Professor Atlas And The Summoning Dagger by Paul MaguireMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tyler and Brandon win a contest to participate in an archeological dig with their hero, the adventurer Professor Atlas. The dig takes place in the remote English countryside in hopes of discovering the legendary and magical Summoning Dagger. While on the dig site, henchmen of Professor Atlas' nemesis attempt to abduct the boys and Professor Atlas. The Summoning Dagger appears and transports Professor, Tyler and Brandon back to Midieval England. The three now have to track down the magician who owned the Dagger in hopes of finding their way back to their own time.
There were a few aspects of this book that I had a hard time getting over. First, the two boys were the only two members of the dig team other than Professor Atlas. I would think that Professor Atlas would have a larger team of experienced archeologists looking for such a legendary artifact. And closely related to this issue is the fact that the boys' parents allowed them to travel interationally with basically a stranger and no other type of adult supervision.
When the three are transported back in time, there were instances when there was a pointed effort in the language and turns of phrases that we use today are questioned or corrected so that the medieval audience would understand what is being said, but a few things slip through. Like when one of the boys state that he would like to "Check out the bonfire". I'm not sure that the people of midieval Englad would understand what "check out" would mean, but there were no questions or strange looks.
But, for the most part, this was a fun and light read that would be suitable for a reluctant reader.
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