Skip to main content

Nick of Time: an Adventure through Time

By

NICK OF TIME: AN ADVENTURE THROUGH TIME; Ted Bell; New York: St. Martin's, 2008; Children's/Young Adult Fiction.
Nick McIver is an old-fashioned young hero, a straight arrow if ever there was one. His adventures in this book take place during the years just before the beginning of World War II, and as he toggles back and forth in time, on a British ship of the line during the Napoleonic Wars. When Nick and his faithful dog Jip find a sea chest on the shore of Greybeard Island where Nick's dad is the lighthouse keeper, they find a curious object apparently bequeathed to Nick by his great-great-ever-so-great grand uncle. The mechanism, designed by Leonardo da Vinci enables Nick to travel back and forth through time. Unfortunately, some ill-favored pirates are after the prize as well. Sea battles, German submarines, mysterious goings-on at the Hawke's Castle fortress make for a breakneck adventure in two centuries. Sometimes bloody, filled with nautical talk and lore, this British tale honors two century's of English valor in the sturdy life of a schoolboy, his grown-up companions, and his little sister, Kate. Well done.
Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
And it's illustrated too!!!
May 30, 2008 at 11:30 AM
lw said…
So sorry not to have mentioned
the evocative and engaging pictures. You'd have to be pretty jaded to look at the cover illustration of this book and not want to see what's inside.
June 12, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall

By
A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall By Jasmine Warga New York: Harper, 2024. Fiction. 211 pages. A painting has been stolen from the Penelope L. Brooks Museum and sixth-grader Rami Ahmed is worried he's the main suspect. His mother works at the museum as the lead custodian and Rami spends a lot of time hanging out at the museum while she works. On the day the painting went missing, the only people there were the security guard Ed, the cleaning crew, and Rami. Then, a mysterious girl appears in the museum. She floats around from room to room and only Rami can see her -- and she looks exactly like the girl from the missing painting. To prove his innocence and help figure out who the floating girl is, Rami partners up with an aspiring sleuth at school named Veda and the two dive into unexpected situations as they try to solve the mystery. This is a cozy mystery that is focused mostly on characters and ambiance and only a little on the mystery itself. Don't read this book if yo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Faker

By
Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...
Post a Comment
Read more