I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
Imagine. . .The Fall of Jericho by Matt Koceich Series: Imagine #3
Published by Barbour Publishing on October 1, 2018
Genres: Juvenile Fiction / Religious / Christian / Action & Adventure, Juvenile Fiction / Religious / Christian / Values & Virtues
Pages: 112
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley
Amazon|Barnes&Noble|Goodreads
The Third Release in an Epic Bible Adventure Series for Kids
The last thing fifth-grader Jake Henry remembers (before the world as he knew it disappeared) is napping at summer camp. What happens next can't be explained as Jake finds himself surrounded by massive stone walls that rise up all around him—in ancient Jericho! Imagine. . .The Fall of Jericho is the third 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--Imagine...The Great Flood or. . . Book 2--The Ten Plagues!
Fun Fact: I actually first read this book back in 2018, but apparently never got around to writing a review. Roughly eight years later, here I am re-reading it and actually writing a review. Round of applause for some massive procrastination! If you haven’t read my first two reviews of this series, just know I originally picked up this series for Munchkin when this was a perfect series for the age he was. That child, that child is now 18! I think it’s fair to say that I’ve kinda sat on this for a hot minute. I never did get to read these books with Munch just due to timing of all the things that happened in 2018. While I didn’t go back and re-read the first two books I did this one because well . . . no review was written. But I did go back and read the previous reviews.
I noticed a theme in the last review that I’m maintaining here, but with more detail. More detail could be more how I have changed, but I think it was already in the works. This is absolutely a middle-grade book. And I think, as a whole, we are doing those readers a disservice. There’s an importance to make sure the wording is age- and reading-level appropriate and that the themes are also age-appropriate. But in trying to make that happen, I find these books are dumbed down. Maybe it’s because I’m an adult. Maybe it’s because the middle-grade readers in my life are advanced readers, like gifted, super scary smart readers. Munch was one, but so is Toad Nugget. What I tend to find in many middle-grade books, especially those that are faith-based, is a tendency to gloss over details and do a lot of telling without digging deeper into the story to show what’s happening.
This book assumed an existing knowledge about the fall of Jericho, and therefore the depth of the details were scant. I feel like that could alienate a readership that doesn’t have a Biblical foundation and knowledge. I think there’s enough there to give a thread, but I’d have liked to see it played out more. Additionally, there were some threads that seemed to toss back to the previous stories, but they didn’t connect to this story and had no discernible tie-in, which read very awkwardly. Those vignettes were very high-level with the previous stories, with the ‘hand of God’ saving the previous children. It doesn’t tell you any of that, which leads me to think that the average middle-grade reader wouldn’t connect those dots or understand why those small scenes mattered at all to this story. And honestly, they didn’t matter at all to this story, and I felt they were very unnecessary. I’d rather have seen those words used to develop this story better. Overall, it’s a good story with a bit of told action, but I feel like it could have been stronger.
About Matt Koceich
Matt Koceich is the author of the Imagine series, a brand new, epic Bible adventure for kids. He lives in Mansfield, Texas with his wife Cindi and their four children.
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