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Time Warp Trio #13
Me Oh Maya
Joe, Fred, and Sam find themselves whisked by The Book to the main ring-ball court in Chichin Itza, Mexico in 1000 A.D., where they must play for their lives against a Mayan High Priest who cheats.
80 pages, Hardcover
First published September 15, 2003
5 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Jon Scieszka
247 books1,561 followersJon Scieszka is an American children's writer, best known for picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers."
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 21, 2021
[Originally published on DE COLORES: http://decoloresreviews.blogspot.com/... ]
It's no secret that I'm a fierce advocate for literary dignity and equity in publishing. I want to see many more books by writers from underrepresented groups (BIPOC, disabled, queer) published each year for kids and adults alike. However, some folks misinterpret that mission as an implied disavowal of any book written by someone outside the culture depicted in its pages. But I actually do think it’s possible (and for secondary characters, outright desirable) for an author to write about characters and communities that don’t perfectly align with their own lived experiences.
The catch? It’s hard work. You have to put in the time. Research. Advocate. Uplift. Live alongside and be a friend and ally to people from the group in question. Then write with respect and pay a cultural expert from that community to review your manuscript and give you feedback (then incorporate their suggestions or corrections).
“Why, David?” I imagine someone asking. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
The short answer? People can be insulted, deeply hurt, or perhaps even permanently scarred by mistakes you make.
ME OH MAYA is an example of an author writing “outside of their lane” and getting things horribly wrong. Mind you, anyone can screw up when writing. We’re human. But this is a book from a major publisher whose entire team really dropped the ball in terms of literary dignity.
ME OH MAYA is book 13 of Jon Scieska’s The Time Warp Trio. (It’s the volume that made my son Angelo abandon the series, by the way.) The three protagonists—friends Joe, Sam, and Fred—are yanked from their basketball game back in time to a Maya ballcourt.
Let’s get something straight right away. Maya people still exist. Seven million of them, in fact, in southern Mexico and Central America, with tens of thousands more living in the US. So if you decide to write about pre-invasion Maya, you’re depicting living people’s ancestors, folks who still speak that language and preserve many of those customs.
Which is why it’s so disappointing that Me Oh Maya jumps immediately to bloodshed and human sacrifice on the first page: “Explain yourselves or your blood will be spilled in sacrifice,” says a “short brown-skinned guy in a wild feathered headdress.” Two pages later, Sam explains “their habit of sacrificing humans,” adding that the high priest is “not kidding about that rip-your-hearts-out.”
By way of explanation, all of this is wrong. Strangers would not have been immediately sacrificed. The intermittent offering of human blood to the gods was a solemn religious ritual at particular times of the year that ensured the wheels of cyclical time kept turning. Those sacrificed were prepared and treated with dignity for many months. Their families were typically compensated after their death. A better analogy for Maya sacrifice would be soldiers who are sent on missions from which they know it’s unlikely they’ll return. That kind of sacrifice, not horror-movie, death-at-the-hand-of-a-slasher kind of death. To call that sort of patriotic, pious laying down of one’s life a “habit of sacrificing humans” by “short brown-skinned” people is problematic, to say the least.
All that aside, for that to be the IMMEDIATE go-to image for the writer of children’s books when he thinks of the Maya? Gross. Indicative of some deep-seated privilege and ignorance. Imagine if every children’s book written about the US by people not living here featured gun violence. Yes, it’s a part of US life, but hardly the defining aspect of our existence.
But, of course, human sacrifice is the main plot contrivance of Me Oh Maya. The boys use basketball moves to wow the people of Chichén Itzá and win the game (the book mistakenly asserts that losers get sacrificed—imagine how impossible it would be to keep a game going for a year, much less centuries, if that were the case). However, the high priest, who they think looks like their Latino teacher Mr. Ramírez on a bad day, decides to sacrifice them anyway.
That’s when he reveals his name: “Kakapupahed.” The kids have a field day with this, and I’m sure the author and editor found it hilarious.
But making up a name that sounds like foolish words in English to mock a people’s language? That’s straight-up racist. (The invented word is also meaningless in the Itza Mayan language, which furthermore lacks the consonant “d.”)
The book makes some attempt at presenting life at Chichén Itzá as otherwise pleasant and fascinating (though frankly generic Mesoamerican in the details of cuisine, etc.). The boys find an ally in the high priest’s nephew, named “Jun,” or “One,” which is one half of a normal Maya name at the time—they consisted of a number from 1-13 and one of 20 day signs, so it would have been more realistic if the kid’s name was Jun Balam (One Jaguar) or something along those lines.
It’s nice that Jun and his mother are key to the Brooklynites’ victory and return to the future, but all those moments are marred by the cultural insensitivity, obsession with the lurid or “exotic” aspects of Maya communities, and racist humor. A Maya or Mestizo (part-Indigenous) child reading this book will find their people stereotyped and mocked. How is that pain justifiable?
