My son recently wrote the following:

The Time Warp Trio books contain amazing pictures by Lane Smith and humorous stories by Jon Scieszka (of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales fame). Time Warp Trio books are entertaining and easy to read and were probably written to encourage kids who don't usually read much to read more. For example, in Summer Reading Is Killing Me, Joe, Fred, and Sam are sucked through The Book into "storyland," where "the Boss" (a big teddy bear) is disposing of all of the protagonists (the "heroes") in books and making the antagonists ("bad guys") the main characters; thus, Curious Mr. Twit, The Devil in the Willows, etc. So, just by reading this one simple book, kids who aren't as interested in reading may become more enthusiastic about even better books, like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Hobbit, The Twits, Aesop's Fables, Dracula, Bridge to Terabithia, and Lord of the Flies, to name a few.

I like this book because it combines many characters and stories into a funny book.Fred, Joe and Sam accidentally put there Summer reading list into the book and get whisked into there latest adventure. Will the bad guy destroy all the good characters? Or will Fred,Sam and joe save the day? Find out in the latest book in the Time Warp Trio series! I think that if you are between the ages of 7 and 11 and like funny books,this is for you!

The Time Warp Trio set out on their best adventure yet, when Fred leaves their school's summer reading list stuck inside the pages of their time travel vehicle, "The Book". Now, the three are stuck in literature, where the bad and evil characters are out to get all the good ones and take over the stories. This is a wonderfully written, witty, funny story that will have your kids laughing out loud. Perfect for third through sixth graders, kids will recognize characters from stories they've read and some that parents and teachers have read to them. A page turner to the end, this is the perfect book to read once the school year has ended. The only negative thing I can say about Summer Reading is Killing Me, is that it's over way too soon.

"The Good The Bad And The Goofy" by Jon Scieszka is great for a short read (It is only fifty pages.) The fights between Fred (really athletic) and Sam (really smart) are hilarious. The book starts out in Joe's attic when Fred, Joe, and Sam wish to go back in time to see the cowboys and indians using Joe's magic book. The way the book works is they say a rhyme and end it with where they want to go. I won't tell you what happens when they get there because I don't want to spoil this great story! If you don't think that you'll like this book than don't pick it up because the book is so great that you won't be able to put it down. In short, if you like magic, comedy, and suspense then this is the book for you!

Joe, Fred, and Sam are watching a western show, when suddenly they get sucked back into the book.The boys find themselves in a desert.Fred starts to hear something.It's a stampede.They are about to get hit by the stampede! Will anyone come to their rescue?
Some of the funny parts are when they almost get run over by the cows and at the end when you see the hole in Fred's hat.In one of the pictures the cow has 5 utters so tht was funny.I think you should read this book because it's just as funny as the first two Time Warp Trio books.

The Time Warp Trio is a crazy trio of a spotlight man, a brainiac, and a human pig. "Mr. Spotlight" opens The Book. He says the goofiest rhyme you can think of to send his crew back in time to the cowboys. What do you know? It works! All of a sudden, this Time Warp Trio find themselves in a "twister" of adventure. Illustrations help you imagine the story clearly. If it gets boring for a page or two, don't panic; it will jump right back into adventure. Beware, it's dynamite laughs.

Here's a quick review of Mills Lane's new book "Let's Get It On":

(Let me cut right to the chase and point out the abundant inaccuracies that I ran across.)

1-(page 29)- Lane credits Oliver McCall with a First round KO of Lennox Lewis. It was the 2nd round.

2-(page 97)- Lane states that Bobby Chacon became the Super Flyweight Champ with a 15 round decision over Bazooka Limon. That was Super Featherweight/Jr. Lightweight.

3-(page 99)- Lane states that the second Livingstone Bramble-Ray Mancini fight was for the Welterweight title. It was the Lightweight title.

4-(page 101)- Lane states that Iran Barkley "TWICE knocked Thomas Hearns unconscious". Barkley Ko'd Hearns in the first fight, he decisioned him in the second. It should be noted that Barkley did knock Tommy down in the second fight though.

