History Literature / TimeWarpTrio

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Smaug in "Knights of the Kitchen Table" is a pretty standard western dragon. Unlike [[Literature/TheHobbit his namesake]], he never speaks.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Thoroughly averted in ''The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy'', with respect to Lt. George Custer. He's not especially demonized, either, but the boys fall in with [[BadassPacifist Black Kettle]] partway through the book, and it's pretty clear who the reader is meant to sympathize with. (At the beginning of the book, before the timey-wimey stuff starts, the boys are watching a Western TV show that plays this trope [[StylisticSuck dead straight]]; Sam has a few things to say about that.)

The book series ran from 1991 to 2007, with sixteen volumes published. It also received a short-lived but acclaimed cartoon adaptation that aired on Creator/DiscoveryKids in 2005. For more information on that series, see [[WesternAnimation/TimeWarpTrio here]].

* AccidentalIncantation: The boys can never predict what will trigger The Book's time travel properties, nor which period they go to as a resultm Plots have been kicked off just by saying a phrase that happens to correspond to a certain time period while they hold it.

* {{Samurai}}: The point of, well, "Sam Samurai".

* ArtEvolution: Starting with "Sam Samurai", the series changed illustrators (from Lane Smith to Adam [=McCauley=]) and the art style becomes markedly different, switching from overexaggerated cut-out styled near-abstractions, to moderately exaggerated, clean-cut cartoon characters. Despite this change, the cartoon's art style resembles Lane Smith's illustrations.

* ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll:
** "Tut, Tut" has the boys introduce basketball to the eponymous character.
** "See You Later, Gladiator" has the boys introduce ''professional wrestling'' to the Romans, as an alternative to having to stab and kill a fellow slave.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: In "See You Later, Gladiator", the Vestial Virgins [[spoiler:spare Sam, Joe, and Fred, as well as allow them enough time to get back home. When one of the boys ask why, one of the Virgins pulls out a prediction that details the boys' entire trip to Rome.]]

* ArtEvolution: Starting with "Sam Samurai", the series changed illustrators (from Lane Smith to Adam McCauley) and the art style becomes markedly different, switching from overexaggerated cut-out styled near-abstractions, to moderately exaggerated, clean-cut cartoon characters. Despite this change, the cartoon's art style resembles Lane Smith's illustrations.

* ArtEvolution: The series changed artists around "Sam Samurai", and the art style becomes markedly different, switching from overexaggerated cut-out styled near-abstractions, to moderately exaggerated, clean-cut cartoon characters.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: In "2095", Joanie had cone-shaped hair, Freddi had a ponytail, and Samantha did not have her distinctive pigtails.

* WeirdnessCensor: The book comes with this -- it not only works as a UniversalTranslator, but it also assigns random people in the era to become friendly (when they were trying to kill them mere moments ago) and show them the land without questioning the weird garments or pale-skinned foreigners. Taken UpToEleven in ''Oh Say I Can't See'' when locals in 1776 don't raise questions about Rivet, Sammi's malfunctioning robotic cat.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: While most of the books are time travel adventures, "It's All Greek to Me" and "Summer Reading is killing me" has The Book taking them into fiction. The former has them going into the world of Greek myths, while the latter has them in a mash up of all the books on their summer reading list.

* CoveredInMud: After marching nine miles through snow and mud to attack Trenton on Christmas night of 1776, Joe, Fred, and Washington's entire army are completely drenched in mud.

* WeirdnessCensor: The book comes with this -- it not only works a UniversalTranslator, but it also assigns random people in the era to become friendly (when they were trying to kill them mere moments ago) and show them the land without questioning the weird garments or pale-skinned foreigners.