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Our family has a HUGE love for all things that go along with the Adventures in Odyssey Imagination Station from Focus on the Family. We have all of their audio cd compilations and they have accompanied us on all of our road trips…or just going to town trips. And don’t tell the kids, but I’m just as hooked on the adventures and characters as they are!
Our kids also love to read and when we saw there was a new book series based on the Imagination Station, I was on Amazon immediately to check them out. We ordered the newest book, Problems in Plymouth to read together and were hooked!
The Imagination Station books were written to introduce early elementary readers to the world of Adventures in Odyssey. Because there were very few Christian children’s historical fiction series focused toward that reading level, it seemed the perfect target audience. The result was pure fun, imagination and entertainment mixed in with a bit of history and learning!
The two latest books in the series, Showdown with the Shepherd and Problems in Plymouth have been much fun as read-alouds and individual reading in our house. One of our girls has been reading us a chapter {or more} a day at lunchtime so we can all be part in the historical adventures.
Showdown with the Shepherd takes place in tenth century BC and follows Patrick and Beth as they try to find a stolen ring. During their adventure they see firsthand the story of David and Goliath unfold and learn more about the importance of Faith. In Problems in Plymouth, Patrick and Beth travel back in time to the Plymouth Plantation in 1621. During their trip they meet several key historical figures including William Bradford, Miles Standish, and Chief Massasoit.
Our Thoughts
While we did start reading with book six, Problems in Plymouth, the kids liked going back to the beginning of the series to see how it all unfolded. Each of the books can stand alone, but knowing how the adventure all began made the books even more fun.
Each of the books has around fifteen chapters with black and white illustrations throughout the story to help keep children’s attention. Sentences are shorter in length and focus on a younger reading level {ages 7 and up} to help reluctant readers.
I love that this series incorporates history, adventure and imagination all from a Christian perspective. Our kids have enjoyed similar non-Christian series {Magic Treehouse}, but as the other series progressed there were elements that we really didn’t like so we stopped reading them. Knowing Focus on the Family, their beliefs and their other products, I’m happy to add these books to our reading library and continue to support their company.
Find Out More
Parents and children can also visit TheImaginationStation.com to find out secret words, family devotionals, parent guides and more that tie in with each of the books in the series. The website also lists what is true and/or exaggerated for each of the books along with additional links to characters in the stories.
The Imagination Station books are available for purchase through Amazon and are reasonably priced at $4.99/each. These are definitely books that we will continue to add to our library as they are released. The books are intended for the ages 7 and up, although we read them out loud with our kids and enjoyed them as a family {ages 5 and up}.
There are two new books coming in early 2012 as well ~ Secret of the Prince’s Tomb {available for pre-order} and Mystery of Starlight Island.
I received a set of books from Tyndale to review in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not paid for this post and do not need to return the books. Prior to receiving the books, I had already purchased two of the books for my own personal use.
Visit these great companies!
- Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
- Little Passports ~ This holiday give your child a glimpse of the world!
Our family loves to listen to Adventures in Odyssey! These books sound great–my 8-year old would flip for these! To enter do you just leave a comment here?
Wow, we would love these – we too listen to the cd’s in the car all the time :-)
I don’t see a widget for making multiple entries, but I would definitely love to have these for my kids!
if you can check again that is great. does it say you need javascript? The widget is showing up for me on this end.
I am always excited to find a new book series I can feel good about my child reading!
Ok, so I’m a bit confused about the instructions. I’d love to choose book #1 to read, Voyage with the Vikings. But, I’d love to see a story written around the time of Columbus–when he was making his bid to sail ‘around’ the world to reach India when popular thought was that the world was flat.
Just asking everyone to leave the info here when the box opens for you to type in name, email and then ‘extra info’:
We would read the first book to get us started! This series sounds wonderful!!
We wouls read Secrets of the Prinve’s tomb first since we are studying that time period right now
We love AiO! Would love to have the books for my kids.
I would pick Problems in Plymouth because that’s what we are into right now. Thanks.
I think I would start with the first one.
I would read Attack at the arena
We love, love, love Adventures in Odyssey!!!! All of my five kids are hooked! (okay, I admit – I am too!). We haven’t read any of the books, but we would LOVE to!! My kids would LOVE these books! Thanks so much for this opportunity!!! :-)
I don’t think it took my email address.
Here it is again
We would read the Pilgrims one for Thanksgiving first!
I have a little boy that would love these! I think we would like to start with book #1 Voyage With the Vikings and just read through the whole series.