It's no secret that I'm a fierce advocate for literary dignity and equity in publishing. I want to see many more books by writers from underrepresented groups (BIPOC, disabled, queer) published each year for kids and adults alike. However, some folks misinterpret that mission as an implied disavowal of any book written by someone outside the culture depicted in its pages. But I actually do think it’s possible (and for secondary characters, outright desirable) for an author to write about characters and communities that don’t perfectly align with their own lived experiences.
The catch? It’s hard work. You have to put in the time. Research. Advocate. Uplift. Live alongside and be a friend and ally to people from the group in question. Then write with respect and pay a cultural expert from that community to review your manuscript and give you feedback (then incorporate their suggestions or corrections).
“Why, David?” I imagine someone asking. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
The short answer? People can be insulted, deeply hurt, or perhaps even permanently scarred by mistakes you make.
ME OH MAYA is an example of an author writing “outside of their lane” and getting things horribly wrong. Mind you, anyone can screw up when writing. We’re human. But this is a book from a major publisher whose entire team really dropped the ball in terms of literary dignity.
ME OH MAYA is book 13 of Jon Scieska’s The Time Warp Trio. (It’s the volume that made my son Angelo abandon the series, by the way.) The three protagonists—friends Joe, Sam, and Fred—are yanked from their basketball game back in time to a Maya ballcourt.
Let’s get something straight right away. Maya people still exist. Seven million of them, in fact, in southern Mexico and Central America, with tens of thousands more living in the US. So if you decide to write about pre-invasion Maya, you’re depicting living people’s ancestors, folks who still speak that language and preserve many of those customs.
Which is why it’s so disappointing that Me Oh Maya jumps immediately to bloodshed and human sacrifice on the first page: “Explain yourselves or your blood will be spilled in sacrifice,” says a “short brown-skinned guy in a wild feathered headdress.” Two pages later, Sam explains “their habit of sacrificing humans,” adding that the high priest is “not kidding about that rip-your-hearts-out.”
By way of explanation, all of this is wrong. Strangers would not have been immediately sacrificed. The intermittent offering of human blood to the gods was a solemn religious ritual at particular times of the year that ensured the wheels of cyclical time kept turning. Those sacrificed were prepared and treated with dignity for many months. Their families were typically compensated after their death. A better analogy for Maya sacrifice would be soldiers who are sent on missions from which they know it’s unlikely they’ll return. That kind of sacrifice, not horror-movie, death-at-the-hand-of-a-slasher kind of death. To call that sort of patriotic, pious laying down of one’s life a “habit of sacrificing humans” by “short brown-skinned” people is problematic, to say the least.
All that aside, for that to be the IMMEDIATE go-to image for the writer of children’s books when he thinks of the Maya? Gross. Indicative of some deep-seated privilege and ignorance. Imagine if every children’s book written about the US by people not living here featured gun violence. Yes, it’s a part of US life, but hardly the defining aspect of our existence.
But, of course, human sacrifice is the main plot contrivance of Me Oh Maya. The boys use basketball moves to wow the people of Chichén Itzá and win the game (the book mistakenly asserts that losers get sacrificed—imagine how impossible it would be to keep a game going for a year, much less centuries, if that were the case). However, the high priest, who they think looks like their Latino teacher Mr. Ramírez on a bad day, decides to sacrifice them anyway.
That’s when he reveals his name: “Kakapupahed.” The kids have a field day with this, and I’m sure the author and editor found it hilarious.
But making up a name that sounds like foolish words in English to mock a people’s language? That’s straight-up racist. (The invented word is also meaningless in the Itza Mayan language, which furthermore lacks the consonant “d.”)
The book makes some attempt at presenting life at Chichén Itzá as otherwise pleasant and fascinating (though frankly generic Mesoamerican in the details of cuisine, etc.). The boys find an ally in the high priest’s nephew, named “Jun,” or “One,” which is one half of a normal Maya name at the time—they consisted of a number from 1-13 and one of 20 day signs, so it would have been more realistic if the kid’s name was Jun Balam (One Jaguar) or something along those lines.
It’s nice that Jun and his mother are key to the Brooklynites’ victory and return to the future, but all those moments are marred by the cultural insensitivity, obsession with the lurid or “exotic” aspects of Maya communities, and racist humor. A Maya or Mestizo (part-Indigenous) child reading this book will find their people stereotyped and mocked. How is that pain justifiable?
February 1, 2013
Scieszka's got a way with words and wit that makes most of his books terrific. In this one, though, he went head-long into the land of insensitivity to people of another culture. Instead of a respectful treatment of the Maya people, he mocks them by mocking their names.
