Gideon the Cutpurse (Gideon Trilogy , #1) (Gideon Trilogy, #1)

by Linda Buckley-Archer

An encounter with an anti-gravity machine catapults Peter Schock and Kate Dyer back to the 18th century and sets in motion a calamitous chain of events. While a massive police hunt gets underway to find the missing children in the 21st century - in 1763, a hardened criminal, the Tar Man, steals the anti-gravity machine and disappears into the London underworld. Stranded in another time and forced to chase the Tar Man to his lair, Peter and Kate find a friend and guide in reformed cutpurse, Gideon Seymour. Gideon does every thing he can to help them, but will his dark past catch up with him before the machine is recovered?

• ISBN10: 1416916555
• ISBN13: 9781416916550
• Publish Date: 5 June 2006
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 February 2009
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Children's
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

I haven't read this since high school, so I've been meaning to reread this for a while! It was one of my favorites back then, and I'm glad it's still a good read. :)

Peter Schock and Kate Dyer are two kids thrown together by a misfortune: they're transported from the 21st century to 1763 in a laboratory accident. There (then), they meet Gideon, a cutpurse-turned gentleman who is beautifully complex, his employer, Lord Luxon, and Lord Luxon's henchman, the Tar Man, who steals the kids' only way home. In their attempt to get this accidental time machine back, Peter and Kate are thrown into a plot involving highwaymen, kings, and chance meetings with historical figures.

At first, I remember thinking the writing seemed a bit stilted, but it didn't take long for this book to charm me over. This story has a way of worming its way into your heart, even with some cliched lines and a few cringe-worthy phrases. It's just, put simply, a well-written children's book.

It's disappointing to reread this adventure and find it so lacking in diversity, but it's hard to dislike a book I so loved when I was younger. I'm probably still biased, to be honest.