Monday, June 6, 2011

The Imagination Station - Books 3 & 4


The Imagination Station series continues on with books 3 & 4. The books are called Peril in the Palace and Revenge of the Red Knight by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker. They are illustrated by David Hohn. Once again we join cousins Beth and Patrick and inventor, Mr. Whittaker on time traveling adventures aboard the Imagination Station. In these next two books we first travel to China in 1271 meeting up with non-other than the famous world traveler Marco Polo as he is on a visit to Kublai Khan in Peril in the Palace. It made me think of the great book Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino that centers around these two famous men. A very interesting relationship and time period to continue on with in the Imagination Station series. I have to say they have done a wonderful job so far in selecting the time, place and cast of characters for these books. That is a big part of what has drawn me in. These are exciting books about intriguing times of history that are sure to help kids grow in their interest of both reading and history. And once again these books do a great job of integrating God's truths with lots of teachable moments as Patrick and Beth navigate through their adventures with hope and faith. Right up after the cousins run in with Mongol warriors they find themselves in England at the time of knights, castles and jousting in the Revenge of the Red Knight. The books are very well paced reads and I could not put these latest books down. I was also surprised that several mysteries and answers were revealed in Revenge of the Red Knight which is book 4 out of a now 12 book series. There is no lack of suspense though as new twists come to the storyline and I think revealing some of the unknowns early on was great for me to become even more invested into the plight of Mr. Whittaker and his distant relative Albert. These next two books have solidify this as a must read series for young readers for me.



Paul McCusker was given his first typewriter early in his childhood and hasn't stopped writing since. Paul has written over 300 half-hour audio episodes for Adventures in Odyssey and has also written 18 tie-in novels and two screenplays for the animated series. He was the producer for the series from 1992 to 1996 and the executive producer from 2000 to 2004. Paul is now Director of Creative Content at Focus on the Family.




Marianne Hering has written six children’s mystery books and more than 40 Bible phonics readers. Now a general book editor for Focus, she is passionate about developing a series for beginning readers.





Don't forget to enter the giveaway for these books below.

I received a copy of each book for the purpose of this review from Tyndale House Publishers.

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