''The Time Warp Trio'' is a children's book series written by

Jon Scieszka Jon Scieszka ( :) (born September 8, 1954) 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 li ...

and illustrated by

Lane Smith Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American actor. His well-known roles included newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', Walter Warner in '' Son in Law'', co ...

and Adam McCauley, which describes the adventures of three boys – Joe, Sam, and Fred – who travel through time and space with the aid of a mysterious object known as "The Book". The first book, ''Knights of the Kitchen Table'' was published in 1991. An animated television adaptation was produced by WGBH Boston and

Soup2Nuts Soup2Nuts (sometimes referred to as Soup2Nuts Studios, and formerly part of Tom Snyder Productions) was an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder. The studio is known for its animated comedy series, its use of Squigglevision, a techni ...

and aired on

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were e ...

(later, The Hub).

Plot

For his birthday, Joe receives a mysterious blue book (known only as "The Book") from his magician uncle and namesake, "Joe the Magnificent". Using a number of often unpredictable and/or unintentional voice and print cues, The Book frequently transports Joe and his friends, Fred and Sam, to a variety of different times and places, from

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...

'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 Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

is to find The Book again within whatever time period they are in. Anna, Joe's sister, is also always eager to have the book (which is quite annoying to Joe). During their travels, Joe and his friends learn that The Book will eventually be inherited by Joe's great-granddaughter, Jodie, who time travels with The Book with her friends who are Sam and Fred's great-granddaughters, Samantha and Freddi, and occasionally save the boys from trouble when their paths cross. The Time Warp Trio faces many challenges during their travels as they learn 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. Joseph is crafty, cunning, smooth and suave. *Samuel "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 Lactose intolerance is a common condition caused by a decreased ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. Those affected vary in the amount of lactose they can tolerate before symptoms develop. Symptoms may include abdominal ...

. Sam is also wary of

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

; 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). He can be passive-aggressive at times. *Frederick "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 A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a watch, wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wr ...

. He believes in the

Tooth Fairy The Tooth Fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood in Western and Western-influenced cultures. The folklore states that when children lose one of their baby teeth, they should place it underneath their pillow or on their bedside table and ...

and the

Easter Bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" orig ...

. *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. *Jodie – 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). Jodie is usually concerned with her looks or any way 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. She is sometimes called Jo or J. *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. She is sometimes called Samm or Samza. *Freida "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. *Michael "Mike" - Fred's mean older brother who appears in "See You Later, Gladiator" and "Viking It and Liking It".

Media

Books

#''Knights of the Kitchen Table'' (King Arthur) (1991) #''The Not-So-Jolly Roger'' (Blackbeard) (1991) #''The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy'' (The Wild West) (1992) #''Your Mother Was a Neanderthal'' (Prehistory) (1993) #''2095'' (The Future) (1995) #''Tut Tut'' (Ancient Egypt) (1996) #''Summer Reading Is Killing Me'' (Dimension) (1998) #''It's All Greek to Me'' (Ancient Greece) (1999) #''See You Later, Gladiator'' (Ancient Rome) (2000) #''Sam Samurai'' (17th century Japan) (2001) #''Hey Kid, Want to Buy a Bridge?'' (New York City, 1877) (2002) #''Viking It and Liking It'' (The Vikings) (2002) #''Me Oh Maya'' (Maya civilization) (2003) #''Da Wild, Da Crazy, Da Vinci'' (Leonardo da Vinci) (2004) #''Oh Say, I Can't See'' (George Washington) (2005) #''Marco? Polo!'' (Marco Polo) (2006)

Television series

A TV series based on the books debuted on July 9, 2005, as a production by Soup 2 Nuts, in association with WGBH

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, and initially aired on

and

TVOKids TVOkids (short for TVOntariokids and stylized as tvokids) is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by TVOntario (TVO) in Canada. It was launched on April 1, 1994 and runs from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. The brand also operat ...

External links

*
Jon Scieszka's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Time Warp Trio, The Series of children's books Novels about time travel American children's novels 1990s children's books 2000s children's books Fictional trios