Amazon.com (ISBN 0141310979, Paperback)

Great Zeus! Ace author-illustrator team Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (of Stinky Cheese Man fame) get together again for the eighth title in their popular Time Warp Trio series. Fred, Sam, and narrator Joe are innocently performing a school play about Mount Olympus when "The Book" (a magic tome so dangerous it had been locked away) whirls them into the Greek underworld. Armed with little but a fake thunderbolt and a spray-painted golden apple, they find themselves at the gates of Hades, confronting a slavering, three-headed, not at all mythical Cerberus. ("'Nice doggie, nice doggie, nice doggie,' said Sam.") After a lucky escape, they get to the "real" Olympus only to be embroiled in an increasingly dangerous series of disagreements with the cheeky, wise-cracking, bickering immortals. Will they ever find "The Book" on Olympus, as they must in order to get safely back to opening night? Well, yes--but only just. For the confused or curious, there's a short glossary of Greek gods and monsters along with a pronunciation guide. (Ages 6 to 11) --Richard Farr