Nick of time

Format:

Book

Title:

Nick of time

Author:

Bell, Ted author

ISBN:

9780312380687

9780312581435

Edition:

1st St. Martin's Griffin ed.

Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2008.

Physical Description:

x, 434 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Number in series:

Contents:

The jaws of Gravestone Rock -- The secret drawer -- Nazis in the strawberry patch -- The sea chest -- The dark cave -- Billy Blood -- Two terrible letters -- A council of war -- The Leviathan -- The Nantucket sleigh ride -- The electrified lagoon -- The Chinese butler -- Captain Thor's surprise -- Lord Hawke's tea party -- The mystery of time -- The Tempus Machina -- Captain Mciver's letter -- Das Kapitan's cabbages -- Tempus et locus -- Pigs and stowaways -- A bump in the night -- In the pigsty -- A skirmish in the dark -- Captain Mciver's cannonball -- The windowless submarine -- In the nick of time -- Kate saves the day -- A landlubber aloft -- Spies for sale -- In the sick bay -- The fully hatched scheme -- The Spanish masquerade -- Nazis in Hawke Lagoon -- Snake Eye and the Kingdom of Lost Children -- Merlin victorious -- A glorious farewell -- Landing at Hawke Field -- Churchill after dinner -- Epilogue -- Postscript.

Summary:

Nick McIver is no ordinary boy, fighting pirates, beating Nazis at their own game, and traveling through time.

Reading Level:

Middle School.

950 Lexile.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader 6.3.

Reading Counts! 7.4.

Personal Subject:

Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758-1805-Fiction.

Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965-Fiction.

Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965. (OCoLC)fst01716876

Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758-1805. (OCoLC)fst00055570

Subject(s):

Boys -- Channel Islands -- Fiction.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Channel Islands -- Fiction.

Pirates -- Fiction.

Kidnapping -- Fiction.

Rescues -- Fiction.

Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 -- Fiction.

Time travel -- Fiction.

Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction.

Fantasy.

Channel Islands -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Channel Islands -- Fiction.

Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies -- Channel Islands.

Genre:

Adventure stories.

Time travel (Fiction).

Adventure fiction.

Action and adventure fiction.

Fantasy fiction.

Fiction.

Time-travel fiction.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Monmouth Public Library	J Fic Bell, T. 2008	Searching... Unknown
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Bell, T.	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Newberg Public Library	J FICTION BELL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Willamina Public Library	YA BELL	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Nick of Time is the first young reader's book written by bestselling author Ted Bell.

In the grand tradition of epic novels like Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island comes a wondrous tale of time travel, adventure, and riches, in which twelve-year-old Nick McIver sets out to become "the hero of his own life."

The setting is England, 1939, on the eve of war. Nick and his younger sister, Kate, live in a lighthouse on the smallest of the Channel Islands. Nick and Kate come to the aid of their father who is engaged in a desperate war of espionage with German U-boat wolf packs that are circling the islands. The information they provide to Winston Churchill is vital as he tries to warn England of the imminent Nazi invasion.

One day Nick discovers an old sea chest, left for him by his ancestor, Captain Nicholas McIver of the Royal Navy. Inside, he finds a time machine and a desperate plea for help from the captain. He uses the machine to return to the year 1805. Captain McIver and, indeed, Admiral Nelson's entire fleet are threatened by the treachery of the French and the mutinous Captain Billy Blood. Nick must reach deep inside, using his wits, courage, and daring to rescue the imperiled British sailors.

His sister, Kate, meanwhile, has enlisted the aid of two of England's most brilliant "scientific detectives," Lord Hawke and Commander Hobbes, to thwart the invading Nazis. She and Nick must face England's underwater enemies, a challenge made all the more difficult when they discover the existence of Germany's supersecret submarine.

In this striking adventure for readers of all ages, Nick must fight ruthless enemies across two different centuries, on land and sea, to help defeat those determined to destroy his home and his family.

Author Notes

Ted Bell received a B.A. in English from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. Before becoming a full-time writer in 2001, he was president and chief creative officer of the Leo Burnett Company. He was later named vice-chairman of the board and world-wide creative director of Young and Rubicam, one of the world's largest advertising agencies. He won numerous awards for his work including Clios and Cannes Gold Lions. At age 25 he sold his first Hollywood screenplay, Screamathon, to producers Joel Michaels and Garth Drabinsky. He wrote the Alex Hawke series and the Nick McIver Adventures through Time series. He made The New York Times Best Seller List with his title Warriors.

On January 20, 2023, he died of an intracerebral hemorrhage at the age of 76.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 6-9-This is an immensely appealing book about 12-year-old Nick McIver, son of a lighthouse owner, who lives on Greybeard Island off the coast of Great Britain in 1939. Opening with a thrilling near-fatal sailboat excursion, the action kicks into high gear when Nick finds a sea chest containing a mysterious glowing globe. Hunted by pirates from the past who seek the globe, a time-travel device, Nick finds himself bouncing back and forth in time fighting exceedingly nasty pirates, Napoleon's naval forces in 1805, and Nazi spies in 1939. Nick is the pluckiest, most likable boy-hero since Robert Lewis Stevenson's David Balfour (Kidnapped). With great battle scenes; lots of nautical jargon; and themes of courage, integrity, and honor, this book will appeal to restless boys who can never find books written just for them. Three huzzahs and a great big 21-gun salute to Bell for his first novel for kids. Hopefully, it won't be his last.-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

Nick stumbles on an ancient sea chest wanted by a nefarious pirate from the past, then discovers his dad's a spy on the lookout for German submarines. Throw in a meeting with Nick's great-great-grandfather and a sea battle alongside his hero, Admiral Lord Nelson, then add his sister's captivity on a submarine. We've got cliffhangers, time travel, weapons galore, spying, and pure adventure. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

The author of several Ian Fleming-style thrillers for adults reworks his lengthy self-published 2000 debut into a windy, labored and even longer doorstopper. On the eve of World War II, 12-year-old Nick receives an appeal for help from a Napoleonic-era ancestor about to get blown out of the water while trying to get vital information to Lord Nelson. The desperate message comes with a portable time machine, so off Nick hies to 1805, leaving his six-year-old sister paired with a hypercompetent inventor/British Intelligence Officer to capture an experimental Nazi supersubmarine. Linking the twin plotlines is Billy Blood, a vicious pirate with another time machine and a penchant for holding wealthy children from various eras for ransom--aboard, conveniently, the very French warship that is attacking Nick's ancestor. Needless to say, after extended sea battles Blood is foiled (but not killed, so look for sequels), the children rescued, the sub captured and the dispatches delivered, all amid many gaps in logic and massive contrivances. Bell should have left this one in his sea chest. (Fantasy. 11-13) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

In 1939, Nick McIver finds a sea chest washed up on the island in the English Channel where he lives. Soon after, he and his younger sister run afoul of the menacing pirate Billy Blood, who seems to have stepped right out of the eighteenth century, as well as a group of Nazis patrolling the waters in an experimental U-boat. Inside the chest is a time machine (built, naturally, by Leonardo da Vinci) and a cry for help from another Nick McIver, who was a captain in Lord Nelson's fleet. It's hard to imagine a more fail-safe recipe for a successful middle-grade adventure than pirates, Nazis, and time travel, but the ingredients never quite cohere. Pages are peppered with exclamation points in lieu of earned excitement, and readers may stumble through the nautical terminology as well as a few inevitable temporal anomalies. There is a wave of publicity in store for this, though, so expect considerable interest for this slightly overengineered but still engaging seafaring and time-skipping adventure. Sequels? Count on it.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2008 Booklist