Oh Say, I Can't See

Oh Say, I Can't See

by Jon Scieszka

illustrated by Adam McCauley

Oh Say, I Can't See is a children's novel from The Time Warp Trio series. The Time Warp Trio is a series of books written by Scieszka about a group of three children that get sent to a different day in time by a magic book. Having not read a book from this series before, this one was confusing and hard to get into. The first chapter was supposed to just grab your attention, with the second chapter explaining how the trio got into the situation. After that I was still confused about the main plot of the book time machine. I would suggest starting with the first book in the series to be less confused and ultimately stay engaged from the beginning. Scieszka's writing style was great because it really allowed the reader to feel like they were actually in 1776 with George Washington before he crosses the river for Trenton. He writes this book as if one the of the kids from the trio is telling the story to the reader so it is very informal and fun to read. I do not know very much background on the Revolutionary War but I was still able to understand some of it. Overall I would recommend this book for students with and interest in the particular subject. Some of the children's novels in this series goes into the future, while many go into the past or about a specific person. I hope that Scieszka did a lot of research for this book because it is like a historical fiction, but it does not have any references. As for the illustrations I was disappointed because all of the other illustrators that Scieszka has paired up with have been outstanding but McCauley's did not further the story any more. All in all, I like the idea of this series because children can learn about a specific period in time by feeling like they were actually there by reading these novels. I think it is a great talent that Scieszka has that he is able to write for so many different ages. He even has some just beginning to read books that carry his humor throughout them all the way up to the children's novels. All in all, I cannot wait to bring Jon Scieszka into my classroom to allow my students the chance to see this wonderful author.

Intended Age 7 +