Sam Samurai — Jon Scieszka

Do not move an inch.
If we're where I think we are We are all dead meat.

In their wildest dreams (or worst homework nightmares), Joe, Sam, and Fred never expected that their assignment to write Japanese haiku would land them face-to-face with an angry samurai warrior and his two very sharp swords. Marching down the Tokaido Road to ancient Tokyo and the castle of a powerful warlord, the boys discover that an outsider could get his head lopped off if he isn't careful.

Sushi and soba, kimonos and shoguns, it's high adventure and haiku in 1600 Japan as the Time Warp Trio searches for The Book -- and a way to get back home.