A full review of his book is at my site, American Indians in Children's Literature.
http://americanindiansinchildrenslite...
A full review of his book is at my site, American Indians in Children's Literature.
http://americanindiansinchildrenslite...
November 19, 2021
Me Oh Maya, a chapter book, could be a fun adventure story about kids who get sucked into a time warp that drops them into new cultures that are unique and distinct from their own Brooklyn setting.
Book #13 of The Time Warp Trio sees Sam, Fred and Joe get sucked through a time warp to Chichén Itzá. What could be an enlightening discovery of culture turns into a collection of disparagements and mockery. The high priest is named Kakapupahed. Kaka, in Spanish, is poop. So the high priest is named poop head. The high priest does not take the role of leader, but rather the villain. He's stolen the rightful place to leadership, leaving Jun and his mother alienated from power. The three Brooklyn boys then take on the role of white saviors. Jun's mother tells the Brooklyn boys, "You challenge Kaka himself to a game of ball...he will lose. You will be seen as powerful priests" (40). And of course, because it's a 66 page chapter book, the simplified version of this story is that they do defeat Kakapupahead. Their heroism takes the story away from the indigenous Mayans who are capable of solving their own problems. Scieszka, however, falls into the trap of positioning his characters as the problem solvers rather than the learners. He places the indigenous in the pigeon-holed roles of villains or incompetents - incompetents who need white kids to save them.
There are so many adventures for Sam, Joe, and Fred to have within the Mayan culture, but this chapter book is limited to a temple where human sacrifices are made. What a giant miss for readers who are genuinely curious about indigenous cultures.
Scieszka finishes the book with a mangled language that is supposed to simulate communication: "Peepuh ub Chichén Itzá, dang you fo dur help. Dow we mus go homb" (59). This is supposed to be Mayan? It's offensive. Throughout the text, the trio of boys have communicated with Jun and his mother using normal English. Now they have to talk like simpletons?
It’s not funny. It teaches readers that dumbing down language is needed for other cultures outside of Brooklyn.
When Scieszka introduces Mayan numbers, he hits a high note, and I have hope that this book will end with the boys learning something beyond the clichéd sacrificing and decapitation. Sadly, this book does not dig into Mayan architecture, Mayan city planning, Mayan farming and irrigation, Mayan trade with other nations, Mayan observation of the stars and the accompanying stories, Mayan scrolls and histories, Mayan heroes, warriors, means and modes of worship... nothing! What a big miss for Sam, Fred, and Joe.
What a big miss for students ready to go deep into a new culture.
Book #13 of The Time Warp Trio sees Sam, Fred and Joe get sucked through a time warp to Chichén Itzá. What could be an enlightening discovery of culture turns into a collection of disparagements and mockery. The high priest is named Kakapupahed. Kaka, in Spanish, is poop. So the high priest is named poop head. The high priest does not take the role of leader, but rather the villain. He's stolen the rightful place to leadership, leaving Jun and his mother alienated from power. The three Brooklyn boys then take on the role of white saviors. Jun's mother tells the Brooklyn boys, "You challenge Kaka himself to a game of ball...he will lose. You will be seen as powerful priests" (40). And of course, because it's a 66 page chapter book, the simplified version of this story is that they do defeat Kakapupahead. Their heroism takes the story away from the indigenous Mayans who are capable of solving their own problems. Scieszka, however, falls into the trap of positioning his characters as the problem solvers rather than the learners. He places the indigenous in the pigeon-holed roles of villains or incompetents - incompetents who need white kids to save them.
There are so many adventures for Sam, Joe, and Fred to have within the Mayan culture, but this chapter book is limited to a temple where human sacrifices are made. What a giant miss for readers who are genuinely curious about indigenous cultures.
Scieszka finishes the book with a mangled language that is supposed to simulate communication: "Peepuh ub Chichén Itzá, dang you fo dur help. Dow we mus go homb" (59). This is supposed to be Mayan? It's offensive. Throughout the text, the trio of boys have communicated with Jun and his mother using normal English. Now they have to talk like simpletons?
It’s not funny. It teaches readers that dumbing down language is needed for other cultures outside of Brooklyn.
When Scieszka introduces Mayan numbers, he hits a high note, and I have hope that this book will end with the boys learning something beyond the clichéd sacrificing and decapitation. Sadly, this book does not dig into Mayan architecture, Mayan city planning, Mayan farming and irrigation, Mayan trade with other nations, Mayan observation of the stars and the accompanying stories, Mayan scrolls and histories, Mayan heroes, warriors, means and modes of worship... nothing! What a big miss for Sam, Fred, and Joe.
What a big miss for students ready to go deep into a new culture.
