Refugees on the Run (AIO Imagination Station Books)

Many of these books have been great and so we are anxious to get started.

My 12 year old son and I both enjoy reading these books together and are ready for the next one!

Not having read any of the Imagination Station books, I was disappointed at the fact that there was absolutely no introduction to what was happening or who the people and terms were. Obviously the cover says that it's book 27, but typically in a series like this (i.e. Magic Treehouse or 39 Clues) you get in to the book and they give a little catch up back story on what the Imagination Station is or who Beth/Patrick/Whit are. All that was included was a couple pages of the last book....which of course, doesn't explain that stuff either.So my kids and I went in to this book with little to no understanding of what was going on. I caught on fast, because I'm a reader, but I think it was harder for my kids without explanation. Maybe that's why my youngest thought it was boring. Maybe he just wasn't in to it.I mean, it was about Lithuania in Nazi times during the war. There was a lot of new information about refugees and visas and Japan and Nazis and Jews thrown at the young readers, and not in the most interesting way. In fact it was, for the most part, very direct and to the point.The writing style wasn't great. Very little description. Most paragraphs and sentences starting out with the characters name. I think that also led to the reason my youngest thought it was boring.Usually illustrations help with some of that, but not in this case. The same four illustrations were throughout the book plus maybe two or three full page illustrations. But that was even done shoddy, because in the book, it described one of the girls as having braids, but in the illustration on the next page, she had a bob cut and another character had braids. That confused my kids for a while.Also, a couple of times it mixed up the Grandma and Grandpa names. Like Grandma Pearl was sometimes called Grandma Ben. But I had an advanced copy, so maybe that was fixed in the final.What a shame, because if this was a well written adult fiction book, I would have LOVED it. The story was great. The characters were diverse and could have been very interesting. I actually wish it was a historical fiction adult book because I would pick it up and read it right away!

I have been a fan of Adventures In Odyssey and the Imagination Station since these series of adventures began airing in the late 1980’s. This is the first book I have read starring John Avery Whitaker and the residents of Odyssey. This book is the final of a trilogy requiring the young friends to assist in repairing the Imagination Station.We find John’s friends in Lithuania near the beginning of WWII. This fictionalized story centers on a relatively unknown series of true events when a Japanese diplomat saved thousands of Polish and Lithuanian Jews trying to flee the horrors of Hitler’s holocaust.Though this story is fictionalized, enough facts are dropped along the way to allow the reader to dig for the rest of the story. Written for 4th through 6th grade readers, this senior adult found the story interesting and inviting to the end. Like most material coming from Focus On The Family, it also includes a clear statement of the gospel as part of the story. I give the book four stars.______________This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.