5-(page 122)- Lane states that the common opponent between Erbito Salavarria and Betulio Gonzales was San Sacristan. It was not. It was Natalio Jimenez. (No, I did not know that one off the top of my head. But guess what? I looked it up. Novel idea.)

6-(page 172)- Lane states that Octavio Meyran held his ground and his integrity, in the Douglas-Tyson fight, by (Meyran) insisting that he did nothing wrong with regards to the bogus "Long Count" in the 8th round, in which Douglas hit the canvas from a Tyson uppercut. In fact, in a press conference right after a meeting involving Don King and the heads from the WBC & WBA (Suliaman and Mendoza), Meyran said the following: "I don't know why I start my count and make my mistake. Yes, he (Douglas) was down longer than 10 seconds". This followed a comment by Don King stating that the "first knockout obliterates the second one". After that comment King turned directly to Meyran, who then showed the world he had no backbone. Note: Before this "meeting", Meyran defended his actions. After the meeting, it was a different story.

7-(page 179)- Lane states that Chavez retained his Jr. Welterweight title after his controversial Draw with Pernell Whitaker. The fight was for Whitaker's Welterweight title.

8-(page 182)- Lane refers to Matt Fleischer, as opposed to Nat Fleischer. Come on now.

9-(page 189)- In a fight that Lane refereed, he states that Gerry Cooney was knocked down by Larry Holmes in the "third or fourth round". It was the Second round.

10-(page 246)- In another fight that Lane refereed, he states that "Donald Curry hit Milton McCrory with a tremendous right hand early in the third round and McCrory went down". He goes on to state that Milton was kayoed with another right hand, after he got up. Curry kayoed McCrory in the Second round. And the first knockdown was with a Left Hook.

11-(picture between 118 & 119)- Lane states Mike Tyson retained his WBC title against Trevor Berbick. Tyson Won the title from Berbick.

12-(picture between 118 & 119)- Lane states that: "Once he was released from prison, heavyweight contender Mike Tyson had all he could handle from Razor Ruddock,winning a 12-round decision on June 28, 1991. Tyson faced Ruddock BEFORE he went to prison.

Lane is brutally honest and the book reads like a friendly conversation that you might have with him over a beer and a stogie. He tells it like it is and I find it refreshing to read a book when I know that no punches are being pulled. But Jesus! The inaccuracies fly off the pages like crazy. And I'll guarantee that I didn't even catch all of them.

I respect Mills and think he is one of the best refs in the business. And I was eagerly anticipating his book. But if I read something that I am familiar with and find the information to be inaccurate, when I read something new, how am I to know if what is said it is true or not?

As you can probably guess, I am a stickler for detail. The correct information for the "flubs" that I listed, is easily accessible. And the fact that this book was written by a former D.A. and Judge, professions where detail is a critical part of the job, makes these inaccuracies even more infuriating. I find the laziness as it pertains to this book, totally inexcusable. What could have been a very good read, turned out to be very disappointing.

If it sounds like I'm being too harsh, well, I'm merely echoing the tone of Mills' book. I'm sure he'd find the seemingly half-assed approach to the research done in this book as annoying as I did. I'm just here to point it out to him. He'd do the same to us.

Mr. Lane put everything in perspective with his down to Earth angle on life. He lives by what he learned from boxing and the marines. It's an inspiring book and a real kick in the butt! It's a pep talk on life and inside look at the world of boxing. Thank you Mr. Lane.

On page 216, Mills Lane says of his wife, "She knew that I am consumed by my job, referee prizefights as a hobby, and am hardheaded and highly opinionated." Is he ever! And that is what makes this book so refreshing. Here is a man who says we are all responsible for our own actions. Imagine that. Judge Mills Lane and writer Jedwin Smith have combined their experience and talents to give us a glimpse of a human being we see all too rarely: a man of great honor. By the time you finish this book, you will know who puts the grit in integrity.

