Time Warp Trio: South Pole or Bust

Time Warp Trio #I Can Read (3)

by Jon Scieszka, Catherine Hapka, Kathy Waugh

Joe, Fred, and Sam are stranded in Antarctica! They must join Robert Scott on his journey to the South Pole and help his team find the eggs of the emperor penguin. Can the boys survive long enough to get The Book and warp back to Brooklyn?

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Childrens

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

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

[Nahira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is about three kids Joe, Sam and Fred who have a book that can take them back in time. The boys start their journey on the South Pole where their enemy Mad Jack got them into some troubles. This book was funny and interesting because it has some facts about the South pole. Great book for elementary students on the lower level, 7-8 years old.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not up to the same caliber as the original series by Jon Scieszka. The boys go to Antarctica in 1911, and there is nonsense about evolution. Also there is a bad guy.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the I Can Read books in the Time Warp Trio series, created by Jon Scieszka. We've read many of the chapter books and we thought these books would be fun, too, even though they are a bit young for our girls.

It appears that these books are based on the WGBH Time Warp Trio Cartoon television series. I'm sure our girls would have loved to watch these shows, but we've never seen them. It doesn't look like they are still on the air, but there are some episodes on Youtube.

The narrative is short and the story comes to a resolution very quickly, but that is to be expected in a 48-page book that is half-words and half-pictures. It's more of a picture book, even though it has chapters. Still, it's an entertaining read, and we enjoyed reading the author's note at the end of the book that explains more about Scott's and Amundsen's explorations to the South Pole.

Overall, it's a fun, fast read and we enjoyed reading it together. We prefer the longer chapter books in this series, but will certainly look for more of these tales at our local library.

[Brady Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is about three boys who have a magical book that is a time machine. The book can take them anywhere at any time in history, and this time they head to the South Pole to meet a famous explorer. Book is about entering new dimensions, new worlds of fantasy that children think about all the time so the book is pretty believable. Characters were presented right from the begging with good descriptions that explained about them. Not really a dynamic transition for any of the characters as they all just faced the same problem. Did a really good job with using illustrations and the text to relate which scene the boys were in, either in the car or in Antarctica. The problem of the book being lost was solved and the boys ended up back in the hot car out of Antarctica.
Hapka, C., & Scieszka, J. (2007). South Pole or bust (an egg). New York, NY: HarperCollins.

[Kimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an I can Read Book, and is recommended for confident early readers who are able to understand complex plots.

I was thrown a bit when I began reading because I was placed into the story and had no idea what was going on, then went back and forth from present to past to present again. I'm sure they did that to grab the attention of the reader, but it put me off a bit. It was a clever story with these three young time travelers, solving their problems and thinking fast when caught in a crisis.

[Rebecca Heywood · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was not nearly as good as other time warp trio books I have read. It was very sloppily put together. It was jumpy, choppy, and confusing. I had no time to figure out what the plot was. The characters had no personality besides a little bio that told you their personality, but they didn't really express it. I like the longer time warp trios better than this shorter one.

[Gabe]

Story is about three boys who have a magical book that is a time machine. The book can take them anywhere at any time in history, and this time they head to the South Pole to meet a famous explorer.

Reading level: Grades 2.4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_War...

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

AR 2.4 -- 0.5

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say I liked this book very much. My first grade son could read all of the words, but the sentences did not quite make sense to him, and the story itself was only just so-so.