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A review by ricksilva
Racing With Gladiators by Mary Pope Osborne
3.0
Jack and Annie are sent to retrieve a lost story from a pleasant seaside village in Ancient Rome. And of course, it turns out to be Pompeii on the day of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
I'm overanalyzing here, but why couldn't Morgan le Fay have just sent them back to the day before it happened? At least when they went to the Titanic, they were there to help save two passengers from the disaster.
This story included some mild supernatural and mythical elements, mixed with a lot of good details on daily life in Ancient Rome.
There is a bit of a role reversal for the kids, with Annie spooked by a prophetic dream, and the normally-timid Jack having to be the bold one of the pair.
I found the plot a bit too straightforward compared to some of the Magic Treehouse books I've liked better. This edition also had proofreading issues, I spotted a number of typos, which is not something that has been a problem in other books I've read in this series.
I read this with my seven-year-old son, who was on the ambivalent side about it, until the volcano went off, at which point, he was excited to hear the end.
I'm overanalyzing here, but why couldn't Morgan le Fay have just sent them back to the day before it happened? At least when they went to the Titanic, they were there to help save two passengers from the disaster.
This story included some mild supernatural and mythical elements, mixed with a lot of good details on daily life in Ancient Rome.
There is a bit of a role reversal for the kids, with Annie spooked by a prophetic dream, and the normally-timid Jack having to be the bold one of the pair.
I found the plot a bit too straightforward compared to some of the Magic Treehouse books I've liked better. This edition also had proofreading issues, I spotted a number of typos, which is not something that has been a problem in other books I've read in this series.
I read this with my seven-year-old son, who was on the ambivalent side about it, until the volcano went off, at which point, he was excited to hear the end.