Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing: A TOS Crew Review

  We love good books! We especially love good books that reflect our biblical worldview. Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing is a book which combines both good writing and a biblical worldview with which we can align ourselves. Beth is in 5th grade and I thought this would be a fun change of pace from her normal reading assignments. While Beth is reading several grade-levels above what would be expected, volunteer reading isn't something she chooses to do for fun like her sisters.       Imagine begins in the present day where the reader meets 10-year-old Corey Max who is in a bit of a dilemma. His family is moving half-way across the country from Texas to Florida, and Corey is none too happy about it. When trying to retrieve his dog, Molly, before a storm hits, he trips and falls hitting his head on something hard. As he tries to reach his dog, he is suddenly transported to another time and definitely another place!   As the story progresses Corey meets Noah's family and sees some of the challenges he faced as he built the ark. One interesting aspect was the inclusion of giants! The Bible clearly speaks about giants in the early days of the earth so the inclusion is logical, but many children's resources rarely touch on this. Beth was surprised and asked me if there really were giants. It was a great springboard to look it up in Scripture!  

  This story will capture your imagination from the start. It's hard to really pinpoint a genre: historical, biblical, science-fiction (travel), early adolescent literature...there are many categories within which it could fit well! I enjoyed that Corey's parents were set up in a positive light. They put life events into a biblical perspective and encouraged their son to do the same. I often feel as if my husband and I are the only ones who do the same with our own children an when we get many a raised eyebrow among our peers when we speak about the Lord guiding and directing us to do things. Having a delightful fiction book that echoes our same family values is a great thing. 
I also love that biblical events are portrayed as history. So much of the world, even professing Christians, seem to view Scripture as merely allegorical rather than as actual history. It is so important for our children to understand and know the Bible is true and factual. This novel presents biblical events as they may have really happened and in a way that will reach today's kids. My favorite analogy is when Corey first sees one of Noah's sons and describes him mentally as looking like Obi-Wan Kenobi. That made me smile as I'm sure it did Beth since they are familiar with the Star Wars story.   

Beth read this story without complaint, which at the moment is a really big deal! She is incredibly bright, but has been complaining recently when it comes to schoolwork. She never once sighed or grumbled over reading and in fact accidentally read more than I had assigned her daily several times! This tells me just how much she enjoyed the book.When I asked her what she thought about it she said she liked it and that it had someone going back in time and being involved in the story instead of just telling about it like a Bible story. I do highly recommend this title and can't wait to read the next in the series!  Take a look at what my Crewmates had to say!