The 39 Clues book series review

This year we started reading the 39 Clues series and recently finished the 10th and last book. We actually got the 2nd book first on CD and listened to it on the Christmas trip from Ontario to Rockford. We liked the CD so much we went back and read the first book and the rest is history.

Hope our reviews help you decide whether to read the books or not. Once again the review is based on a 5 star rating system.

Marty - 4.5 stars - These books are not only interesting and captivating, but they will also help teach your kids geography, history, chemistry, science, archeology, literature, world cultures and a bunch of other good things. These are not written from a Christian perspective, but they do offer some good lessons in morality.

Tanner - 4.5 stars - Basically these books are great. I didn't like the love story with Ian and Amy. The best thing about the books are Dan and his ridiculous jokes.

Patsy - 5 stars - Not only is there a lot of history in it, but by the end of the series it teaches forgiveness and the importance of family relationships.

Blake - 5 stars - This was a very entertaining series. It was full of mystery, action and I liked the characters.

A Whole Nother Story

It's been awhile, but it is time for another Martin family book review. This time we look at a quirky title, A Whole Nother Story, by a quirky author, Dr. Cuthbert Soup. Once again these are based on a five star rating. Be sure to check out other reviews (look at the labels to the right or at the bottom of this post for Martin Family book reviews).

Tanner 5 stars. It was absolutely hilarious.

Blake 4 stars. I laughed a ton, but there were some places that were depressing

Patsy 4.5 stars. The only thing that was funnier than the story was the unsolicited advice at the end of each chapter.

Marty 4 stars. Be careful when you read this if you are drinking milk. You might squirt some through your nose you'll laugh so hard! Parents of the Christian faith might need to talk through a couple of elements with their kids, like a psychic dog and a fortune teller. Otherwise the message is very positive!

A little slice of Americana

There are lots of things I love about living in a little town like Cambridge. Sure you have to drive 15 minutes to a Walmart or to see a movie or to go to a nice restaurant (We do have a Subway and Dollar General in Cambridge though!). Yes sometimes the locals are a little suspicious of you, but here in Cambridge that is really not a big issue, unlike the city 1o miles to the north.

But all that is more than worth the trade off for me. I love sitting on the back porch working and hearing nothing but the cicadas and a dog barking somewhere in the distance while my kids play in the sprinkler (it is what I am doing now). I love how you can see so many stars at night and how you can tell your kids they can ride their bike or walk to the town park. I love how we have tons of flat sidewalk on our street to teach our youngest guys to ride without training wheels. I love how when you walk in the evening down the road the people you pass give you the pointer finger wave (almost a salute from the forehead).I love the small town newspaper that has a picture of your kid in it about a dozen times a year (I used to be the editor of this paper many years ago).

Today was another example of what I love about small towns. Today we went to "downtown" Cambridge for the Antique tractor show. We walked while the little guys rode in the wagon. We saw the old tractors and semi trailers and antique small engines (one of them was making "wooden nickels that some of the boys got to keep.) The three youngest sons got to participate in the pedal tractor obstacle course, where they each won a ribbon some animal crackers and a toy! There was face painting, a used everything sale and of course my wife had to stop by the library for the used book sale (she got 20 for $2). Besides the book the only real money we spent was for some ice cream and a couple of items we bought at the used whatever sale (some organization things we will use in the RV).


Everyone should live in a small town at least once in their life. It's a slice of what has made America a great nation and in some ways we all need to recapture as a nation some of the simpler things that help bring people together.

My book - Imagine - Creating Memorable Characters for Kids' Church, is finally available for purchase!

You can get it Amazon.com (click here) or at Barnes and Noble.com (click here)

I hope you order it and enjoy it!

New blog

I have started a new blog to support a book I am working on. More information ot follow. Anyways check out the blog here -

http://crazy-characters.blogspot.com/

Right of passage

I have read four books that have had a profound impact on my fathering philosophy of boys. The first is the Bible which is filled with tons of bad examples, some good examples, and the best example of all, Father God. The other three books were Bringing up Boys, King Me and Raising a Modern Day Knight. Taking all these into play I am big on dad taking a huge role in communicating with his son and helping him in the perilous journey to manhood. Every journey has to begin somewhere and for this journey to start there should be a rite of passage.
Blake just turned 12, and for my boys I chose the age of 12 to kick off this three person journey (dad, son and God) with a rite of passage “Journey to Manhood Campout. I chose age 12 for a few reasons. It is the beginning of puberty, it is the Jewish custom to celebrate bar mitzvah at 12 and it is the age Jesus got left in the temple talking scriptures with the scribes. Twelve is also a very important number in the Bible and some scholars would point to its meaning as an earthly completion.

