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Dec 30, 2008

Barb rated it:

My review contains my opinion and is written for readers who are like me, particular in what they read, critical in their reading.

An accident with an anti-gravity machine transports Kate and Peter from the year 2007 back in time to 1763. The evil Tar Man steals the machine and their only way back home, Gideon Seymour befriends the children and promises to help them find their way back to the twenty-first century.

I thought this sounded like it would be a really wonderf More...

8 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2009

Miss Clark rated it:

Absolutely brilliant! Excellent, realistic and utterly likable characters. I loved Peter and Kate. And how awesome is it that the authoress is able to tell a tale of time travel, quantum physics, parallel worlds, and the logistical quandaries that would arise thereof, without sacrificing the readers’ connection to the protagonists and their predicament? She tackles a sophisticated subject with precision and plays out its consequences in the lives of Peter Schock and Kate Dyer, as well as their f More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

Peter feels he has been brushed off by his father yet again--and he has been. He's been waiting for his birthday treat for months, but his father always has business meetings and is too busy to spend time with him. His mother is off working in Los Angeles, far away from Peter and his father in London. The morning Peter and his father fight about it again, Margrit, the Au Pair, takes Peter with her to visit her friends out in the country. More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2009

Britta rated it:

I choose to summarize this book in the form of a Haiku.

NASA machine. Oops.
Here's 1763.
Peter and Kate blur.

Sure, Peter and Kate have adventures back in 1763 and nearly get killed and have to deal with bugs in their cheese and no idea how to get back to their parents in the present, but that's neither here nor there.

Honestly, the most interesting part of the book for me were the brief interludes when the author cut to the parents andn police in the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 05, 2008

Kevin rated it:

As many reviews have noted, it is hard to believe this is a first novel. Buckley-Archer "a scriptwriter and journalist, began writing Gideon as a radio drama. As she read Gideon aloud to her children and they refused to let her stop for supper, she began to see its potential as a novel."

Whatever her experience she has clearly pulled it all together. The main characters are well developed, which isn't always the case in the first book of a series, and there are lots of inter More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2008

Jess rated it:

Although the start is slow, this turns into a great historical adventure story. Jack and Kate are thrown back to 1763 and encounter a fantastic cast of characters in their efforts to get back to the 21st century. They must deal with a world full of highwaymen, footpads, elaborate dress, bad food, cutpurses, treachery, horrific prisons, and hangings. Eighteenth centuries details never feel forced or didactic, but serve to make the story more vivid. Being the first in a trilogy, the conclusion More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 23, 2008

Julia rated it:

First, I have to say, the cover of this book is great! It's a hardcover book with an opening actually cut out of it with the eye looking through. My kids love to touch it!

Important note: there are two versions if the Gideon books. The British version and the American version. The first book is "Gideon the Cutpurse" (British version) and "The Time Travelers" (American version). The second book in the trilogy is "The Tar Man" (British version) and " More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 10, 2008

William rated it:

The Time Travelers (renamed from the less appropriate title, Gideon the Cutpurse) is a well-paced, and seemingly well-researched story that mixes a little bit of science-fiction with a lot of interesting periodical history and behavioral speculation about the mid-18th century. As the novel’s heroes Kate and Peter do their time traveling, readers are introduced to some fun etymology — defining the origin of ’straw men,’ for example — and a few enjoyable science-fiction concepts, like how the trav More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Tita rated it:

Petualangan Kehidupan dalam Gideon the Cutpurse

Gideon menurunkan stockingnya, Peter melihat bekas luka yang menyerupai seuntai tali di betisnya. Peter menelan ludah, "Itu parah juga. Benar-benar parah. Kau lebih berani daripada aku. Aku pasti tidak akan bisa menahan sakitnya."

"Tidak, luka fisik bisa langsung disembuhkan. Luka batinlah yang membutuhkan waktu lebih lama untuk disebuhkan." (Gideon the Cutpurse, hal. 219)

Gideon the Cutpurs More...

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Mar 17, 2009

Nancy rated it:

This was a fine read. I made the mistake of reading one of the reviews on GoodReads before I started the book and that reader really blasted it. I noticed that a lot of the reviews were either 5 stars or 1. It's hard for me to keep an open mind with that junk floating around. ANYWay, this IS a young adult historical (science) fiction story with some time travel. The author handled it just fine - except for a short paragraph far into the story where the characters start to discuss how things coul More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 14, 2011

Creativity's rated it:

This review was originally posted on my blog, Creativity's Corner [creativityscorner.blogspot.com]

This one is really problematic for me (the review, not the book). I keep telling myself that this would have been a great book if only it didn't have time travel in it. Time travel is starting to get a bit overused and if it's not handled properly, it just sort of falls flat. This particular version does well with what it handles - the problem is that there are so many things it doesn't an More...

