For world Wednesday, let’s travel to England and to two different centuries!
Traveling into the future might be quite fascinating – if one were prepared. As 21st century folks, we have some guesses about the technological marvels that future times may have. But what of a vicious rogue transported from the 1760s right into the heart of modern London? From public hangings to cellphones and police helicopters?
And where’s Peter? Kate moves heaven, earth, and stubborn grownups as she tries to rescue her friend. Gravitational time dilation, time warps…whatever you call the aftershocks of people transported out of their own time, things are getting really messy in our space-time continuum!
Noted scientist Stephen Hawking thinks that time travel to the future is indeed possible, so “never say never!” This is the 2nd volume of The Gideon Trilogy, which began with The Time Travelers (yesterday’s feature book) and ends with The Time Quake (tomorrow’s feature).
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Book info: The Time Thief / Linda Buckley-Archer. Simon & Schuster, 2008.
[author’s website] [author interview] [publisher site] [book trailer]
Recommendation:Two people cling to the time machine, roaring into the 20th century. But one is a notorious 18th century villain who pushed Peter away from his chance to return home! Kate is furious and refuses to let her friend be left in 1763, despite their families’ efforts to keep her safe.
Now the Tar Man is loose in modern London, trying to wrap his horse-and-buggy experience around the concepts of automobiles and traffic lights. Of course, policemen are always the same in any century, despite changes in uniform and chase techniques (flying machines? how can that be possible?), and the Tar Man finds ways to elude them as he worms his way into the criminal underworld.
The time machine inventors are trying to create another one while other authorities hunt for the original to destroy it. Kate and her scientist father rush to rescue Peter before it’s too late, but the wrong setting sends them to the wrong year!
Can Kate find Peter in 1792? Will their 18th century friend Gideon be able to help? Is there any way to get the Tar Man out of their time and Peter back into it?
Second volume of the brilliant trilogy, The Time Thief races down the interconnected paths of an 18th century villain and 2 teens from modern England. If the snarl of time loops is cut, what will happen to them all? Stay tuned for volume 3, The Time Quake! (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.
It’s Eliza Doolittle Day, honoring the streetwise flower seller transformed into a society lady by Professor Higgins (
Canadian author Jean Little introduces us to Min, abandoned as a toddler at the fairground, knowing only her name and that the man called Bruno will hit when he gets angry. Can you imagine being bounced from foster home to foster home the way that she has? And to be ‘returned’ to Social Services just before Christmas, like a wrong-size sweater! It’s no wonder that Min bottles up her feelings and rarely speaks, not willing to be hurt any further.