WARP: THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN by Eoin Colfer

In London in 1898, an orphan named Riley is on a "job" with the man who cares for him, a magician - and murderer - named Albert Garrick. The job is supposed to be Riley's first kill - a task Riley wants no part of. But the target is a scientist from the future, and Riley and Garrick are pulled into a wormhole to the future.

In our time, 17-year-old FBI agent Chevron Savarro is working in London. It falls to her to protect Riley as they try to run from Garrick and the powers he acquires in the wormhole.

This was a much darker book than I was expecting. I ordered it online, but if I had bought it at the bookstore I would have seen that it was shelved for teens instead of middle grade readers. Other reviewers have said this is a darker story than the author's other work. Older students looking for a good science fiction/time travel story should check this one out. It is well written, and suspenseful. The villain is truly evil and the story is violent, so readers should be prepared for that. As a parent, I would want my son to wait until middle school - and maybe late in middle school - before reading this one.

4 out of 5 stars
AR reading level of 6.1

CHAPTER BOOK: TJ and the Time Stumblers - New Kid Catastrophes by Bill Myers

As if being the new kid at school isn't complicated enough, TJ also has two time-traveling teens following and observing her for a history project (she becomes president in the future). Their efforts to "help" TJ become the person of character and integrity that she is as president lead to lots of catastrophes - she falls into a pool, gets blasted down stairs with a fire extinguisher, and gets turned into a floor lamp to name a few. And since the boys are invisible to everyone but TJ, she has a hard time explaining all the strange things happening to her. Will she ever get the cute guy to notice her as anything but the "weird girl?" Can she make some real friends and get these time-travelers to go home and leave her be?

This was a great, funny story - the start of a series. Poor TJ really endures a lot of complications at the hands of the time-traveling Tuna and Herby - sometimes I just wanted to put my head in my hands. But I think my students will enjoy reading about all of the disasters and mishaps that come up - and there's plenty of mischief yet to come in the series as Tuna and Herby are trapped in our time while they try to fix their time machine.

Four out of five stars
AR reading level of 4.5

Recommended for: Fans of Bill Myers' other books, readers looking for funny stories or stories with a bit of fantasy.

BOOK FAIR PREVIEW: Infinity Ring - A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner

Dak and Sera are best friends living in a world a shade off-normal (Columbus didn't discover America, presidents you've never heard of are on Mt. Rushmore, etc.). Dak is a total history geek while Sera's passion is science. Together they stumble onto an invention by Dak's parents - a time travel device called The Infinity Ring. A group called the Hystorians take Dak and Sera in, telling them there are breaks in the natural time line and they need The Infinity Ring to fix them. Dak and Sera travel back to 1492 to deal with one of them.

This is the first book in a 39Clues-ish series. The story spends more time setting up the series than dealing with the actual time issues, but there is great potential for future stories. Lots of tension as the kids don't know who they can trust, not only in the present, but also in the past. I think my students will enjoy this series because of the adventure and the time travel components. In that regard, this is like a Magic Tree House for older readers.This volume may bog down some readers with all the set up material, but if they persevere, they will enjoy it.

4 out of 5 stars
AR level of 5.3

Recommended for: fans of 39 Clues, history fans, fans of adventure stories

Book 2 - Divide and Conquer releases November 6th
Book 3 - The Trap Door releases February 5th, 2013