The Accidental Voyage: Discovering Hymns of the Early Centuries

Mr. Pipes #4

by Douglas Bond

Two American teens travel in Europe with David McCallum, an English organist known in his parish as Mr. Pipes. During a series of hair-raising adventures through time, Mr. Pipes introduces Annie and Drew to sixteen hymns from the early centuries and to hymnists Ambrose of Milan, Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Patrick, and more. Readers of The Accidental Voyage will come away with a new knowledge and appreciation of hymns from the early centuries. Homeschooling families will especially benefit from this resource.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Christian Fiction, Adventure

258 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2005

About the author

Douglas Bond, author of more than thirty books--several now in Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, and Korean--is father of six, and grandfather of eleven--and counting--is Director for the Oxford Creative Writing Master Class and the Carolina Creative Writing Master Class, two-time Grace Award book finalist, adjunct instructor in Church history, recent advisory member to the national committee for Reformed University Fellowship, award-winning teacher, speaker at conferences, and leader of Church history tours in Europe.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book follows a brother and sister as they are led on a journey by an older man who explains Christian history- especially hymns- to them. I only made it to chapter 2 before I was offended enough to throw the book away. In the beginning of chapter 2 the brother makes a joke at Scripture’s expense. The older man mildly scolds him, but nothing more is said and the boy doesn’t express repentance.

Scripture is much too holy to use it out of context in order to bring a laugh. Even with the mild rebuke, the joke was still included in the book. I don’t suppose we would excuse the inclusion of a lewd joke even if it was rebuked and a sacrilegious joke is even worse. If the author had wanted to show that such jokes were wrong, he would have been better to have told the type of joke the boy told without telling the joke itself and then had the older man treat it more seriously and had the boy recognize the extent of his sin.

Beyond that, I wasn’t crazy about the book anyway. The same writing effects were used over and over again and the characters weren’t believable, their reactions, particularly the sister’s, seemed staged. I was sad not to like the book, because I love hymns. I also realize that many Christians would not have found the joke offensive. I don’t want to make it seem worse than it was, but in my mind it was bad enough to warrant throwing the whole book away and too bad for me to repeat. May Christians learn to treat God’s Word, God’s Name and God’s Day as holy and not assume that He is like us and can enjoy a "good" laugh at His expense.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, I disagree with some of Bond's opinions about contemporary music, but I appreciate his emphasis on truth and not watering down the gospel. The story is a lot of fun, if a little implausible at times, and the stories told and information given is really good.

I do find that the mixture of contemporary fiction story and historical information doesn't work that well for my siblings and I. The history sometimes seems dull beside the fiction (which is silly), and it is very easy to skim or skip. The children in the story seem to remember everything Mr. Pipes tells them, but I can remember very little of it.

I wish I had read the Mr. Pipes books out loud to one of my siblings, as I'm sure I would have profited more from the great history contained in them.

[Tammy Shumate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great as a family read-aloud; an interesting way to learn the stories behind the great hymn writers and their hymns. This is one of the "Mr. Pipes series"

[Michael Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great hymns and fun storytelling! I wish he included the music as well as the text for the hymns, though.

[Anais · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Magic Treehouse-esque children’s book is one of a series on church music history, (previous adventures are referenced,) but it can stand alone. It purports to teach kids about ancient hymns and Christian history by weaving in facts with a story of an older gentleman escorting two kids through Italy and on an “accidental voyage” by sea back to England. The author does a good job with the weaving, but the “warp” of the story is not artfully written, and the harshness of the content stands in stark contrast to the age group for whom the story seems to be intended. In other words, sensitive or younger readers will have a hard time with some of the historical events that are explained, while older students may find the main narrative too childish. In the opening pages, for example, Mr. Pipes tells the children about Roman persecutions of Christians in the first century with pretty vivid details including bloody gladiator matches and the use of humans as living torches. The modern day portions of the story (especially the dialogue) are so painfully cheesy and unnatural that I always heard the parts in my imagination as if I was watching a children’s ministry’s stage production. [Cue courtesy laughter] The characters are almost annoying— Annie (my dear), who is always expressing fear by squeaking, stuttering, and biting her lip, and Drew (my boy) who is always cracking a cheesy joke— but the children do model respect and obedience to Mr. Pipes, a sort of grandfather figure who, in addition to being kind, generous, and well-read, also models an evangelistic mindset. The story also does challenge kids to think critically about the purposes of church music, and about whether modern day songs are fulfilling those purposes. The author does touch on topics such as Christian popular music, yoga, and environmentalism, but he stops short of blanket condemnations of these modern day “heresies,” encouraging readers to think Biblically about these topics. But do note that if, as a mom, you wind down in the evenings with a little Tree Pose or Downward Facing Dog alongside Yoga with Adrienne, you may be getting some side-eye from your newly “enlightened” readers.

For the parent or teacher who wants to introduce their kids to catacomb symbols, Christian persecution, early church heresy (Arianism), or a fairly faithful representation of modern Italian cities, this would serve as a “living book” text to accomplish that objective.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last book of the series, so we missed some context (but clearly not much) by skipping the others, but this was an interesting approach to teaching kids hymnology in an Adventures in Odyssey sort of way.
Some of the historical shaping was overly dramatic (Nero burning Rome and fiddling), while the writing for one of the main characters, Drew, was repetitive and rather annoying. I would say that the evident philosophy of music was rather simplistic at times, but the kids enjoyed it overall and I could at least appreciate the effort to teach and preserve some beautiful, old hymns.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this with my nephew and trying to put on a British accent. Not so much a high-speed adventure, but a novel of history, lessons of faith and character, and occasional humor and excitement. Good for the homeschool student, with nautical terms defined in the back, though there are a few missing.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely for people who know/enjoy hymns! Fun series to learn about the background of some famous hymns and their authors. This volume has Mr. Pipes and Annie and Drew on an adventure in Italy and then--in an accidental voyage--back to England. Hymn writers covered include St. Patrick, St. Francis, St. Clement, and others. Text will feel preachy to some, but it is much better than most Christian fiction I've read! Bond weaves the information about the hymns along with plenty of theology fairly seamlessly into the story. Our family thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read for both children and adults alike. Douglas Bond brings the adventures of Mr. Pipes and the children alive through his wonderful and detailed descriptions of the places and characters introduced in The Accidental Voyage. The gospel is presented clearly throughout the novel, simple enough for children to understand and enjoy. It is rare to find a book which not only contains church history and basic theology, but is written with sound and true doctrine.

[TransparentFilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this isn't my favorite series by far, I was sad to see it end. I know because of the way it ended and because they never had more trips to England, that chances are there was death after this book. All in all, I am glad we found this series to complement our schooling.

[Anne Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"But when people stop believing, they stop worshiping; and when they stop worshiping, they come to the house of God only to see what man has done."

Mr. Pipes