0 comments like

Apr 02, 2011

April rated it:

Review originally posted HERE

This is a review for the entire trilogy.

The Gideon Trilogy is a well-told story that keeps you coming back for more. I had a hard time putting the books down, especially the first two. Buckley-Archer is compared to J.K Rowling. I wouldn't go THAT far, but it is a good, entertaining story.

The character development is decent. I read this trilogy after reading the amazing 100 Cupboards Trilogy which has phenomenal character developme More...

0 comments like

Jan 10, 2011

Ika rated it:

Setelah membaca reviewan mbak Truly Rudiono, aku masih perlu 6 bulan sebelum memutuskan untuk mulai membaca buku pertama dari trilogy ini....Sialnya ..pas udah ngebet banget pengen baca , buku pertama "gideon The cutpurse" tak kutemukan di toko buku manapun . Sampai aku telpon hampir seluruh Toko Buku Gramedia ,tapi mereka semua gak ada stock...ke gunung Agung pun sama aja....hhhmmm jadi makin setengah mati penasaran...untungnya inget ada Toko Buku MP Point , pas telpon kesana stocknya More...

3 comments like

Dec 20, 2010

Hyrum rated it:

This is what I wrote for my school book report:
Peter Sholock and Kate Dyer are just ordinary kids. Then their life changes when Peter goes to Kate’s farm, and Mr.Dyer shows them his work. (He is an astrologist.) They try his assistant’s new invention, an anti gravity machine. Then their dog gets spooked and starts running, the kids run after him because he could break something. The anti gravity machine sparks and then the children find themselves in a whole different place: a green gras More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2010

Sandy rated it:

I would give this 3.5 stars - I liked it more than just "liked it" but I didn't REALLY like it. It's a fun read, but a little too juvenile for my tastes. I picked it up at the bookstore based on the review on the back, which said that if you liked Harry Potter, you'd like this series. I thought, what the heck? It was just under 400 pages, but the font was rather large and double spaced.

This book was basically about two modern British children who accidentally go back in time More...

0 comments like

Oct 11, 2010

Carre rated it:

"It was...okay," she said cautiously. Actually, I think many of the winning points in this one were scored not by the author, but by the narrator of the **audiobook version** ([meaningful look at potential readers]) who did great--just absolutely fabulous--voices for the many and varied British characters in this story. The thing is that for a "21st-century-characters-unwittingly-time-travel-to-the-18th-century" type of book, this one was done pretty well. It's just that, wel More...

0 comments like

Aug 31, 2010

Keith rated it:

This is a fun time travel romp, although probably not a "light read" for some. I really liked it, and the author shines when she's writing about the 18th century; I have a feeling she didn't so much research the era so she could write her story, but came up with a time travel idea just so she could write about what she knows and loves. This is a great way to learn about how we used to live in the 1700s, and depictions of Ye Olde London (markets, pubs, prisons, etc) are superb. There's More...

0 comments like

Jul 19, 2010

Rhiannon rated it:

I won't lie, I picked up The Time Travelers, part one in the Gideon trilogy, mainly because it had awesome cover art. James Jean is such a deadly awesome artist, and I was so excited that he'd illustrated a middle school book, I just had to read it.

As a first book, The Time Travelers was a bit cumbersome. The story was a lot of fun and I was digging the characters, but I found her style was a bit stilted. It was almost as if she was attributing a 7 year olds' way of reading More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 14, 2010

Ruhama rated it:

Peter and Kate have just met, and now are thrown (literally) into the past together and have to find a way home! Kate’s father and his co-worker have been working on an anti-gravity machine for NASA, but it turns out to be a time machine as well. Pete and Kate had a run-in with the machine, and have been dumped in 1763, and the first person they meet is the Tar Man, who is a cunning thief. The machine is stolen, the children meet Gideon, eventually learn what time they are in and all their adven More...

0 comments like

Feb 09, 2010

K. rated it:

Fun little breather book after finishing Les Mis (and had to preview it before letting the kids in on it).