So what did Blake and I do.
First of all I got a purity ring for Blake and we talked about staying pure sexually and in his heart and mind, and making a pledge to do so. Soon his mother and I will sit down and he has said he wants to take this pledge.

Secondly I had several important Christian men in his life write a note of encouragement to him in his walk. His Grandpas, some of his uncles, his former youth pastor and I all wrote about being a Christian man and how we are pulling for him.
We went camping and went tubing down some white water rapids. Part of being a Christian man is embracing your “wild heart” and sense of adventure that God gave men. This comes in many different forms (you don’t have to throw caution to the wind to have a sense of adventure), but it is important to me that my sons do not see Christ and Christian masculinity as being effeminate and only for girls. God made us the way we are and living for him is an adventure. It worked out nice that i was thrown off my tube and Blake not only rescued my tube from floating down river, but was able to stop himself and in a way rescue me! This was not planned but I thanked God for working this out. Part of a dad’s job is helping his son see what he can do even at the age of 12. He is no mere child anymore.

We went fishing and hiking and this allowed us to have fun but also talk about guarding his heart and giving it away too young, what he thought he might like (character qualities) in a future wife, STDS, driving a car, finding his calling in life and what is a man and how there is always a bit of boy in every man (hey I love Legos and Squirt guns too!). These activities were designed to give us a chance to talk and experience God’s earth.

So this was my first time and I am sure I made mistakes. When we returned home we had to reassure him that this was only the beginning of the journey and that he was not expected to be man yet. He was a little stressed for a bit there about that. Thanks to everyone who wrote him a note and prayed for him.

City of Ember book review

The City of Ember movie is coming out and we recently read the book and I thought it would be good to review it here. I will be reviewing the movie for Kidology this weekend.

Blake - 3 Stars "It was interesting, engaging, mystifying and made you wonder what was going to happen next.
Tanner - 5 stars "I was on the edge of my seat to find out what was going to happen.
Marty - 3.5 stars "A good book, but there were times I was concerned if the author was making a statement about faith in chiding the 'believers' or does she have a greater purpose for them in the second book?
Patsy - 3.5 stars "The development of the characters was a little disappointing, but it still kept me interested."

Two more books

We have recently read two kid's books and thought we would rate them both at the same time. However Patsy did not get to hear enough of them to comment.

The first book is an older book called the The Castle in the Attic.

Tanner 4 stars. Tanner liked it when the boy played the recorder to drown out the noises in the tempting forest.

Blake 4 1/2 stars. Blake liked the journey to the castle and seeing the dragon and going through the tempting forest and helping the man at the apple tree.

Marty 3 stars. I liked the combination of adventure and learning some good moral lessons. the boy did lie a lot at the beginning though

The second book is the last one in the A to Z series by Ron Roy called Mayflower Treasure Hunt.

Tanner 5 stars. He liked the plot to trick the bandit that Ruth Rose had.

Blake 4 stars. He liked the whole idea of treasure hunting and the bad guys chasing them.

Patsy 4 stars. She likes all the A to Z Mysteries because they are not too hard for kids to figure out. this one really brings history to life.

Marty 3.5 stars. I liked how he used a little mystery to peak interest in history.

KID CEO

I reviewed a great parenting book for Kidology.org called Kid CEO. I highly recommend it!

Order of the Ancient

Our latest book is a novel by Karl Bastian called Order of the Ancient. In the interest of full disclosure I am friend of Karl's and serve as a Team member for his website Kidology.org. All ratings are based on a five star system.

Tanner - 5 stars, because I loved it! I liked Josiah's urge to tell people about God!

Blake - 4 stars. I liked the parts when they infiltrated bases when he saved people and he got the Bible back.

Patsy - 4 stars. I really liked that the book showed how hard it could be to be a Christian and yet how easy it is for us today. It's too easy for us to take it for granted.

Marty - 4.5 stars . I love it when there is a great Christian book with adventure and intrigue for kids. Boys especially need to know that Christianity is an adventure!

