We recently had the chance to read and review a fantastic Biblical fiction book called Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing.
The Imagine series is a fun Bible adventure that is geared for kids 8 to 12. It brings the Bible to life and lets readers time travel back in time to see what living in Bible times is all about. Imagine. . .The Great Flood, which takes us right back to Noah and his Ark, is the first book in the series and, it has been a lot of fun to read.
I initially intended for Gav to read this book alone, but I reconsidered it and decided that we would just add it to our Bible time every morning. I thought the book was short enough we could read one chapter a day, and if we had more time we could even take on a few more in the day.
After diving into the book, I realized that the chapters were pretty short so we just read what we felt like that day whether it was one or four chapters. Needless to say, it didn't take us long to finish it.
So what's this book about?
Corey Max is a typical 10 year old boy who recently found out that he has to move from Texas to Florida. As you can imagine, no pun intended lol, he isn't happy about this move. He has trouble understanding why they have to move because it's a big change for all of them. His mother tries her hardest to help Corey understand that it's for the best, and sometimes God calls us to places before we know why we are there. She goes on to tell Corey that they had to fully rely on God and put their trust in Him, because God would not ever let them make a move alone.
With a Texas storm quickly approaching, Corey can hear his dog barking in the woods. The weather is getting worse and as Corey heads out to check on her, he trips over a log and hits his head pretty hard. As he lies there in and out of consciousness, he is suddenly transported to a place he never could have imagined.
From this point on, Corey is taken on the ultimate journey back to the times of Noah and the Great Flood. Corey quickly meets Shem, one of Noah's sons, and he explains that his father is building the Ark because that's what God commanded him to do. After explaining a little bit about why Noah is building the Ark, Corey is soon taken on an adventure where he will fight the Nephilim (giants) and learn what it means to truly put all of his trust in God.
As Corey goes through his time in 2400 BC, he will encounter a character named Elizar that is trying desperately to gain Corey's trust. Even his name means "The One Who Deceives", and he uses dark arts to perform magic. He makes promises that he can get him home safely, but what he's really doing is redirecting Corey's faith from God to him.
Corey will go through many trials and errors throughout his time in this far away land. There are many twists and turns throughout the book and even some fun chapter cliff hangers. This wasn't always fun for the kids since we were doing it as a read aloud. They wanted to go on!
We have really enjoyed this book because it tells about a wonderful Bible story that we all know and love, but also adds an adventure flare that is fictional.
I asked Gavin what his favorite part of the story was and he really enjoyed when Corey was stuck in the big hole, and remembered his great grandfather's story about forgiveness and breaking up a blessing and multiplying it. I have to say that was my favorite part of the story too. He also said that he really enjoyed when Shem and Corey rode the rhinos after he was freed from the hole.
We had some great discussions from reading this book. We talked about how Corey throughout the book would ask God to help him. Corey went through a lot of emotions and even doubted God at some points when he felt hopeless. In the end, he was learning that he had to trust in God and Him alone, and that even if things change around us, God never changes.
Gavin is 12 years old and really enjoyed this book. Since we were reading it aloud, by 16 year old listened in too, and she also enjoyed it. I think it's a great first reader book especially since it has nice short chapters.
If you are looking for good clean books for kids, or FICTION adventure, then I would definitely recommend Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing.
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