Before the movie, before the television series, before all the spin offs, there was just the play. The story is a classic spin on the buddy plot. Oscar Madison is a successful sports writer who happens to be best friends with Felix Unger, a newswriter for CBS. Each week Oscar has five of his buddies over for a Friday night game of poker. However, on one fateful night Felix fails to appear in time for the game. It turns out Felix has just been thrown out by his wife and has no place to go. Feeling sorry for his old friend, Oscar invites Felix to stay with him and be his roommate. What ensues is a classic Neil Simon look at friendship that will endure for ages.

When you pair David Paymer and Nathan Lane as Felix and Oscar in the Odd Couple, you are in for a comic tour de force that over stretches its material. With a supporting cast which includes Dan Castellaneta and Yeardley Smith (both from The Simpsons) and Linda Purl, the cast is almost perfect. This production is a little too visual in a few of its jokes. However, on the whole, it unscrupulously grabs the audio listener by his ears and shakes him with laughter.

Nathan Lane is delightful as Oscar Madison. I also enjoyed hearing Dan Castellanata ("Homer Simpson") as Murray, and Yeardley Smith ("Lisa Simpson") as Cecily Pigeon.

I found this book Pinocchio a rather wierd book because it wasn't what the whole story was like and it kinda went really fast and skipped alot of the original story but it still got to the point and I could still understand what the story was really trying to tell me. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read,.....you'll enjoy it!

We think that Pinocchio: The Boy, written and illustrated by Lane Smith, is a very enjoyable book to read. It has great illustrations made by collages. You probably should read it by yourself, because there are lots of little illustration details that you'd never notice if you read it out loud. We give Pinocchio a hundred million stars! It's a little different from the real Pinocchio story. This book is more like a sequel to Pinocchio. The story is about a blue fairy who turns Pinocchio into a real boy, But when he wakes up, he sees that his owner is sick. Pinocchio travels all over town to look for soup for Geppetto. This book could be enjoyed by all ages. Eve, Holly, Tyeler, Kate and Elizabeth all enjoyed it!

"Last week in a nutshell..." So begins Lane Smith's delightfully manic tale of what happened next. After a speedy recap of Pinocchio's exploits from the original story, Mr Lane ends his introduction with: And so, with a wave of her wand, the Blue Fairy granted this wish and turned the wooden puppet Pinocchio into a real boy. But he had no idea! That nutty fairy had changed him while he was asleep." That belly of the whale incident has left Geppetto pretty sick. So Pinocchio sets out early the next morning towards beautiful downtown Collodi to buy his dad some chicken soup. He doesn't know he's a real boy, and no one from his past, Cricket, puppetmaster, shopkeeper, even his own father doesn't seem to recognize him now that he's flesh and blood. But soon a little girl enters the picture, and that's when all the fun begins..... Mr Smith's spare and irreverent text is entertaining and engaging. But it's his bold, bright, and busy collage artwork that really steals the show. Each stunning illustration is filled with vibrant color, dazzling wit and playful humor, and children will want to stop, linger, and explore before turning the page. With an appropriate, fairy tale happily-ever-after ending, Pinocchio The Boy is a marvelous visual feast, and an updated, fun-filled romp youngsters 4-8 won't want to miss.

At our house, I eagerly anticipate any new book from Jon Scieszka (We have all of his books). I jumped at the announcement of this book and immediately placed my order. After receipt, my eight year old son and I sat down to read together. From the first page, my son was reading and laughing with each story. The stories are brief yet extremely clever. Each story concludes with a "moral". Parents can utilize these stories and "morals" to explain to our kids how these stories are actually real-life experiences and situations in disguise. This book offers parents a non-threatening tool with which to teach kids how to deal with and hopefully understand social relationships. Aside from all of the above, this book is just a lot of fun to read and view. The art work is on par with or exceeds "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "The Book that Jack Wrote" - simply terrific. This is a wonderful book for both children and adults. Highly recommended.

I got this book for my son who is 9...over the 4-8 age reccommendation for this book. I knew it would be funny and he would enjoy it...and boy did he! The book has "boy appeal"... and general "ha-ha-ho-ho's" abound. We read it the first time for laughs...we will read it again and I will encourage him to see if there is anything "deeper" in the stories.... He really enjoyed the pictures alot. He is at the age when at school he is only allowed to read "chapter" books so this was a wonderful break and fun return back to picture books. Although some of the stories did have meaning to them...Some were just fun and all the pictures were wonderful. I enjoy allowing my son to read some things for the pure pleasure and pure fun of reading...this is a perfect choice for that.