Nothing new about time travel books, but it was decently written and the characters were great.

Objections: 3 swear words and the character from our day mentioning to Erasmus Darwin (the grandfather of Charles) that his grandson would "discover" that we were not created! We were truly evolved from apes. She's 12, so we can forgive her not going into more d More...

0 comments like

Jul 29, 2009

Barb rated it:

With an eye-catching cover, this novel is a great romp! Twelve-year-old friends Kate and Peter are sent back into time to 1763 England by an anti-gravity machine built by Kate's father. They are more or less immediately befriended buy Gideon, a stranger who also happens to be a cutpurse. The anti-gravity machine is stolen by a thief known as the Tar Man. The Tar Man uses the machine to travel to present-day London and wreak havoc.

A second story involves the efforts of the familie More...

0 comments like

Apr 23, 2009

Kent rated it:

The cover actually caught my eye (you will see what I mean when you see the book) and so I bought it for the library.

Peter Schock and Kate Dyer are transported in time from the present to 1763. Gideon Seymour sees their amazing appearance out of thin air and takes them under his protective wing. At that point, they try to piece together what has happened to them. The Tar Man, a villainous henchman, has stolen their hope of returning to the present day and challenges them to meet him More...

0 comments like

Jun 30, 2010

Suzanne rated it:

I love fantasy; I love historical fiction; I love science fiction. I did not love this book. I managed to wade through half of it, then quit to move on to something better. The writing is plodding and pedestrian; the plot is predictable; the characters are two-dimensional; the author wastes the opportunity afforded by time travel to either compare and contrast 21st and 18th century life or to provide a window into that past. The characters all speak with modern voices, with one notable and painf More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 03, 2010

Margaryta rated it:

I had picked up this book when I was in grade 5. The cover seemed interesting to me so I decided to give it a go. Less than a hundred pages in I put the book down cause I didn't understand 3/4 of what was going on.

So it was to my surprise when I went to the library and found all three books in the series. I took them out and decided to give them another try because who knows, maybe time would make all the difference.

And heck did it: the story is fast pased, exciting, and More...

0 comments like

Aug 25, 2010

Maria rated it:

For all that this book is titled “Gideon,” it is really about Peter Schock and Kate Dyer, two twelve year-old English children. Peter is the only child of two executives in the film industry who is being raised by his father after his mother, a film producer, leaves for Hollywood to complete a five-year project. Mr. Schock has promised his son a special birthday outing on a couple of different occasions, and then cancelled at the last minute because of work-related issues. Mr. Schock promises More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Samantha rated it:

I chose this book for the steam punk category, and was intrigue with the use of time travelling and the fact that it was heralded by Entertainment Weekly as being "for kids who love Harry Potter." The two main character Peter and Kate find themselves mysteriously being transported back to the 18th century with no knowledge how they got there or how to get back to the 21st century. If that wasn’t bad enough the machine that they think could be responsible gets stolen by the Tar Man, who More...

0 comments like

Feb 20, 2010

GenreGroup rated it:

Melissa Sloan's Review:
Peter Schock, Kate Dyer and Gideon Seymour may be from different centuries but when they are thrown together in 1763 due to a twist of an antigravity machine knob from the 21st century they forge a relationship that forces them to recognize how important family and friends are in the big scheme of life. The characters on both sides of the time continuum come to realize that money and material objects can always be replaced but people can't.
Peter is a typical More...

0 comments like

Oct 23, 2009

Cindy rated it:

Peter was so angry at his father for canceling his birthday outing, and soon comes to regret that the last words he said to him was that he hates him. Peter goes on a visit with his o pare, and he and his friend Kate find themselves in an unfamiliar place. The last thing that they both remember was chasing Kate's dog Molly, and then they both wake up in a strange place. Soon they discover that they have been transported 250 years in time. Thankfully they are discovered by a man named Gideon, More...

0 comments like

Oct 25, 2011

Nabil rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like

Jun 25, 2010

Lady rated it:

Fantastic story! I always enjoy story that feature time travel, and when I heard about this one, I picked it up immediately. I was not disappointed! It follows Kate and Peter as they are accidentally transported back in time to 1763. There they encounter all manner of people and places. Between the horror of the Tar Man and the gallantry of Gideon Seymour, they see it all as they try and get a message through to the future and hopefully return home. Meanwhile back in the present day, an inspecti More...

0 comments like