Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Imagination Station Books

Tyndale

Homeschool Review Crew

Growing up I remember listening to the Adventures in Odyssey on Saturdays on a Christian radio station.  And later we watched the shows on VHS and listened to cassettes in the car.  Yeap I totally dated myself.  I’m old it seems.  But now they’ve taken it a step further and they have Imagination Station books!  I did not read them as children but my kids are loving being able to grab them and read them.  My kids are readers and will take any excuse to go cuddle up with a good book.

We received a hardback copy of Islands and Enemies by Marianne Hering which is number 28 of The Imagination Station series which is within the Adventures in Odyssey subheading through Focus on the Family.  This fun book was sent to us by Tyndale in conjunction with the Homeschool Review Crew. 

About the Book

Islands and Enemies is book number 28 in the Imagination Station books series.  The Imagination Station is something you’re introduced to within the Adventures in Odyssey line.  They have television-type shows, books, and radio stations.  If you didn’t grow up listening we feel you’re missing out!

A fun fact about the Imagination Station books is that they’re historically accurate.  You get to travel back in time and see and do real things.  There are real people that you get to meet.  While time travel and some of the minor details of course are purely fiction this can be classified as historical fiction and a learning book. 

The Imagination Station books are geared towards ages 7-12.  Islands and Enemies is the newest book in the series written by Marianne Hering.  Marianne Hering started the series because she wanted good wholesome Christian-based literature for her twin boys to read.  I can sympathize with her there as it is getting harder and harder to find good clean fiction for kids. 

Storyline!

Are you ready to find out what Islands and Enemies is about?!

This particular story takes you back in time to 1521 aboard the Victoria.  Not sure what the Victoria is?  Don’t worry this is where history comes to life!  The Victoria is the ship that Ferdinand Magellan sailed for his journey around the world. 

Patrick and Beth are aboard and about to go on the sail of their lives.  That is if they can live that long.  Their shipmates think they might be witches and it’s just about any moment they can expect to find themselves thrown overboard! 

Talk about fun!  You’re aboard a sailing vessel in 1521 and trying not to be condemned as a witch.  Can they prove they are not witches and enjoy this record-breaking voyage?  

Guess you’ll have to read the book to find out!

Our Thoughts

What a fun book!  This is the perfect solution to our scorching midwest temperatures.  Grab the book and have a nice read-aloud time with your kids when you can’t be outside.  While this is geared towards 7-12 trust me when I say that younger and older kids are going to be captivated as well.  

When this book arrived in our house it did what most wonderful books do.  It disappeared.  Now I don’t mean where no one could find it but rather that a child grabbed it and hid out to read it so they didn’t have to share.  Within a few days, it had been passed around to all my independent readers.  And when I say that I mean all of them ages 9-17 read it.  That’s a total of 9 children who read the book independently. 

Once it came back to me was when I could finally read it out loud to my kids.  Even my older kids love when I read out loud.  There is just something so special about this time and I’m glad we’ve cultivated our life to have that time period. 

Back to the book.  

I found the story to be well written.  The words are printed in larger print within the book.  The cover is a hardback and I felt like it was good quality and not going to easily rip or break with use.  We loved the storyline of course and I should mention the illustrations were fun as they popped up within the book. 

At the back of the book was a fun activity as well.  My kids loved decoding that. 

We are now on the hunt for more of these Imagination Station books as my kids all enjoyed this one and I’m looking to see if our local library has any of the CDs of the stories of Adventures in Odyssey because I think they’d enjoy those as well.  Some of my older kids knew about Whit and his imagination station because they had listened to some of the stories but the younger kids got to experience it for the first time through this novel. 

I enjoyed the historical aspects and found books at the library to compliment that time period in history as well as the Victoria and her journey so we could include a bit more learning and history.  Always a homeschool mom.  

Let me know if you have read this book or do read the book what you thought!

Learn More

You can learn more about Islands and Enemies and what reviewers thought by reading all of the reviews that are linked up on the Main Blog Post over on the Homeschool Review Crew.  Also, make sure to check out their social media to learn about other Imagination Station books.  Those media sites are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.