We have had this book for over a year and purchased it afterbeing lucky enough to hear a reading of it by the author before it wasreleased. I have six children ranging in age from 4 to 16 and each one of us loves this book for different reasons. I love it becuase it is one of a very few childrens' books which is really funny in a smart way. My four year old loves it for the stories and the great and intriguing illustrations, and my nine year old boy loves it for the nine year old boy appeal it obviously has. Everyone else loves it for their own reasons but it is read over and over again and our four year old can ALWAYS capture a family member to read it to her which is not always the case with other books.

This book is about 3 young boys go back in time all the way to the stoneage. Itmay seem like a fun adventure to the time warp trio, but they run into a lot of trouble along the way including a tribe of hostile cavewomen, a saber-toothed tiger, a bone rattling earthquake, and a wooley mammoth who wants to crush them. But the biggest problem is they depend on "The Book" to get them back from their little adventures but how can they get back home when writing has'nt been invented yet? Find out what happens to the time warp trio by reading this book that has comedy, adventure, and magic.

The book that I'm reading is Your Mother Was a Neanderthal by Jon Scieszka. This book is very interesting and mysterious. It's all about going through time and seeing what life was like in the past. The part I like best is when they find the Neanderthal, but you'll have to find that out yourself. Anyone who likes to read fantasy should get this book. It makes you feel like your really there and this is no joke. I'm sure you will agree with me but that's your decision to make.

This is a very good book for all ages even for adults and theirs a series too! Try the books that are The Time Warp Trio. Some other books you might want to try are Summer Reading Is Killing Me, 2095, and It's All Greek To Me! I have read mostly all of the series of the Time Warp Trio books and I'm still trying to finish it up. Try the best you can a getting these books and I hope you enjoy them!

"Your Mother Was a Neanderthal," by Jon Scieszka, is a young adult novel in the "Time Warp Trio" series. The book features illustrations by Lane Smith. The story is narrated by Joe, a young schoolboy. With the aid of a magic book, he and his pals Sam and Fred travel back to prehistoric times. They have an adventure involving primitive humans and dangerous prehistoric beasts.

This is a humorous story that is nicely complemented by Smith's surreal, funny drawings. The prehistoric characters are amusing and likeable, and the three "modern" heroes have an entertaining chemistry. Overall, a pretty good adventure.

It's something of an open secret that many who buy supplements for the Generic Universal Roleplaying System (GURPS), don't actually play the game. GURPS is certainly a sprawling nightmare of overlapping, and even contradictory, rules, but it's products like BLOOD TYPES that demonstrate why gamers keep buying GURPS products: they're very, very useful.

Taking a step away from the roleplaying game that swallowed the vampiric subgenre whole (VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE), BLOOD TYPES aims to be the definitive resource concerning the bloodsucking creatures. As with the best of the GURPS sourcebooks, BLOOD TYPES answers every question one could think to ask about the given subject, presenting exhaustive research in one easy-to-digest package. Also as per usual, the rules included are a turgid mess, but that doesn't make BLOOD TYPES any less of an engaging read.

Author Lane Grate seems to realize what a drag the GURPS rules can be, and delays their inclusion until nearly fifty pages into the book. He begins instead with an overview of the symbolic meaning of the literary/folkloric/filmic vampire, and the segues directly into an examination of the development of the vampiric legend in various world cultures, not overlooking "human vampires" like Elizabeth Bathory. His treatment of the Victorian literary vampire is quite interesting, and will likely spur readers of BLOOD TYPES to break out their old copies of Bram Stoker's DRACULA.

Grate does his best to keep the rules portion of BLOOD TYPES as painless as possible. The remainder of the book is occupied with vampiric character types and how to build them. One method presented is to select one of the more than a dozen archetypical vampire types from around the world and use the package of advantages and disadvantages given for them. Another is the DIY approach, where Grate provides a toolkit of "typical" vampiric traits, thereby encouraging GMs to create unique vampire types for their games.

