I have really been enjoying listening to my son read The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls from WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group to his little sister. We had the opportunity to review and in the series.
If you haven’t heard of The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls, it’s a pretty cool adventure series by M. J. Thomas from WorthyKids. The target age for the book is ages 6-9 and the reading grade level is 1st through 4th. Each book is 128 pages long and a fairly easy read for a 3rd or 4th grade reader. My 4th grade son read the books and read one of them to our 5 year old. They both seemed to enjoy the adventures.
About the Books
“The Scrolls Contain The Truth You Seek. Break The Seal. Unroll The Scroll. And You Will See The Past Unfold. Amazing Adventures Are in Store For Those You Follow The Lion’s Roar!”
In the time-traveling adventures of The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls, Peter and his sister Mary, along with their fun-loving dog Hank, soar through adventures that take place around biblical history moments after they find scrolls at their Great Uncle Solomon’s house while spending the summer with him. Each of the scrolls they find takes the children to a destination in biblical history and decoding the messages they find brings them back home again.
follows Peter, Mary and Hank on an adventure through ancient Egypt where they watch Moses petition Pharaoh to free the Israelites. They observes the effects of the plagues and witness great battles all while trying to decode the scroll to get back home.
My favorite part was when Moses raised his staff over the water and the water turned to blood. It was cool to imagine being there to see that!
Leyton, age 9
I liked Mary karate chopping!
Amelia, age 5
has Peter and Mary meet Rahab while on a mission to Jericho and witnessing the Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land.
There was a lot of excitement around the fall of Jericho. I think it was a cool part of the book.
Leyton, age 9
It’s cool that the kids are spying.
Amelia, age 5
My son actually was a little slow getting into the book and wasn’t really sure what he thought. But after the first couple of chapters, he really started to enjoy them and was excited to read the next one after he finished Book 3.
The beginning of each book opens with a prologue that explains the background behind the children coming to be at the Great Uncle Solomon’s house and finding the scrolls. It brings the reader up to speed on the storyline before diving into the next adventure. My son said that there were obviously places in the story that were building on previous books and was a little put off that he hadn’t read Book 1 and Book 2 in the series, but, again, once he got going, he was fine and enjoyed the stories.
I read Book 4 myself and see that, yes, there are some references throughout to previous books but it doesn’t take anything away from following the storyline or enjoying the books so I would say that the author did a fairly good job at making the books stand as independent books while still building on the storyline.
At the back of each book the author asks the reader if they would like to read more about the events that took place in the story and then provides biblical references to the specific events mentioned in the book. I like that it tied that in.
Our Thoughts
I think that the set of books (there are 5 now – book 5 just released in December 2018) would be an excellent Christmas gift for a family with elementary kids. And what’s great is that since the characters are a boy and a girl, the books are appealing to both genders, which makes it a winner in our house.
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