The Time Pirate

"The Time Pirate is sure to please almost everyone, especially the guys. Ted Bell writes with a very classic style, right up there with Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain. His adventurous imagination pulls readers into this spirited and deep, multilayered story . . . Fans will love this outstanding sequel to Nick of Time."—TeenReads.com

"The time-warp tale is fast-paced, with enough twists and turns to have readers unable to put the book down as they try to figure out what happens next."—Asbury Park Press

"Ted Bell's Nick of Time was an exciting romp through time and history that also examined what it takes to be a hero . . . The Time Pirate is another great read in an exciting series—don't miss it."—BookLoons

"The hero of the Nick McIver Adventures Through Time series is back. Twelve-year-old Nick lives on Greybeard Island, the tiniest of the British Channel Islands. The story picks up soon after Nick of Time, during the summer of 1940. World War II is underway, France has fallen, and England is bracing for invasion. Nick and his friend Gunner refurbish Nick's father's World War I fighter plane. Nick learns to fly and undertakes an incredibly risky bombing raid on the Nazi Guernsey Island airfield. Meanwhile his younger sister Kate is kidnapped by the pirate Billy Blood and taken back to 1781 Port Royal, Jamaica. Archrivals Blood and Nick are in possession of the only two time travel machines, Leonardo da Vinci's Tempus Machina. While rescuing Kate, Nick learns of Blood's plan to attack a French fleet on its way to Yorktown to prevent the retreat of General Cornwallis. If Blood succeeds, the Battle of Yorktown will be lost, the Revolutionary War will be lost, and America will never exist. Without help from America, England will lose World War II. This adrenaline-rich story emphasizes courage, duty, and heroism. Nick relishes every chance for adventure, and readers will happily follow him into battle and his encounters with George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Winston Churchill."—Angela Carstensen, VOYA

"This installment in the series finds 12-year-old Nick once again saving the world on several fronts. It's 1939, and he must defend his home, a small British island, against the looming Nazi invasion. But the Nazis are not his only enemies; using a time-travel device invented by da Vinci, he also battles 18th-century pirates who've kidnapped his sister. In a further wrinkle, the pirates, who are equipped with a time-travel device of their own, threaten to change the outcome of the American Revolution. Nick feels compelled to help General Washington and his troops, even though doing so makes him a traitor, because he knows that the support of the United States will become crucial to the Allies in World War II. Swashbuckling action sequences and scenes of derring-do abound."—Hayden Bass, Seattle Public Library, Washington, School Library Journal

"Bound and determined to become a hero 'molded in the face of danger,' Nick stages a destructive raid on a Nazi airfield in 1940, then darts back to 1781 to rescue his kidnapped little sister from the clutches of hook-handed pirate Billy Blood in the Caribbean, recover from wounds at Mount Vernon ('What's wrong wid dat po' chile?' asks the estate's Cook, before stitching him up sans anesthetic) then rescuing De Grasse's French fleet from ambush off Nassau so it can sail north to ensure General Washington's victory at Yorktown. Laced with old-timey language, wild coincidences, arbitrarily trotted-out bit players from the Marquis de Lafayette and Winston Churchill to the odd strumpet or Indian warrior, lurid murders ('The dying victims' blood mingled with the juice from hundreds of crates of tomatoes') and explosions aplenty, this doorstopper sequel to Nick of Time may have a certain retro appeal to adrenaline junkies."—Kirkus Reviews

"Bell continues the heavily promoted Nick McIver Adventures through Time series with this sequel to Nick of Time, that begins in 1940. As the Channel Islands brace for the coming German invasion, 12-year-old Nick's sister is kidnapped by a time-traveling pirate, and Nick's pursuit turns the plot back to colonial America, where the Revolutionary War is brewing . . . [T]he breakneck pacing and wild plot will keep readers hanging on to the end."—Lynn Rutan, Booklist

Praise for Nick of Time

"Nick of Time is an American classic."—Glenn Beck

"Nick of Time takes young readers on a thrilling historical voyage . . . definitely not for the faint of heart."—Los Angeles Times

"Wow! Some books sweep you away. Nick of Time amazed me, dazzled me, and swept my imagination off to sea . . . I've been craving an adventure story with a good mystery, and this arrived in the ‘nick of time' to rescue me."—School Library Journal

"A blast—the best of Robert Louis Stevenson, Horatio Hornblower, and Harry Potter. The kid in me loved it, and so did the adult."—James Patterson, New York Times bestselling author of the Maximum Ride series

"A brilliant adventure, hidden within a rolling saga, tucked inside an intriguing mystery. That's Nick of Time. Ted Bell proves that he's the master of swashbuckling for both young and old."—Steve Berry, author of The Venetian Betrayal

"If someone you love loves Harry Potter, Long John Silver, or Indiana Jones, this is the book for them!"—Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Award 2009