BTW - We have some copies of the Order of the Ancient for sale in the KidZone store. Check out his site at http://www.orderoftheancient.com/

The Toothpaste millionaire

Our family has a tradition since Blake was a wee little lad of reading together most evenings before bed. Of course it doesn't work out every night! We have read some great books including classics like Gentle Ben and Charlotte's' Web to Christan fiction, historical fiction and current kid friendly series. We currently have two reading times, one with the little boys and then later a time for just the older ones. Anyway we talked as a family about sharing our experiences with anyone interested and rate books we read for you (whoever you are!) So the latest book we just finished is The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill. Here is our review

Marty 3 1/2 stars - It was a fun and clever way to encourage kids to have an entrepreneurial spirit

Patsy 4 stars - I liked how it taught kids the ins and outs of business in a way they could get into.

Blake 3 stars - I liked how they showed the ways you can make paste and add flavors to it.

Tanner 3 stars - I liked how he made lots of money by only charging a little bit for toothpaste

The reviews are simple and are based on a 5 star rating system!

Twice adopted

I just finished reading a great book by Michael Reagan called Twice Adopted. Michael is the adopted son of President Reagan and actress Jane Wyman. I read this book for three reasons. 1. We will soon be adoptive parents and I wanted to know more forma first hand perspective the child's view on adoption, 2. I love and work with kids and I love to know more about the challenges all kids face and 3. I am a fan of President Reagan and I was interested in this personal side of his life as well as hearing Michael's faith journey Christ brought him on.
So what did I get from this incredible book? A few highlights:

• I think its better to be honest with adoptive children and celebrate their adoption and try to answer questions they have. Keep the open communciation lines flowing. It's about them and not the parent so don't be threatened by the birth family or the child's interest.


• God can use all our circumstances to bring glory to Him and healing for us if we let Him.


• That too many times great men don't know how to be great men to those they need to be the greatest to!


• Michael was sexually abused and exploited as an eight year child by a after school care worker, and never told anyone for over 30 years. He gives us as churches, schools and youth organizations some great ideas in protecting our children agaisnt predators. Many we have in place. You know what though, the people who give me the hardest times about these - some parents. Parents when I have a numbered check-in system, when I do background checks on all volunteers, when I send the 13 year old away and don't let them pick-up your child and when I ask you to pick your children up at certain doors and to keep the outside doors closed - it's because I care about your kids. This is a much more common problem than any of us want to know. As one children's pastor I know tells his parents - don't make me care more about your kids than you! It may not take a village to raise a child but it takes us all to keep them safe. (Sorry for the soap box but I am passionate about this!).


• That God can use an adult child to bring healing in a family. Sometimes as adult children we have to be the ones to reach out the hand of love to a parent.

On the nightstand

I'm not trying to brandish my intelligence sword here, but I am currently reading four books. I know you are impressed but this is largely due to three factors:

1. The library had two of the books I wanted in at the same time!

2. I am adult ADHD

3. I am reading two kid's books.

So what am I reading? Let's get the controversial stuff out of the way. I am reading the Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism by Christopher Horner. Very interesting reading. The former conservation movement was hijacked sometime during the 70s by some radical and politically motivated people who really care nothing about the environment and dupe a lot of people who do. This book has hundreds of quotes from their leaders and they have very different vision of life than most of us. Here is an example "The right to have children should be a marketable commodity, bought and traded by individuals but absolutely limited by the state," by Kenneth Boulding. The real truth is that big oil is fully behind the global warming hysteria because it is driving the cost of oil up. And the cost of sugar and beef and milk and corn and everything else we buy which hurts the people the left say the love the most the poor.

The next book is less controversial. I am also enjoying Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, the story of Lewis and Clark and President Thomas Jefferson. I am really learning a lot about all the political jockeying and party politics that was already taking place by our second president John Adams. Both parties can really find their roots in these two ideas that were starting way back then - strong federal government and limited federal government. So strong were thee ideas that there was duel between two of the most radical figures of the day Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. The "Republican" won.

I am also reading a comic book series that my son Blake asked me to read. It is his favorite comic book series called Powermark and it is Christ-centered. You can find out more about this great series at http://www.powermarkcomics.com/ and by the way for family looking for present ideas he would love to get more in the series. Right now he has issues 1 through 6.

