The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls Book Review

I’m always searching for quality books for my kids.  They love history and love it when some Biblical history is mixed into a story. My kids love to read and lately they have been reading books in a series- The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls from WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The kids have enjoyed The Great Escape (Book #3) and Journey to Jericho (Book #4).

We didn’t read the first two books in the series- The Beginning (Book #1) or Race to the Ark (Book #2). The books are stand alone books and you won’t have any problems getting into the books if you start later in the series. You may just wish you had the previous books after reading these.

These are paperback chapter books and are written for ages 6-9. The reading age is appropriate for the books. The books have several illustrations throughout the story.

The author is M.J. Thomas wrote this series for his son Peter after hunting for books from a Biblical perspective with some fun and artistic way to capture the imagination of his son. After not finding what he wanted he decided to write his own series. The characters are named after his son, niece, and his dog Hank.

Both stories are centered around siblings Mary, Peter, and their faithful dog Hank. The siblings go and spend the summer with their Great- Uncle Solomon while their parents are away. Great- Uncle Solomon has an amazing house with him being an archeologist. One of those amazing discoveries is that he has some mysterious secret scrolls which have the power to transport you back in time like a time machine to events from the Bible. All you do is break the wax seal and you are at the place the secret scroll talks about. With the help of Michael the Angel you need to solve the mystery of the scrolls to complete the mission in an allotted amount of time or else you are stuck in that time period. Sounds easy-right?

Another feature in the books is in the back. You have the address of the scripture references the story is taken from to look up and read it for yourself from God’s word and some notes about the story.

The Great Escape (Book #3)

Peter, Mary and Hank find a sarcophagus in one of Great- Uncle Solomon rooms. The room is filled with artifacts from Egypt that he found. Peter finds a jeweled dagger in the room to take with them for their next adventure. 

As they break the wax seal they find themselves in the hot desert unsure of where they are at first. They spot a pyramid in the distance and now know they are in Ancient Egypt. Of course they find a secret passage and enter into a tomb. They hear a hideous sound and come face to face with a black panther. They run out and find themselves jumping in a river to get away.

That is where they meet Shephara Pharaoh’s daughter. They are invited into her home as guest and are given Egyptian clothing to wear. 

They have 14 days to unlock the scrolls. They find it harder than they anticipate with Pharaoh’s Captain of his army being suspicious of them. The worst one is the Great Magician who is more than he is letting on.

They meet Moses, Aaron, and the Hebrew people. They see and experience firsthand the ten plagues that God brings upon Egypt. Luckily they have the angel Michael to help direct them in their adventure. They are warned that no matter what, They can’t let anyone know they are from the future.

They watch their new friend Shephara suffer from the effects of the plaques. The captian finds the jeweled dagger that Peter and Mary brought from Great- Uncle Solomon’s house in Peter’s bag which happens to be the royal dagger.

They kids flee and find themselves with Moses and his family right before the final plague and become participants crossing the Red Sea. The kids even come face to face with a shark! Crossing the Red Sea the kids discover they are missing their ticket home-the scroll. They find it on the sea floor with the Great Magician getting to it first. How will they get home!

Journey to Jericho (Book #4)

The kids find a hidden door in Great- Uncle Solomon’s house with some old gadgets and find out that he was a spy and his job as an archeologist was a perfect cover for “The Owl” his code name. Peter and Mary are given his “Top Secret Training Manual.” Great- Uncle Solomon explains that even God has a secret code name. Which helps them later in the story with the name they are given. The kids want a secret code name too. Peter is called The Bear and Mary is The Monkey. The kids run off and get dressed as spies.

They have their gadgets, walkie-talkies, and spy manual and are ready for their next adventure. What better place to practice being a spy then at the time the Hebrews are getting ready to cross the Jordan River into Jericho! 

Mary breaks the wax seal and they are transported inside a tent but a real fancy tent with a candlestick and twelve loaves of bread. They hear a familiar voice back from when they witness Creation! They are caught by Joshua in the Tabernacle of all places! Joshua mistakes them as spies-but that can't be as it was 40 years ago. Slowly he recognized that they look like two children and a dog when they escaped Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. Can they convince Joshua that they aren’t spies? Mary writes the Hebrew letters of God in the sand.

After settling in their tent they meet up with the angel Michael and are told they have fourteen days to discover the secret of the scroll.  After awhile they see two guys leaving the camp and they think they are spies from Jericho. They grab their bag and follow them across the Jordan River but can’t get there in time with the city gate closing for the night.

 

The next morning they enter the city and begin searching for the spies. Instead of finding their spies they find a little girl being bullied by some older boys and they can’t just let them do that to her. The girl ends up taking them home to meet her sister, Rahab. 

They meet a mysterious man in a black robe who seems familiar. They end up meeting the spies from the Israelite camp and find out they are the good guys. 

They are hidden by Rahab when she hides the spies and kids from the soliders coming to look for them. Rahab helps them escape from the city and they flee into the mountains before heading back to the camp. In the mountains they encounter some problems like Hank going missing!

They watch the Hebrew army march around Jericho and get worried that Rahab and her family won’t be able to get to safety before the walls fall down. They head into the city to warn her to get her family to safety right away.

They encounter more trouble with the man in the black robe and almost lose the scroll but, the angel Michael arrives at the last minute to help the kids out.

How did we use The Great Escape (Book #3) and Journey to Jericho (Book #4) in our Homeschool?

My son is 13 and obviously beyond the reading age of this series. He loves reading and is an advanced reader. He doesn’t mind reading books like this and he devours them quickly. My son read both books in a week. It maybe took him an hour or less to read each book.

 

My son enjoying reading The Great Escape (Book 3)

  I asked my son which book he liked best he told me it was, Journey to Jericho (Book #4). He liked the spy theme throughout the story.  He got a kick out of the kids sneaking around with walkie-talkies in ancient times and communication with one another.  He said, “I laughed at Peter teaching Mary the correct way to communicate with them-with over and out saying. That would totally be something I would do with my sister”.  “Also, I like them using them in the cave while in hiding after escaping into the mountains after leaving Jericho. I could picture one of the Hebrews walking up behind them with their mouths dropped with a little box talking.”

My son reading Journey to Jericho (Book 4)

My daughter is 16 and has special needs. Reading is a slow and tedious challenge for her. Regardless, she still enjoys reading. She just finished up The Great Escape (Book #3). This took her three weeks to read. She was able to comprehend the story without any problems and to relate the story back to me.

 Bug liked the illustrations throughout the book.

My daughter will tell you, “My favorite character is Mary. I like that she uses her karate kicks in the story. I would love to be able to kick like that.” She also said, “Egypt is always fun to read about, I would love to see the pyramids and venture into an Egyptian tomb and find a treasure. I really liked the story and can’t wait to start on the next book. I hope we can get the other books in the series.”

Mom’s thoughts:

I read both books right away. Since this was a new series and because I’m a bit picky about what my kids read I wanted to check them out first.

This is Biblical fiction and some liberty is taken with the stories. Which honestly I expect to see this with any Biblical fiction books based off the event of the Bible story they are referring to. Overall, I’m okay with the author doing this as long as the Bible events that we already know happened aren’t warped from its context and aren't too outrageous with the liberty of adding to the story. I see the main Biblical story intact within both books. There are a lot of creative liberties with an angel and Satan in the story. Someone else has to always be a villain in any story so--- okay I get it.

 I like that overall I don’t have to worry about the content in the books. The things that we disagree with any book we have discussions on those topics. I love giving my kids the logic skills of dissecting any book they read and have open discussion with every book we read. 

These are some wonderful books to add to your kids reading material.

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WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group has let 59 more from the Homeschool Review Crew read The Great Escape (Book #3) and Journey to Jericho (Book #4). Don’t forget to stop by and get their thoughts on the books. You can click the graphic below.