The Not-So-Jolly Roger

Scieszka, J. (1991). The time warp trio: The not-so-jolly roger. New York: Viking.

Summary

Sam, Joe, and Fred take their second adventure through time to find The Not-So-Jolly-Roger. For his birthday, Joe's magician uncle gave him The Book, a magical book that can warp the boys to another time with a few flicks of the pages and special words. Unfortunately, they are still trying to figure out exactly how it works when Fred wishes they could go somewhere cool to find buried treasure. The boys find themselves in the tops of coconut trees on a deserted island, watching in horror as Blackbeard himself shoots and buries two prisoners to "guard" his newest treasure. When Blackbeard finds them and takes them captive on his ship, Queen Anne's Revenge, they are desperate to find a way to find a special book that will take them back home. Fred, Joe, and Sam have to use every trick they can think of to get out of this one alive—or face walking the plank!

Worth a bookmark?

This is the first Time Warp Trio book I have read, and I really enjoyed it. A lot of kids—especially boys—would get a kick out of Blackbeard's character because he acts like a stereotypical pirate, singing songs about dead man's chests and drunken sailors all while drinking rum and shooting things with his pistol. For readers who have read all of the Magic Tree House series, or just want a break from Jack and Annie for something more colorful, Time Warp Trio is the perfect solution. I have read and loved other books by Jon Scieszka because of their humor, crazy plots, weird illustrations, and wacky characters, and this series lives up to all those expectations!

In my library…

Because this book is fast paced and quirky, I think boys would really get into it. In my library, this would be a book I'd recommend to boys in second or third grade as a first chapter book. This series would also be great for a book club for third or fourth grade boys because there are so many historical and cultural links that could be made for discussions and projects.

Reviews

Scieszka and his comic cohort, Smith, support the vision of kids in The Not-So-Jolly Roger, one of the "Time Warp Trio" series. Joe, Fred and Sam are three wild and crazy guys who travel in time. All Scieszka's skinny time travel novels are fat with adventure, laughs, and tension. Their seventy-plus pages feature wacky heroes who are consistently kid-like and each book fulfills a promise of wild adventure and giggles galore while making history come alive. (Children's Literature)