My family has just recently been introduced to Adventures and Odyssey. We have read the first book in the series and we LOVED it. I planned on getting my oldest son the rest in the series for Christmas. The adventure part of them is perfect for him, and I love the history and Christian quality. They are great in getting him excited about reading. So excited!
Showdown with the Shepherd would be the first one we’d read! My 9 yr old are reluctant readers, so these sound exciting! nahkiwolf@gmail.com
Cool giveaway widget! Makes it so much easier to enter!
Makes it so much easier for me as well! I used to get an email for each comment and then have to manually count. This widgettracks it all for me! Love it!
I think that Problems in Plymouth sounds very interesting!!!
Voyage with the Viking or Problems in Plymouth. :)
I would like to read Showdown with the Shepherd first. My kids love that story!
Voyage with Vikings or Showdown with the Shepherd
we would read The Secret of the Prince’s Tomb (studying Egypt right now) or Problems in Plymouth just cause Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
I just took a few of these out of our local libarary!
Showdown with the Shepherd would be our starter.
I think we would start with the first one! We Love all things Odyssey, and would have to see how it unfolded.
Problems in Plymouth
We’d love to read the Problems in Plymouth first because we’re learning about the pilgrims landing at Plymouth right now!
I subscribe to your blog in my reader!
we would love problems in plymouth!
We would start with Plymouth since we are study American History this year.
Theese look so awesome! We would read the Pilgrim book first since we’re getting ready to do a Thanksgiving unit study for the next couple of weeks
sonriseacademy@yahoo.com
We would read book #2 first because we have only read the first one!
Hmmm….. this would go great with my 40 something sets of AIO…….. Seriously lots and lots
Like others, I’m not seeing a widget… I grew up listening to Adventures in Odyssey and I’d LOVE to get my kids into them as well :-)
Bah. Found the widget but I wasn’t paying attention when I clicked on the done on some and forgot to post my twitter name, etc. My bad. I’ll remember next time :-)
It’s ok! :) as long as your name and email are on there, I’ll know how to get back to you. :)
My 9 yr old son has Aspergers & high functioning Autism. He is just now showing an interest in reading on his own & these will be a perfect fit for him! I can’t wait to get them, especially since they are from FOF. My son is very aware of content that is unsuitable for a Christian; he’s brought library books (his age level) to me several times and complained about questionable content. He’ll love these!
I have a 9 year old boy who loves books like this. I have been trying to find a Christian based series that he would really enjoy, and this looks like it would be perfect.
Thanks so much for posting. Very excited to be part of this amazing
series. You can learn more about my work at Focus and my other writing
on my blog: http://thequestfortruthbooks.blogspot.com/
Love the books, Brock!! :)
I would love to read the first one, Voyage with the Vikings. Thank you.
I’m very interested.. Even if I don’t win these cool books, I still will look into purchasing the Audio versions for the car, I love that idea!! I think my girls would like to start with the first book in the series because they like to go in order..LOL Thanks Jolanthe again for an excellent opportunity for us!!
We would read Revenge of the Red Knight
I would have to start with the first book, I have never liked starting anything in the middle. : )
We have the first 4 and my son absolutely loves them. They are a great series.
We would read Voyage with the Vikings first because I like to read in order.
We would read Problems in Plymouth first because we are currently studying the US. We would love to add this series to our homeschooling shelf. Thanks for the chance to win.
I’d start with Problems in Plymouth because it would go along with a Unit study we are about to begin.
Nancy at mom2jebj@gmail.com
I am a new subscriber by email to your blog. I found you on Spell Outloud.
Nancy M. at mom2jebj@gmail.com
I would love to start with book 1. My son and I love such adventures.
Secret of the Prince’s tomb! My kiddos are obsessed with Egypt so this would be great!
We would probably start with Problems in Plymouth since it is so close to Thanksgiving
I’d love to start at the beginning!
What a great giveaway, thanks so much!
I have 2 little avid readers so I’m always on the lookout for great books. These sound great
Showdown with the Shepherd…my daughter is reding it now!
would LOVE this! showdown with the shepherd looks good!
We haven’t read any yet so I’d probably start with book #1 for our 5 year old son. Thanks
Oh wow! We would love this! The Problems in Plymouth would go along with our Thxgiving study.
We love adventures in odyssey!! Can’t wait to read the whole series!!
What fun! I think we’d start with Problems in Plymouth – since it’s almost Thanksgiving – but my son would love the one about the Vikings too!
I would like to read Problems in Plymouth first. With Thanksgiving upon us and all. I have never read their books, but have heard one story and my boys and I loved it!
My oldest would love these. He’d read the pilgrim one first for Thanksgiving.
Comment here to enter? I’d love to start with the first book!