THE MONA LISA KEY

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.