(2) 4-6 In this zany romp, underachiever Javier, his younger sister Brady, and his best friend Wiki aren't expecting historical figures to actually appear when they take on their school's "Which three people would you invite to dinner?" assignment. But Javi and Brady's new dining-room table turns out to have magical powers, allowing it to summon both real and fictional people to the meal. Mozart and the Earl of Sandwich are easily sent back to where they came from, but the third guest is the notorious pirate Blackbeard, who has no intention of returning to the past and schemes to take control of the table so he can call the rest of his crew to join him in suburban Maryland. As Javi, Brady, and Wiki race to save their town from pirates, they find out more about the table's magical powers as well as about their somewhat odd teachers, who were themselves brought to the school through earlier dinner parties. Piñeiro incorporates the characters' ethnic backgrounds--Javi and Brady are Puerto Rican; Wiki has Haitian ancestry--creatively and authentically into the story. The historical and literary figures who appear around the table and in the classroom include both classics (Captain Ahab, Dracula, Frida Kahlo) and less-well-known individuals (Hattori Hanzō, Anzar), and readers will appreciate the back matter with information about each.

Reviewer: Sarah Rettger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021