![]() And I make sure that every historical event, person, and detail is as true and accurate as possible. I find out a hundred times more than I ever put into a final story. When I start a new Time Warp book, I immerse myself in researching the general time period. The other most important element of the series is its historical content. The fast-paced plots, cliff-hanger chapter endings, real kid characters (based on my former students), and funny, odd, and gross bits of history are all part of the plan to engage readers. The books are also designed with cool-looking covers, short chapters, and a mix of text and interior illustrations that look sophisticated enough to count as "real" reading, but not so dense as to be intimidating. ![]() You are already a successful reader before you've even started the second, third, or fourth book.Īnd I always loved having a good answer for the struggling reader who finally found a book they liked, then asked for another book, "just like that one." You don't have to figure that out all over again in each book. And you know they are going to have to find The Book to get back home. ![]() You know The Book is going to take them somewhere in history. After you've read one book, you know Joe, Sam, and Fred. In my classroom I found that ongoing characters and the same basic repeating plot were a great help to learning readers. The Time Warp Trio books are purposely designed as a series. I remembered Al Nagy, and created The Time Warp Trio to bring history alive, by putting kids in the middle of real history and letting them make their own conclusions. He brought those old days to life - telling stories about real people and real events - and let us make our own conclusions. He didn't lecture us about how different times were back in the old days. One of my favorite teachers was my high school American history teacher, Al Nagy. I've always loved the endlessly wild and crazy stories from history. From the readers' point of view, the books would have to look cool, read fast, and be fun. I knew it would be the kiss of death if any of my readers suspected the books of having any of this "educational" intent. So I set out to write something that would motivate my kids to want to read, in a form and style that would make it easy for them to become independent readers, with subject matter that would introduce them to a wider intellectual world. The boys in particular, seemed to be having trouble with the most basic motivation - finding something they really wanted to read. A lot of my kids were struggling with the transition from easy reader books to the more challenging chapter books. I first thought of The Time Warp Trio when I was teaching second and third grade.
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