My fourth book is another series Blake and Tanner both like called Geronimo Stilton. We are reading this as a family before bed each night this week. In this one Geronimo is in love with an environmental extremist who wont take pictures of certain rocks. Cruel fate. They are not all like this. You can check the books out here: http://www.scholastic.com/titles/geronimostilton/

One last note we try to read to our kids most every night. Someday I will post a bunch of good recommendations for parents and kids and maybe even a couple I give thumbs down to. Anyway we have also been reading to David and Chace. David loves Chugga-Chugga Choo-choo by Kevin Lewis. Each night he gets his snack and runs into his room and points to his shelf and says whoooo whoooo. It is so cute. Every parent with a toddler needs this book.

Me, Myself and Bob

I just finished reading Me, Myself and Bob by Phil Vischer. I haven’t described too many books this way but this book “rocked my world.” If you don’t know Phil Vischer is the creator of Veggie Tales®. This book is his retelling of the rise and "sort of" fall of Big Idea, the company he founded which produced Veggie Tales and other videos.
I was able to hear part of this story when he spoke at Children’s Pastors Conference in January, but the book goes into much more detail than his talk. The book has several profound messages and I believe every Christian should hear his story. However I can best share why the book meant so much to me.

First of all as a Children’s Pastor who began in the ministry in 1992 in the Chicago area I pretty much “grew up” in the ministry as Veggie Tales grew up. Phil talks bout the college student phenomena and how it really wasn’t young mothers who spread the word about Veggie Tales but rather college students. The videos were first distributed almost entirely through Christian bookstores and these bookstores usually had a children’s section with a TV and VCR to keep the little ones entertained. College students manned these stores and the video machines, and with a limited number of choices out there, soon discovered Veggie Tales and their off-beat sense of humor and well-crafted animation. They then would recommend this to parents and play the videos in the stores and helped launch a revolution.

I remember the first time I discovered Where’s God When I’m S-Scared. I was fairly new to the ministry and had a difficult time coming up with lessons for Sunday morning and Wednesday night out of my creative head every week so I was looking for something new to show the kids in club that week. I walked into Lemstone bookstore in Cherryvale Mall and asked the college kid working there what was new in the world of kid’s videos. He enthusiastically handed me this video and I’ve been a big supporter ever since. I think Phil missed one group of people who also helped spread the word though – Children’s Pastors. There were tons of us eagerly introducing families to this new series all over America.

As I read the book, it parralled so many events in my own life. I remember when Josh and the Big Wall came out and showing it in club one night and about 50 kids all singing “If you like to waltz with potatoes…” and getting the goose bumps. At a Group conference at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, Phil, his wife Lisa and Mike Nawrocki were there at a booth talking up the videos and doing the voices and telling the story of how the song Where is my Hairbrush? was written (its in the book). At that conference two memorable things happened: we decided to launch a new children’s service at our church called Kid’s Junction and Phil Vischer became one my heroes! I could on and on about the memories, bit I digress.

The book is such a baring of Phil’s soul I feel like he’s my friend now. He told the story of the amazing success, the missteps and mistakes and the eventual bankruptcy and sale of Big Idea. He told of internal problems, of a personal ego problem, of dreams that grew off-centered and goals that were not God inspired. Through it all he takes the blame for the collapse and flat out apologizes for his role.

The hardest part to read though is Phil describing how God let Big Idea collapse and get taken over by another company. He describes how his dreams and goals and desire for impact were getting in the way of his relationships with God. I was riveted.

Here was the deal for me – I identified with this part of his journey too. You may not know that in the year 2000 my family moved to a community to plant a church. I was dreaming of being the next Willie George, of building a church with a focus on winning kids and families to Christ. I envisioned a church with a full sized Chuck-E Cheese thingie inside open on weekends for families to come and play games and eat pizza and watch – you guessed it Veggie Tales. I saw rooms with incredible themes and kids crawling through tubes to get to children’s church each morning. I could see an amazing outreach to kids with special needs where trained staff ministered to them and their families. I had a vision and God was working miracles to see this thing come together. A few people moved there with us and we were willing and ready. And then something funny happened, God stopped moving. The miracles, in terms of the church, dried up. In three years we had a total of 12 visitors to our church. We spent thousands on mailers and radio and no one even came to check us out. You see – I had let my dream become bigger than God and God loved me too much to let that continue. The church closed and that dream has died. It is now God’s to do with as He sees fit and I’m content to serve where I’m at.

