The Sixth Release in an Epic Bible Adventure Series for Kids The last thing sixth-grader Bella Rhodes remembers (before the world as she knew it disappeared) is visiting the Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis Tower. What happens next can’t be explained as Bella finds herself back in Bible times during the days of the tower of Babel in ancient Shinar! Imagine. . .The Tower Rising is the sixth release … Rising is the sixth release in an exciting epic adventure series for kids ages 8 to 12 written by schoolteacher Matt Koceich. The Imagine series brings the Bible to life for today’s kids as they ponder what it would be like to live through a monumental biblical event.
Don’t miss Book 1 in the Imagine Series–The Great Flood. . .Book 2–The Ten Plagues. . .Book 3–The Fall of Jericho!. . .Book 4–The Giant’s Fall. . .or Book 5–The Miracles of Jesus.
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An interesting adventure
My rating is 3.5 stars
When I saw this book available for review, I was intrigued. There are not many stories about the Tower of Babel, and especially not for kids.
There is high adventure as Bella and her new friend, Zion race to the top of the tower, chased by wolves and an evil being. I liked the way the elements of the spiritual armor we are told to don in the book of Ephesians showed up in the story to help Bella fight her battles.
I also appreciated the message of how important it is to not allow the accolades of others to become idols. It was nice that the author didn’t shy away from using a rich vocabulary yet kept the story age-appropriate.
Imagine… The Tower Rising was not at all what I had expected. I thought it was going to be on the lines of the Adventures in Odyssey series or Many Waters by Madeleine L’Engle, telling the story of a Biblical event through the eyes of a child from the present age. Not much of this story is about the building of the tower nor of the people at the time. Instead, when Bella travels unexpectedly in time to the Tower of Babel, her adventure is with fighting the powers of darkness attempting to build a tower to heaven in order to conquer the Kingdom of Heaven. I wasn’t clear why it was her responsibility to stop the building of the tower. . .
A fun adventure, I classify this one as Christian fiction but not Biblical fiction.
Imagine… The Tower Rising is a fun adventure for elementary readers.
Read my review of Imagine… The Tower Rising by Matt Koceich at AmongTheReads.net
I was given a copy of this book. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.
While on the observation deck of the Willis Tower in Chicago with her family, Bella is suddenly transported to Shinar in 2300 B.C. There she sees the Tower of Babel mid-construction and becomes caught up in a dark plot to lead the people astray.
I am not completely sure what I just read. I expected an adventure similar to Superbook or Adventures in Odyssey, but there is definitely something else going on here. The tower being built, the reasons behind it, and Bella’s attempt to stop the people and explain why what they’re doing is wrong is a small part of the book (which is quite short anyway). But then there are some strange and unexpected fantasy elements going on, with a boy and a woman who are sort of like her guides through this experience, while also at times seeming to not know anything outside of what they should know if they were just regular people from that time period.
Then there are a couple of chapters that are “outside” of the adventure, involving people who are never properly introduced, and it’s never explained who they are or why they’re involved. One of them can communicate with the “bad guy” involved in the tower building, and gives him instructions. It’s clear from this that there is a whole over-arcing plot going on throughout this series, and I jumped in at book 6. My mistake, but there was nothing in the synopsis at all that would give any indication that these stories are so very connected. Out of curiosity, I have now read the first book in the series, and it was nothing like this book; no over-arcing plot line was set up either, so I can only guess it came up later in the series.
So…I had a difficult time deciding on a star rating for this book. It was like reading someone’s account of a dream. I don’t want to down-rate it due to being so completely lost about the series-long story, but it would have been a lot better if I’d known I was being thrust into this ongoing, apparently supernatural battle between good and evil (for as much as I could tell from those sections).
Thank you to Netgalley and Barbour Publishing, Inc. for providing me a copy of this book to review.