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Gideon The Cutpurse (2006)

Gideon the Cutpurse (2006)

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Rating
3.73 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
1416915257 (ISBN13: 9781416915256)
Language
English
Publisher
simon & schuster children's publishing

About book Gideon The Cutpurse (2006)

Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.comPeter 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. These friends have a daughter, Kate, who is about Peter's age, twelve. Kate's father takes the two of them, plus Kate's dog, Molly, to the lab where he works. Kate and Peter end up chasing Molly through the halls--a small thing that ends up being very important. One minute, they're running through the halls of the lab. The next minute, Kate and Peter, along with an antigravity machine that one of Kate's father's colleagues has been working on, have been transported back in time to a grassy hillside in 1763. Before long, they've met two very different men of that time. The first is the Tar Man, who steals the antigravity machine, which could very well be the key to getting back to the present. The second is Gideon, an enemy of the Tar Man, who decides to help the two children from the future. Before long, Kate and Peter are on an adventure, headed to London to recover the antigravity machine and get back to their homes and families. On their way, they will encounter highwaymen, make friends (including Gideon), and learn a lot about that time in history--the good and the bad. Back in present-day England, Peter's parents are frantic with worry. Kate's father has figured out that the machine has something to do with their disappearance--but when ghostly images of the children appear dressed in clothing from the eighteenth-century, it becomes clear that this can't be shared with the public; who knows what destruction could result from the misuse of time travel technology? The parallel storylines--the children's quest to get back to the present and Kate's father's struggle to bring them back--go together quite nicely. The jumping back and forth is not as confusing as it could have been, and both parts of the story are extremely well-written. The characters are realistic, the storylines interesting, the history fascinating, and, well, every aspect of this book brilliant! The cover is very unique and will draw readers right in. The story inside will not disappoint them, either! GIDEON THE CUTPURSE is the first in a trilogy, and I can't wait for the next two books!

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 families and colleagues. A brilliant new talent!Peter Schock and Kate Dyer, 12, find themselves in 1763, even though hours earlier, when they met for the first time, they were in 21st century England. Their time travel is somehow connected to the anti-gravity machine that Kate’s father has been working on, and which ended up with them in the eighteenth century English countryside. However, as it has been stolen by a hardened criminal known as The Tar Man, they really have little choice but to trust Gideon, a stranger who offers the children his help. Gideon appears to honestly desire to help them get home, even if he is a reformed cutpurse. The adventures and dilemmas that Peter and Kate encounter and the people that they meet, both friend and foe, help both of the children to mature. In particular, Peter, who was at odds with his workaholic parents, learns how much he misses his family, even as he and Kate become friends. Has a cliff-hanger ending, so you might want to have book two on hand. Also worth noting is the wealth of research and historical detail that was painstakingly incorporated into the tale and which gives its eighteenth century scenes an air of authenticity that is lacking in so many other tales of that time period, time traveling-related or not. A brilliant talent and well worth taking the time to investigate. Age 10 +.(No romance. Plenty of action/ adventure.)Why does Peter keep feeling like he recognizes something? He thinks he recognizes Gideon (p.49) and the landscape of the Dyer's farm in Darbyshire (p.8). Gideon also feels like he has met Peter before when first he saw him (p.52).

Do You like book Gideon The Cutpurse (2006)?

I decided to read this series of books to make my mum happy, since as she had bought them for me because she thought I would enjoyed them.She was right: I liked this first book. The story is nice, well structured, readable indeed. The time travel is something which always captures my attention, moreover the description of the London of the past is well done (in my opinion, at least) and it reflects perfectly my idea of the common life and people in the XVIII century.The characters are interesting, too: they have distinct and well-defined personalities and it was easy to sympathize with them, even though they are not always strictly confined in the categories of "good guys" and "bad guys".What made me decide to give 3 stars to this book and not 4 is the writing style. While I was reading, I felt like there were wonderful ideas but they were not developed in all their possibilities. I don't know if this is due to the fact that the book is addressed to a younger public than me, or because the translator has not done a good work or because of the writer herself. I don't really know, but that was a pity because there were all the premises for a great novel. The strange thing is that the parts in which the author "quotes" Gideon's autobiography are really well written, in a completely different style, and I enjoyed them very much (I wish they were longer).Anyway, I will surely read the other two books because I'm pretty curious to know how they story is going to end.
—Fede

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 grassy meadow! Peter woke up and saw an ugly, stinky, gross man looking at him. He said, “MY NAME IS THE TAR MAN and I WANT YOU TO GIVE ME ALL YOUR GOLD!” Then out of nowhere a pebble came and hit the Tar Man on the head and he then fainted. A man then came running toward them and asked, “Are you all right?”They answered “Yes, I think so.”Just then the Tar Man got up and ran to an old handcart and started to run with all his might. It was too late when the children found out that on the handcart was Mr. Dyer’s anti gravity machine. They ran after him calling things like, “Stop! Wait. That’s ours. Come back!” But he did not, he kept on running. The children ran till their legs ached and their throats hurt, then they stopped. The man then came to a stop by them and said, “My name is Gideon Seymour and I saw you appear out thin air!” It was then the children saw what kind of clothes Gideon and the Tar Man were wearing. They weren’t clothes like we wear today, they were like the clothes people wore in the 1700’s when boys had ponytails and girls had to wear strips of string around their middle, chest and back, they were called corsets. Then Peter asks Gideon, “What year is it?” And Gideon reply’s, “Um………1763.” (I didn’t want to finish this book because it had a bad word in it.)
—Hyrum

I'm starting to like snow days. It's too cold to do anything but sit indoors and read, so I manage to finish The Time Travelers (it feels weird reading an ebook somehow). I previously talked about in Teaser Tuesday (link), and it was as good as I expected!The book revolves around Peter Schock, Kate Dyer and Gideon Seymour. There are a few other main characters, but I think these three are the most important. So when Peter's dad breaks his promise (a birthday promise to Peter no less), Peter ends up at Kate's farm. And due to something about an anti-gravity machine, the two are thrown into the year 1763, where they meet Gideon (cutpurse and gentlemen), and go after the Tar Man, who has stolen their machine.I read on Wikipedia that this book is so accurate in its depictions of eighteenth century England that some schools use it as a textbook. Those lucky students.The book is interesting, both in terms of plot and character. I enjoyed learning about all the characters and seeing them develop. I think my favourite characters were Peter and Gideon. Peter was just this sad little boy, who felt neglected by his parents. Gideon was a flawed hero, and the connection between the two of them was touching.What I also liked was how there was a double narrative, the second narrative following the children's parents back in the modern days. Of course something like this would cause a fuss, and I'm glad the author included it, and managed to weave the two threads together. I think the most touching scenes came from the Schock family; Peter's mom sounds like a nice lady. I think his parents really did try, but just forgot that they had a choice - son or career.The only character I didn't like was Kate. I hope I don't become someone like her if this ever happens to me. Perhaps it's because as a reader I know more than her, but she seems like a complainer, and that was a little annoying. Plus, for someone supposed to be brave, she seemed to faint an awful lot. Why can't she be like George from the Famous Five or something?And what's with the sudden love story between Peter and Kate in the end? It felt too sudden and unrealistic, especially since they were at loggerheads for so long. Plus, I'm pretty sure they're only in the their early teens. Why not just let them be friends first?But really, this is an awesome book overall. If you like historical fiction, you should definitely read this.First published at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
—Eustacia Tan

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