with a chapter"), even the laziest readers will hurry on to see what happens next to the immortal trio in their uproarious, wisecracking adventures—and actually learn something about 13th-century China in the process.\ \ \ \ \ School Library JournalGr 3-6-This installment in the series takes Joe, Sam, and Fred over the Silk Road into China. As it opens, the infamous blue Book transports Joe from the pool of his local YMCA to the desert where he meets Marco Polo, who is on his way to meet Kublai Khan. The boy is reunited with his friends only after rescuing himself and Marco Polo from bandits and a sandstorm. He also teaches the explorer how to play the game named after him, which provides for some very funny moments. The book concludes with a description of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. This title is as rich in historical detail as it is in humor and will have special appeal to reluctant readers.-Kathleen Meulen, Blakely Elementary School, Bainbridge Island, WA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \
