Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich Book Review

I’m always on the lookout for good books that are clean reading for my kids to read. I love it when you find a book that is in a series.  Barbour Publishing has created a series of wholesome books the first book - Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich. I received a physical book for the purpose of this review.

Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich is adventure series for kids around 8-12 years old. This is a great book for middle grade fiction about the great flood. This is a paperback book and it has 15 chapters and each chapter has a few pages. The book is 110 pages. 

The Imagine series brings the Bible to life for today's kids as they imagine what it would be like to live through a monumental Biblical event. I know when I’m reading my Bible I find it amazing to grasp the scope of what is happening. The story of Noah’s Ark and the flood is one of those stories.  Watching animals come two by two in a boat is a big event. Then a man building a huge boat telling others it’s going to rain. Rain, they had never heard of such an event. What if you could experience the event for yourself?

The story starts out in present-day Texas. The main character is 10 year old Corey. Corey and his mom are at the local park with their dog Molly. Corey is upset and not happy with his families plan to move to Florida. The family doesn’t have a choice as Corey’s dad got laid off and he found a new job in Florida.

The fears of meeting new friends, a new school is not something Corey is looking forward to. Corey’s mom tries to tell Corey, “even though the circumstances of our lives change, God never changes”. Corey hears his mother’s words but, has a hard time accepting or even believes them. This is the worst thing he has ever faces in his young life.

Corey throws a ball for his dog Molly and it goes into the woods. He hears thunder and starts to worry when Molly doesn’t return. They don’t want to get caught in the storm so they head into the woods. While chasing after his dog he trips over something as he hears his dog barking frantically.

When he opens his eyes he realizes that he is not in the same place that he was a few minutes ago and the world he knew is gone-will he see his family again…all the trees and the park is gone. Then Cory sees a huge male lion a few feet away and then when he turns he sees a female lion that is standing by a man holding a staff and tells Corey to not be afraid. He soon learns that the man’s name is Shem. 

I’m not going to give away too much of the story but, let’s just say that Corey is going to meet Noah and the giants of the day the Nephilims, and many evil men. He is going to learn some very important life lessons that change his perspective about his families move. He also learns that his mother words are true and that God never changes. He is the same God back in the time of Noah as he is in the modern world that Corey lives in.  

How did I use Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich?

I read the book myself very quickly and then handed it over to my 11 year old son to read. He was able to read the book in one setting. The chapters are short and the story moves along fast.

I always expect authors to take some creative liberties in writing a book off of stories in the Bible. Overall, I’m okay with an author doing that. The only time I'm not okay is when the author changes what we already know in the Bible. 

Some of the creative liberties that you may or may not have issues with the story are:

There is a staff that makes the holder protected from the animals. There are problems getting the animals into the ark due to the Nephilims interferences. 

We know God brought the animals to the ark two by two and of course I'm not forgetting the animals that are used as sacrifices. We don’t know all the details of how it happened or even if they had trouble with the locals. We know that God led the animals to the ark. 

Then there are Nephilims that may be the giants of the day. Genisis 6:4 “The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown”. To what extent or if they tried to interfere with Noah we don’t know.  

There are a lot of debates out there on this topic of the Nephilims that you may or may not feel strongly about. The Nephilims did make the perfect villain in the plot. Unfortunately, like many things in God’s word there are a lot of strange things taught about these giants that go beyond God’s word out there. 

Some parents may have an issue with the character Elizar as he is a wizard that isn’t mentioned at all in the Biblical account of Noah. 

I asked my son what he thought. Here is what he thought, “The book was full of action and very easy to read”. “Mom, I think the moral of the story is that we need to trust God in all parts of our life even when we don’t think we can”. “I didn’t like the part about the staff protecting the holder from the animals because, God brought the animals and he would protect them”. He also looked up the story of Noah in the Bible and asked, “I don’t see the Nephillims mentioned like this and thought it was a bit strange”.  I explained to him that stories from God’s word sometimes have to fill in the blanks and that I’m okay with that as long as it doesn’t add or take from God’s word. Since, we only have a few scripture verses about the Nephilims that the author added his own creativity to the story. Then he added, “It wasn’t a bad story mom”. I asked him to rate it with 5 being the best and 1 being the worst. He gave it a 4 and said it would be a 4 1/2 if not for  the crazy staff thing”. 

Overall, this a nice christian book for kids and I think the Imagine Series has great potential of being a great series for kids. I asked my son if he would consider reading more books in this series? He said, “Yes, he was willing to read a few more books in the series”. This is a wholesome story and it has a fun plot. My son thinks the whole concept of being able to transport back to Biblical time intriguing. He said, “The book reminds me of Adventures in Odyssey and is more like an updated one for today’s kids”.

Watch for Imagine...The Ten Plagues in March 2018! We will check the next book out in the series.

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Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew have read Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich so don’t forget to stop by and read their reviews.