I am still chewing on a lot of the book though. If I have any struggle it is that perhaps he is writing still out of his experience and maybe goes a little far to other side almost putting down dreams and goals and a desire for impact. It is a tough balance. God gives us these things. I know God inspired Phil to create Veggie Tales. But you see in the Bible over and over again how God gives a dream and then causes it to die. And then if the person lets go, sometimes he resurrects it. But at that point the dream isn’t as important anymore. It’s more about God and following him rather than saving the world and getting an ego trip along the way. So yeah I still want to make an impact on the world, but if I don't I have God and that is enough.
I know this a long review but I wrote as much for me to remember my thoughts as I did for anyone to read it. If you did read this I urge you to get the book!

Books I read over Christmas vacation

I finished the Culture Warrior by Bill O'Reilly. This was a good read. Of course I never 100% agree with Bill but he is a feisty intelligent guy and he's on target most of the time. It does a good job of exposing the agenda of so many of the cultural elite who are trying to slowly erode whet America is and turn it into a completely secular nation where the state reigns supreme.

To compliment Culture Warrior I also read Rediscovering God in America by Newt Gingrich. This book highlighted the role faith in God has played throughout our history as a nation and how it has guided us through tough times and has brought hope and freedom to so many people. It examines many of our national monuments and how they are a testament to the role faith had in sustaining the idea of liberty for all in this country. Nice little book.

Currently I am reading Children's Ministry Leadership by Jim Wideman - a very practical and inspirational book on leading volunteers and parents in children's ministry. Lots of good self-examination stuff going on as I read through this book. One of its points is that leaders are always learning - which is one reason I read.

I have also set the goal of reading through the Bible in 2007. I have done this twice before. I've got a nice Bible (NLT) that plans it all out for you.

Hannitized

OK I know some people may like me less after this post but as Popeye said "I yam what I yam".

Now that I have finished King Me, which was really good btw, I am reading Sean Hannity's book Deliver us From Evil. I hate to admit it by I have had a bit of an election hangover and I thought a good conservative book would help me out. Even though I am a pastor I am a big fan of talk raido. I usually listen to Mike and Mike on my morning commute and Sean Hannity during my evening commute home. So far the book it is quite good. After all Hannity is a great American! I have also been reading a great book about the Revolutionary War with my family. It's about a boy who joins up as a fifer and what life was like for soldiers during this time. You really have to wodner if we would have the will to fight that fight today. Sad - but probably not. Next I am going to read Rediscovering God in America by Newt Gingrich. what a right wing nut!

I am reading a great book right now on fathering called "King Me". It deals with the father-son relationship and it is very insightful. For those who know me this is one of my passions. Christians today stand on the precipe of irrelevancy in American culture. In my opinion if we loose another generation to the world the church will become an insignificant remnant. Not that it will remain that way forever, but might for the foreseeable future. Sort of like Europe where huge cathedrals stand empty as tourist destinations. Why is this coming. For three generations the church has been in decline in America in terms of attendance. A lesser percentage of people claim Christ as their Savior with each generation. Part of this reason is because we ignore our own children. We sacrifice them on the altars of money, social life, ministry and

sports. Its sad that so many parents honestly do not like being with their kids. Christian parents. I'm not thinking of a particular person here but so many in general. This is a little radical here, but maybe fewer people should have children. To give them nice clothes, sign them up for ballet and soccer and karate, to limit their fat intake and make sure they do their homework is not enough. We have to passionately pursue their heart. Much like we have to passionately keep our hearts aflame for Jesus and our spouse. It tears me up to see so many parents miss the boat on this. How do we inspire them and equip them? There are so many resources out there. This book is just one example. In one excerpt author Steve Farrar talks about a railroad built over Panama before the canal was built. It is an engineering marvel, especially for it's day. Many bridges had to be built which drove the costs up and caused many delays. The author talks about how this parallels parenting. We always have to be building bridges to our sons (and daughters). Just because we built one when they were three doesn't mean we don't have to build another one at age five. And so on. I am far from a perfect father. But I will tell you this - I not only love my sons, I love to be with them. I don't like leaving them for more than a couple of days and then I get real homesick for them. I am also more passionate about seeing them find their place in God's kingdom than I am in my retirement account or my next series in Kid Kove or the Bears football team or going to see a movie with "the guys" (whoever they are!) or who is going to win the upcoming Congressional elections or how well my boys perform on the soccer team. I do like and pay attention to all these things. Sometimes I have to refocus my priorities. But after 15 years in Children's Ministry I see what's at stake. The Barna poll in the graph says it all.