ALA Booklist (Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 CST 1999)

Once again the Time Warp Trio goes by the book and winds up face to snout with Cerberus. As the three-headed dog snarls at them, narrator Joe explains their arrival in Hades. They had planned to return The Book right after their school Greek Mythology Musical, but once again the green mist transports them farther and stranger than we'd gone before. On Mount Olympus, the trio trades snappy one-liners and insults with the gods, and confront such legendary monsters as Typhoon and the Chimera. The resolution comes quickly and conveniently, with the boys awaiting their next adventure. For some kids, this will be a stretch, but the usual smart-guy humor will draw them in. A list of gods and monsters is appended for quick referral, with such explanations as Aphrodite: Goddess of love and beauty, and she knows it. Scieszka and Lane Smith, who has illustrated all the books in the series, have devised a nifty formula, and they deserve credit for leading kids farther and stranger than they would ordinarily go. (Reviewed November 15, 1999)

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2000)

The Larry, Moe, and Curly of time travel are back, this time getting themselves stuck in their own irreverent play about Greek mythology. Fans of other books in the series will find much to chuckle over, such as the one-liners traded by Hera, insult queen of Mount Olympus, and Sam. Included are a cast list of all the gods and goddesses and tongue-in-cheek instructions for making props.

Kirkus Reviews

Scieszka and Lane's intrepid heroes of The Time Warp Trio are once again up to their necks in very silly historical circumstances. Joe, Fred, and Sam are horsing around during their school play—which they wrote themselves—about the ancient deities of Greece. When a cardboard thunderbolt accidently hits the magic blue book stashed in Joe's backpack, the three boys are transported back to ancient Greece—or so they think. When they meet some of the wisecracking gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus, they realize they've been transported to the fictionalized Greece of their play, complete with dialogue they wrote using "The Book of Snappy Insults." While flinging around backhanded compliments with Hera (who's not bad on the uptake), the three time travelers try to locate their blue book of magic so they can return home. Instead, they end up as that night's entertainment for the gods. The opening jokes fall flat, but then Joe comes up with some last-minute parlor tricks. Just when everything's going well, a pack of Greek monsters arrives, and the mountain top threatens to become a battlefield. The wordplay is still fast and funny, and fans of the series will not mind that the deities have become sort of stock types; the abundance of goofy Groucho Marx-style zingers will keep everyone else smiling. (Fiction. 7-11)