The Imagination Station #5 (Showdown with the Shepherd) & #6 (Problems in Plymouth)

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When the boys each reached the stage of early chapter books, they often longed for choices that were not too short and had a story line they enjoyed.  Sadly, there were limited options out there that both appealed to them and got mom’s nod of approval.  A few were cute, but after careful review had attitudes from characters I just didn’t see being beneficial for them at the time.  Others seemed exciting at first and then seemed to be more of the same after a while.

The Imagination Station books have joined the marketplace providing a fun adventure with a taste of history.  The ‘bonus’ is that it is all done with an eye towards Christian life and ideals.  No inclusion of magic or less than desirable attitudes towards other people being glorified in these titles.

Anyone familiar with Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey will most like have some knowledge about Mr. Whittaker and his Imagination Station at Whit’s End.  This series uses that apparatus as the mechanism to bring stories with some basis in history to children ages 7 on up.  Readers journey through time with cousins Patrick and Beth as they encounter challenges to be overcome while getting a glimpse of what life was like during that time period and maybe even meet a few ‘famous’ people in the process.
The books are not especially long, so both R and D were able to read them in a matter of days.  I knew the stories would be labeled as good when it was hard to peel them out of their hands to do other tasks. While they read all six of the books, this review is focused primarily on the newest books in the series (#5 and 6.)

 

Showdown with the Shepherd is the 5th book in this series.  You find yourself transported back to the time of David and Goliath.  Patrick and Beth are trying to get back the ring stolen by Hugh in the previous title. Hugh brings with him knowledge of technology from his time period and decides to use that knowledge against the Israelites.

 

 

Book 6 in the series is titled Problems in Plymouth and brings readers back to the time of the first Thanksgiving.  You’ll meet several individuals working to establish peace between the colonists and Indians.

 
R’s Thoughts:

“I think these are good books and like them better than some other book series that are similar.   Book 5 tells the story of David and Goliath.  Part of the story has a guy who is evil and travels through time to make a giant wooden catapult against the Israelites.   Book 6 is about the pilgrims that settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  The same evil time traveling guy comes there and steals a gun with gun powder and accidentally travels back to his own time where he is imprisoned.   I like that the time traveling cousins help solve problems wherever they go.  They dress up in weird costumes and are given things by Mr. Whitaker that they do not always understand why they need them.”

D’s Thoughts ~

“I really liked these books and can hardly wait for the next book to come out.  It’s better than Magic Treehouse, which I’ve read.  I like how they travel through time and get artifacts.  But, in the 5th and 6th one, they are chasing someone named Hugh who stole some artifacts.  I really liked Hugh.  In the 5th book, he built the catapult before it was ever invented.  In the 6th book, I liked Hugh because he took all the muskets.”

Something that caught both D and R’s eye was the inclusion of some puzzles at the end of each book. There was also mention of the Imagination Station website with parent pages for most of the titles as well as a place to enter the secret words decoded in the back of each book.  It’s amazing how quickly a child will go running for a pencil to figure out a puzzle when there might be something neat to unlock with the solution on the computer.  For those of us seeking to integrate books into our homeschool, the vocabulary lists and even reading suggestions found on the website are helpful.

 

Each title in the series is moderately priced at $4.99 retail and can be found at some bookstores as well as online retailers like Amazon and Christianbook. Secret of the Prince’s Tomb (book #7) is being released on 12/15/2011 and has Patrick and Beth travelling to ancient Egypt. Mystery of Starlight Island (book #8) brings Christian author Wayne Thomas Batson to the writing team. ( I might find P grabbing that book when it is released as Mr. Batson’s The Door Within Trilogy is what got him truly reading books for fun.)

Disclaimer ~ Our family was sent books 1 – 6 from the Imagination Station series to facilitate this review. No monetary compensation was provided and all opinions are strictly our own.