October 29, 2018
Usually, I really like the Time Warp Trio books. Usually, I have no problem with my son reading them. This one, however, led to quite a few discussions about differing cultures and the insensitivities and inaccuracies portrayed in this book. So, no, this one was not fun.
April 11, 2018
I picked this up from the library so I could have a variety of books in my database assignment but unfortunately, the way the author portrays Mayans seemed offensive tbh.
July 16, 2021
After reading reviews written by Debbie Reese (https://americanindiansinchildrenslit...) and David Bowles (http://decoloresreviews.blogspot.com/...), I read the book and agree with their critiques. I like many of Scieszka's books, but would not recommend this title.
April 17, 2023
Silly, funny, and good illustrations. Some cool factual information about the Mayan time period spread over an engaging story. Easy to read for early elementary. A bit dated in the cultural references from 2003. Good for boys.
July 10, 2025
The boys go back to ancient Mayan days after Sam starts writing the date in Mayan. The boys are challenged to a basketball game of sorts to try to win the book and come back to the present, but the evil high priest doesn't play fair. I really am enjoying this series.
September 28, 2017
I read it multiple times, found it very enjoyable.
Read
March 17, 2023Some juvenile humor. My 9yo enjoys the series, but my older boys didn't find them worth their time (which seems accurate to me).
August 27, 2025
3,5 Rating
Read this with a few students. It's a cute book but nothing spectacular.
Read this with a few students. It's a cute book but nothing spectacular.
January 20, 2026
A fun read! The boys' modern basketball and trash-talking skills serve them well in ancient times.
January 22, 2017
I read this book to see if it would work as a classroom read aloud. But I decided the name "Kakapupahead" was more than I could handle. Not a bad story, just not one that works for me as a teacher.
Read
October 1, 2016it a good book
May 21, 2008
I've wanted to read Jon Scieszka since I like the website he runs - www.guysread.com, to try and encourage boys of all ages to read. This is a book in the Time Warp Trio series - 3 friends have a magic book that transports them backwards or forwards into time, in different cultures. Here, they go to Mexico 1, 000 years ago and end up in a ball game the Mayans played for their lives. I like how he weaves in real information - the chapters are numbered like the Mayan numeral system - with dots and dashes, and talks about the culture a bit while the boys are there. It's totally silly fantasy, but there is some real information in there as well.
April 19, 2009
Kakapupahead, the High Priest of the Mayan people decides that Joe, Sam and Fred will make the perfect sacrifice to please the Mayan gods to ensure a successful harvest. Whether Joe, Fred and Sam live depends on whether they can beat Kakapupahead and his teammates in a game of ball. Again the Time Warp Trio is faced with trying to figure out how to can get home when The Book is not in a language or format that they understand. It is a good thing that at least Sam understands the special way the Mayans wrote their numbers and kept their calendar.
September 8, 2010
In me oh maya there are 3 kids that live in brooklin and so one day they are play in baskit ball, and next they know it they are serawded by gues in leather hats and they get in a fight about who is better at baskit ball.the 3 kids also lose there book that can transport them to places,so now they cant go home...
January 10, 2009
Eh, this is an okay book but I'm just not wild about the series in general. I don't really think it's a great way to teach history. I personally find it to be kind of confusing and choppy and would rather just read a book about the Mayas.
March 12, 2009
The boys warp back 1000 years to a Mayan village. While there they challenge the High Priest Kakapupahed to a ball game in order to oust him from power and to get their hands on The Book. Final chapter titled 'Professor Sam's Maya Math' explains how to write numbers the way the Mayans did.
January 17, 2011
Boys seem to enjoy this adventure book. They learned a little about the Maya in reading it. Girls did not really dig it. Good endings to chapters that made the students want to keep reading. -Susan
August 16, 2011
The boys find themselves thrown back in time to Mayan civilization where they end up having a basketball like game that could end in their death. Can the boys find the book before they end up a sacrifice?
Another book of silly fun from Jon Scieszka.
Another book of silly fun from Jon Scieszka.
March 20, 2008
AR 3.6 -- 1.0
Boys go back to ancient Mexico.
Includes explanation of Maya numeral system.
Boys go back to ancient Mexico.
Includes explanation of Maya numeral system.
August 22, 2008
If you want a way to analyze what works for young boy readers, especially the humor part (which is exactly what I was looking for), the Time Warp Trio is the go-to series.
March 2, 2010
Of all the series books for younger children, this is one of my favorites. I can hear just Scieszka's voice reading it. He combines humor and just a bit of history in this goofy time travel series.
June 20, 2010
I really liked it because it had math and Mayan numerals.
October 22, 2010
me oh maya was prety much fiction
August 2, 2012
One of the better ones in the series I think.
October 3, 2013
Future POTUS thought it was awesome. The trio is totally hilarious. And Kakapupahed? That's a totally awesome name for a high priest!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews