Stealing the Sword: A Branches Book (Time Jumpers #1)

by Wendy Mass, Oriol Vidal (Illustrator)

Overview

New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mass's action-packed early chapter book series is perfect for newly independent readers!

Pick a book. Grow a Reader!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!Chase and Ava find an old suitcase filled with strange objects. One of the objects looks like a dragon-headed doorknob... Suddenly Chase and Ava find themselves jumping back in time to King Arthur's castle! They meet the king's wizard Merlin and soon discover what the dragon-headed doorknob really is. It turns out they have an important job to do: They must save the king! But a bad guy is after them... How will Chase and Ava get back home? They will need to act fast to find out! Oriol Vidal's engaging illustrations appear on every page. Newly independent readers will eat up this time-travel series from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mass!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338217360
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Series:	Time Jumpers , #1
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	144,022
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Wendy Mass is the author of award-winning books for young readers, including 11 Birthdays, Finally, 13 Gifts, The Last Present, and the Twice Upon a Time series; as well as A Mango-Shaped Space, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, Leap Day, Every Soul a Star, Space Taxi, and The Candymakers. She lives with her family in New Jersey.
Oriol Vidal is an illustrator and storyboard artist living in Barcelona, Spain. Wendy Mass's Time Jumpers is the first early chapter book series he has illustrated.

Read an Excerpt

Pick a book. Grow a Reader!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!Chase and Ava find an old suitcase filled with strange objects. One of the objects looks like a dragon-headed doorknob... Suddenly Chase and Ava find themselves jumping back in time to King Arthur's castle! They meet the king's wizard Merlin and soon discover what the dragon-headed doorknob really is. It turns out they have an important job to do: They must save the king! But a bad guy is after them... How will Chase and Ava get back home? They will need to act fast to find out! Oriol Vidal's engaging illustrations appear on every page. Newly independent readers will eat up this time-travel series from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mass!

Table of Contents

Table of Contents:1. The Adventure Begins!2. An Old Suitcase3. Dinosaurs in Common4. Stranger Things5. The Angry Man6. Faster!7. Two Bad Knights8. Magic or Not? 9. In Hiding10. Dragons and Dust11. A Secret Door12. The White-Haired Wizard13. Let the Games Begin!14. The Battle15. Saving a King16. Home Sweet Home

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Stealing the Sword:"Part of Scholastic's early chapter book series Branches, this title is designed to be easy-to-read and features a high-interest plot to help readers make the transition from picture books to longer chapter books. The characters are likeable and the story has lots of action..." — School Library JournalPraise for 13 Gifts:* "Mass keeps the plot jumping like a fireworks display; there's one surprise spark after another, all coming together at the end for a breathtaking finale." — School Library Journal, starred reviewPraise for 11 Birthdays:* "A fresh twist on the familiar themes of middle-grade family and school dynamics." — Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

2018-05-14
An odd item found in a flea-market suitcase sends two children back to days of yore in this series opener aimed at fledgling chapter-book readers.The suitcase, plainly a MacGuffin, contains a number of seemingly random objects and a remote-control thingy—and as soon as bookish Chase picks up what he thinks is a doorknob with a dragon's head, he and his camera-toting little sister, Ava, find themselves in a medieval slops closet overhearing a conversation between two knights about a plot against King Arthur. The "doorknob," it turns out, is actually the hilt of Excalibur, and only finding some way to magically repair the sword can save the king from an assassin's attack. Writing in present tense, Mass moves the plot along smartly to a climax featuring some brisk, if bloodless, swordplay (her Arthur is more into disarming his opponents than carving them up), then has Ava push a button on the remote to send the young siblings back home. The "time jumpers" billing is deceptive as, though Chase frets about changing the future, neither the narrative nor Vidal's frequent grayscale illustrations make much effort to place the episode in a true historical setting. The author tucks in a fart joke early on but never follows it up and, in a clumsy effort to inject a bit of suspense, trots in a mysterious, surly villain with differently colored eyes who is after the suitcase. Characters are default white.An obvious—and bland—riff on the Magic Treehouse series. (review questions) (Fantasy. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews