Modern day sibling find a mysterious suitcase who's contents let them time jump back into the time of King Arthur his wizards & Excalibur. A brisk & fun read geared to beginning readers who are ready to tackle chapter books. ( )

Ava and Chase find an old suitcase in a flea market but it is not for sale. They are given it and find odd but valuable items in it. They also discover a man named Randall is after that same suitcase but why? When they touch a dragon's head that is inside the suitcase, they are transported back to King Arthur's time. How did that happen? What are they supposed to do? How do they get back home?

I enjoyed this story. It is a good set-up for the Time Jumpers series. The world building is good and on as-need-to-know basis. I have a lot of questions just like Ava and Chase. I like them. Randall is a hiss-worthy villain. Madeline, the suitcase holder, knows more than she lets on. I have to find out what along with Ava and Chase. ( )

Wendy Mass' contribution to Scholastic's Branches series launched last year and there are now four titles in this time-traveling series.

Siblings Chase and Ava (white) are selling their parents' junk sculptures at the flea market and, after their work is done, get some money to fund their own purchases. They find an old suitcase and at first the woman at the booth refuses to sell it - then she pushes it on them when Chase tells her how interested he is in history and science. Inside the suitcase are a number of strange artifacts. The two are exploring their find when a mysterious stranger starts yelling about his missing suitcase.

Chase and Ava take off on their bikes, but when they stop in the park a weird dragon doorknob flies out of the suitcase and the next thing they know, they've been thrown back in time to the reign of King Arthur! The dragon doorknob is the hilt of Excalibur and only they can keep history from being destroyed. But what does the strange, threatening man have to do with the suitcase? How does it work? Are all the artifacts stolen? Only time will tell!

Black and white sketches show a predominantly white, male cast. The story is written in third person and an odd tense - I'm too far from my literature study days to define it, but here's a sample, "They're both breathing hard when they reach a dead end. Light peeks through the edges of the stones. They wedge their hands into the tiny gaps." While this is the starter book for a series, it feels very disjointed and doesn't really give much information or set-up for the series, other than defining the "magic" object. There isn't much effort put into historical accuracy either.

Verdict: This checks out, due to being part of the popular Branches imprint, but, as Kirkus says, it's really just a "riff on the Magic Treehouse series." An additional purchase only.

ISBN: 9781338217360; Published 2018 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library

First book in an illustrated early chapter series featuring time traveling siblings who go back in time to return artifacts and prevent history from changing. AR 3.8, pts. 1 ( )