Barbour Publishing Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich Book Review

My family had the privilege of reading the Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Barbour Publishing is a Christian publisher that has more than 150 new titles per year and nearly one thousand stock titles. They have shipped over one hundred million books since they started in 1981. In one fiscal year they reached fourteen million books sold that shared the message of Christ!

Imagine. . .The Great Flood is a juvenile, middle grade fiction chapter book by Matt Koceich. It is the first book in an epic adventure series for kids ages 8-12 year old. The Imagine series brings the Bible to life for today's children so they can imagine what it would be like to have lived through a massive biblical event. The Great Flood is about a kid that travels back to the time of Noah's Ark to experience the adventure himself and learn an important lesson.

Teela reading the Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
Teela, my nine year old daughter, and I read this book separately. It has 112 pages and 15 chapters. This was a quick, fast paced read for the both of us. We both thought the book held our attention well. It had a lot of action and adventure throughout the whole thing.

Since this is fictitious it does have elements that are not in the Bible. In this story of Noah's Ark the author has taken some of his own liberties with the biblical text to make it more interesting. The main character, Corey, goes back in time and helps Noah and his sons to get the animals on the ark, so of course he was never in the biblical account. Also, there are giants called Nephilim and an evil sorcerer named Elizar that try to thwart Noah's plans to get the animals aboard the ark in the book. The Nephilim are mentioned in the bible, first in Genesis 6:1-4, but after some research of my own I found the Nephilim to be a more complex concept. Some say these are watchers or giants or fallen angels. Some interpret the bible to mean they are descendants of Adam and Eve were "Sons of God" (Seth's line) had children with "Daughters of Man" (Cain's line). The Nephilim are definitely up to interpretation and not entirely explained well in the bible. Elizar isn't even a character in the bible at all as far as I can tell. Even though these added elements make this bible adventure more interesting I had to make sure that my daughter knew they were not in the biblical account. I also thought it silly that in this story Noah and his sons had no clue what a cloud was. I am pretty sure he saw rain and clouds before. I suggest that one reads the actual story of Noah's Ark in the bible to their children before they read Imagine. . .The Great Flood.

There are many things that make this book exciting. From the adventure of Corey going back in time, the Nephilim Giants, the wild animals, to the Great Flood itself...this story grabs you from the beginning all the way to the end. If your kids like adventure books they probably will like this book.

Corey learns an important lesson in this story as well. He learns to put his trust in the Lord. This book has a great parallel of this from his life in the present to him being thrust back into time. The main character grows to understand the importance of trusting God throughout the story.

Teela and I enjoyed reading this book from the Imagine Series. Even though parts of this Christian kids book was fictitious it did have a great lesson. We liked the action and adventure as well. It was a fun book to read.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BarbourPublishing/   
• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/barbourbuzz    Tag:   @barbourbuzz     
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BarbourPublishing1 
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #biblestories #bibleadventure

BUY IT
Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich PRICE $5.99 SALE  $4.49


Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Barbour Publishing...

Shiloh Run Press The Glass Castle by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins Book Review

My family had the privilege of reading The Glass Castle by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins from Shiloh Run Press for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Schoolhouse Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Shiloh Run Press is a division of Barbour Publishing. Barbour Publishing is a Christian based publisher that releases more than 150 titles each year and has one thousand stock titles as well including juvenile fiction titles. These books are affordable and accessible. They share the message of Christ.

The Glass Castle is a very nice hardback book by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins (author of the Left Behind series). It has a little over 250 pages and 41 fairly short chapters. This book is fantasy, Christian fiction for kids and has a lot of action, adventure, mystery, and intrigue. The feel is a cross between Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia with a plot that is new and different. It is a great book that is recommended for ages 10 to 14. This is the first book in a series of Christian books for kids called Thirteen. The next book in the series is called The Ruby Moon and it will be coming in the fall of 2016.

Teela reading The Glass Castle.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
My daughter, Teela, who is 8 is an advanced reader. She loves reading and devours books. Her favorites are chapter books that have some substance to them. Most of these that she picks out are from a series. I told her about The Glass Castle and she was excited to start reading. She loved this book and read it quickly all in about a week.

Here is what she said about the book when I asked her about it (these are her words, but paraphrased a bit):
Avery is the main character in the book. She was kidnapped with her little brother on her thirteenth birthday by a old woman who took her to a large castle where she can't talk to adults, go outside or look outside. She was there with other thirteen year old kids who were also kidnapped. They were all captured because 13 years ago the king's first wife had a boy, but soon after, the king was told the baby and his wife had died. The king that lives in the castle gets a new wife that promises a new baby boy for the king. This lady is not very nice and creates a way that all thirteen year old kids will be taken, just in case the prince is still out there. While Avery is trapped at the castle, she makes friends with some of the kids and they form a team to help them get back to their families. This complicates the new queen's plan. There are lots of twist and turns and unexpected outcomes. There are lots of secrets that are also found out and a bit of romance. The end leaves you wanting more. I loved how the female character, Avery, is headstrong and a good leader, but still is not perfect. My favorite part of the book was when Avery was made Queen of the thirteen year old kids. I can not wait to read the next book in the series!

I can tell Teela loved this book. It is wonderful to find good clean fiction for kids to read these days. I would highly recommend The Glass Castle to anyone that reads middle grade fiction.

BUY IT
Order Today! Available in Hardback and eBook editions at your favorite bookstore or other fine retailers.


Follow Them on Social Media:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BarbourPublishing
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/barbourbuzz @BarbourBuzz 
Hashtags - #hsreviews #glasscastle #jerryjenkins


Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Shiloh Run Press The Glass Castle...