The only real disappointment in BLOOD TYPES comes from the Game Master section of the book. Whereas in many GURPS titles this is a beefy chunk of the text, in BLOOD TYPES it's somewhat slender. After the in-depth discussion of the topic that precedes it - scarcely a topic is left unaddressed in the character-type and historical sections, for example - the GMs' advice seems weak by comparison. In contrast to some of the better GURPS books, Grate doesn't provide extensive suggestions for building and/or maintaining a vampire-centric campaign, but simply hits the high points, addresses crossovers with other GURPS titles in sidebars, and leaves it at that.

Taken as whole, BLOOD TYPES is a worthwhile purchase and a surprisingly entertaining read. As usual, the rules sections aren't useful for anyone but GURPS gamers, but the wealth of background and detailed research on vampires cannot help but inspire and inform GMs looking to create a vampiric campaign, or to incorporate these classic horrors into their existing game. From the stunning Timothy Bradstreet cover to the last page, BLOOD TYPES is good stuff.

I am a fan of Vampire the Masquerade and the GURPS books. The background info in this single book is far more interesting and the Vampires more versatile than in V:tM. If you haven't read it, I'd suggest you at least pick it up and give it a try. Highly valuable for GURPS GM's.

I was saddened when I did not like Baloney, Henry P. I have come to expect so much from John Scieszka and Lane Smith. I hoped that a book about an alien student trying to explain what happened to his homework (especially when the story begins with the alien child being abducted by other aliens) would be a great platform to showcase the talents of this team. It sadly has not proved so.

Baloney, Henry P. suffers from both poor illustrations and a lack of humor. The plot line is forced rather than well laid out. These are aberrations in the work of Scieszka/Smith.

In the interests of not judging others too harshly (lest I, as a result, am left without excuse) I must point out that the sheer invention and novelty of this book makes it worth reading at least once. The basis for my extremely low rating is that this book is not even close to being up to par with the other work of Scieszka and Smith. It isn't even in the same league as works like The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.

Unless you are a big fan of Scieszka and Smith, I recommend that you look somewhere else (the aforementioned books or Math Curse). Baloney, Henry P. is not their best.

Jon S. and Lane S. are the best children (adult?) authors/illustrators out there. As with their other books, this one has great pictures, and a great premise, BUT the story is not tight, and seems to be more about the pictures this time and less about the story. Again, great illustrations, but I actually left this book at the bookstore as the story didn't capture me.

Our bookstore had John Scieszka in for a signing last Friday, and he was as much fun for the adults as he was for the kids. He started writing stories in the 3rd grade and has continued ever since. "Baloney" is his latest creation. Henry P. Baloney is late for school- AGAIN- and has to come up with a pretty good reason that is both adventurous and believeable. It starts with losing his pencil and escalates into being abducted by enemies and the like, all of which has made him 7 minutes late and still sans pencil. Scieszka uses what he calls "alien lanugage" for words like "pencil", "school" and "desk"- all of which are included in a handy-dandy glossary in the back of the book. The illustrations are colorful and imaginative- Scieszka's humor is charming and witty. Be sure to check out his books "The Stinky Cheese Man", "The TRUE Story of the 3 Little Pigs", and his "Time Warp Trio" series. His new "TWT" series book "Sam Samauri" is planned to hit stores this fall.

There was a little misstreated boy named james, who dosen't get fed for stupid reasons. One day when he's out in the garden when a old man walks up to him and gives him some seeds. He drops them and a huge peach grows and he climbs into the peach and the peach rools away and goes over the atlantic ocean. Sounds fantastic dosen't it.

A crude adaptation of the Disney film version of "James and the Giant Peach". I bought this book solely for the Lane Smith illustrations. Other Smith fans might take a look at the work of Sergei Goloshapov, another great illustrator with a similar, unusual style.

This book is about a boy who lived with her mean aunts and then they grew this peach and his aunts wants to sell it. This book is funny because bugs are talking to James and they traveled.