I am a huge history nerd, so this book is right up my alley. It's the first book in a trilogy about history camp. This is such a cool idea, its set in the 24th century and to help shape up delinquent youth, they send them to history camp to learn about how people lived and worked in the past. It kind of reminded me of Colonial Williamsburg in the US. It actually sounded like a really cool experience, and not a punishment, but like I said- I'm a nerd. The three main characters end up actually getting sent into the past, not just to the reenactment. So cool!

I loved learning about all the little gadgets they had in the future just as much as I loved reading the pretty realistic account of how people lived and worked in the past. The three main characters were troublemakers, and they initially wanted to go into history camp causing trouble. I wish we would have learned more about Shamira. We did not find out too much about her, and to be honest I never really saw the trouble maker aspect of her personality, so I would have liked some more insight on her. Maybe in the next book? Lincoln was the most trouble of the three in my opinion. Hansum started out wanted to disrupt the peace but I think he was quickly genuinely interested in everything and how it all worked. Plus there was the whole crush on a girl in the past issue. I won't say too much about it, because I don't want to give anything away. But I will say that I thought there interactions were adorable. I liked how the romance was interspersed throughout the story, but it wasn't the true main focus.

What I loved the most about The Lens and the Looker was the way everything was described. I could see this being a great informational book for younger kids and teens. They will get an idea of how things worked in 14th century Italy. Everything is really detailed, and presented in a really interesting way. I really enjoyed reading this book and I can't wait to start the second one in the trilogy.