ALA Booklist (Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Twelve-year-old Matt Hudson's parents have always warned him and his twin siblings, Corey and Ruby, never to use public transit, but when they awaken late for school one morning, they throw their parents' travel ban out the window. The Hudsons hop on the New York subway, only to have it transform beneath their feet into the Vermillion, a time-traveling pirate frigate with a conniving captain and kid crew. Their first stop is Paris, 1911, where the captain steals the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, eager to solve an old mystery connected to the painting. Its clues spur more adventures, but a glitch with their compass threatens the Vermillion's ability to navigate time, and Matt begins to suspect the ruthless captain is hiding something. Shurtliff's first entry in the Time Castaways series is suspenseful, yet light and often humorous. The rollicking story is filled with intrigue right to the very end, which she leaves wide open for a sequel. Upper-elementary and middle-grade readers of her (Fairly) True Tales series will surely follow her here.

Kirkus Reviews

In this series opener, three siblings are lured onto a shape-changing ship whose time-traveling pirate captain aims to steal Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece from the Louvre.Their parents have forbidden Matt, adopted from Colombia, and twins Corey and Ruby, their biological children, to take public transportation—even elevators. The kids' adventure begins when they disobey and board a subway car that proves to be the shape-changing frigate Vermillion on its way to Paris. Navigating via magical compass, Capt. Vincent leads the successful mission to pre-empt the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa. Mission accomplished, the children are told why they were abducted and—assured they can return the same moment they left—settle in to enjoy time travel and Vermillion's (mostly) friendly crew of orphans, such as Jia, who keeps the ship running on peanut butter and bubble gum. But Matt begins to suspect undisclosed motives lie behind their abduction. While the siblings learn the startling reason, Matt's connection to time travel by compass remains a mystery to be solved in future volumes, as do his unexplained seizures. Racially, chronologically, and culturally diverse characters and the convoluted plot, packed with surprising twists and turns, cleverly play on readers' expectations. Matt's, Corey's, and Ruby's races are unspecified, though on the cover the former appears with brown skin and the latter two with pale; Jia is described as Asian.Time-traveling pirates, whimsical humor, a sentient ship, and cliffhanger predicaments deliver generous helpings of quirky, retro-tinged entertainment. (Fantasy. 10-14)

School Library Journal (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Gr 4-8 Three siblings disobey their parents' seemingly overprotective rule about never getting on the New York subway, only to find themselves aboard a time-traveling vessel whose mission is to collect artifacts around the world from different eras. Matt, the primary character and eldest, finds himself doubting their captain, the alternately creepy and fatherly Captain Vincent, as more is revealed. Third-person narration with memorable characters, an enticing plot, and some cool steampunklike magic will attract readers who love Jen Swann Downey's Ninja Librarians or Brian Farrey's Vengekeep Prophecies . A strong sense of the characters' humanity and interesting time travel paradoxes make up for what is lacking in humor or nail-biting tension. VERDICT The first in a promising series for fantasy adventure fans. Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC