Nick of Time by Ted Bell

Pirates, time travel, spies, a Nazi submarine, sword fights, sailing ships - Nick of Time is non-stop adventure and action!

Nick McIver is the hero of our adventure and a hero is just what Nick wants to be. The year is 1939, and war with Germany is coming closer. Nick lives with is parents, the lighthouse keepers, on Greybeard Island in the Channel Islands between England and France. Nick is a marvelous sailor and longs for the days of his ancestor Captain Nicolas McIver and his idol Lord Nelson. Things are becoming dangerous for Nick himself as he gets caught up in his father's secret work as a spy against the Nazis.

Things really spin our of control when he discovers a time travel device sent to him from his ancestor Captain McIver, who desperately needs Nick's help in the past. He also meets Captain Blood, a time traveling pirate. Then a Nazi submarine surfaces off the island and Nick finds himself needed in two places as once. Author Ted Bell also introduces us to his adult fiction character Alex Hawke, who is a British spy.

When he was a boy, author Ted Bell loved books like Treasure Island and Kidnapped. His character Nick McIver seems to spring right out of books like these old-fashioned adventures.

This is the first adventure in the Nick McIver series. Nick of Time is followed by The Time Pirates.

Click here to read the first three chapters of Nick of Time.

When You Reach Me

Wow! This is really an unusual book. Pay close attention to the story and the details and the clues. It all comes together at the end and you will say "wow" too!

Our story starts when twelve-year-old Miranda, who is also our narrator, starts receiving a series of very strange and disturbing notes. How does this note writer know these things? What is going on? These things have not happened yet!

Miranda lives in an apartment in New York City. Her very favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. This is one of the important clues. If you have read A Wrinkle in Time, you know it is about time travel.

Miranda's mother is going to be a contestant on a famous TV quiz show - The $20,000 Pyramid. After school and after work, Miranda and her mother practice and practice the game.

Things are not going well for Miranda herself. Sal, who has been her best friend for years. is avoiding her. Annemarie, who has not been her friend, starts hanging around with her. The homeless man on the street by her apartment is frightening her. And then, there are those mysterious notes!

This story by Rebecca Stead is amazing and extraordinary. It is also very hard to describe, as most extraordinary books are. To get a taste of the author's style, click on the title above to read the first chapter online in a book reader.

And pay attention to the book cover - more clues are found there!