The Tower Rising

Imagine

by Matt Koceich

The Sixth Release in an Epic Bible Adventure Series for Kids

The last thing sixth-grader Bella Rhodes remembers (before the world as she knew it disappeared) is visiting the Skydeck at Chicago's Willis Tower. What happens next can't be explained as Bella finds herself back in Bible times during the days of the tower of Babel in ancient Shinar! Imagine. . .The Tower Rising is the sixth release in an exciting epic adventure series for kids ages 8 to 12 written by schoolteacher Matt Koceich. The Imagine series brings the Bible to life for today's kids as they ponder what it would be like to live through a monumental biblical event.

Don't miss Book 1 in the Imagine Series--The Great Flood. . .Book 2--The Ten Plagues. . .Book 3--The Fall of Jericho!. . .Book 4--The Giant's Fall. . .or Book 5--The Miracles of Jesus.

Genres: Christian

112 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2020

About the author

Matt Koceich is a husband, father, and public school teacher. Matt and his family live in Texas.

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bella Rhodes is a young writer on vacation with her family in Chicago. After a moment in an elevator Bella is taken back in time to fight against an ancient power and spread the truth.

The 6th in a series, each book focuses on a different child in a different time in biblical history. Personally I found this book to be rather confusing with Bella having visions within her imagination and also the roles of the supporting characters as they didn't have much time to develop them, but they seemed to know things about the mission, and then other times they would seem to have knowledge that would have made more sense for a person living in their time in place. Like when Zion and Bella are talking and Bella mentions her knowledge of Scripture, and he acts like he doesn't know what she is referring to as the Bible hasn't been written yet, but then later when they use the armor of God to escape the clutches of the bad guys, he reassures her telling her they are the armor of God like in the gospel. It had themes of spiritual warfare, and there seems to be some great plan and reason behind these children having these adventures, but it was lost on me since I hadn't read the previous books--which is completely my fault.

I liked the theme giving proper praise to God rather than giving worship to idols or trying to attain praise ourselves.

In the end this book just didn't work for me, and some facets of the story felt rushed or clunky. I think it's an interesting concept, but it didn't work for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bella is a preteen girl struggling to find acceptance and sincere connection from her peers. She is on vacation with her family when she is transported to ancient Shinar, where the Tower of Babel is being constructed. Bella relies on her relationship with God and her Biblical knowledge to intercede and share the consequences of the tower. The book takes an interesting turn when it appears there are more people involved in the time travel than just Bella- which I’m assuming will continued to be explored throughout this series.

This is the first book I’ve read in the Imagine series and was very impressed with the content and message it conveys to its target middle grade audience. As a 28 year old, I still enjoyed my reading experience and found the message of finding self-worth in God’s love to be relevant to all ages. I appreciated the author’s inclusion of social media followers to show children that God surpasses any social network or online “friendship” they can gain. I also appreciated the inclusion of the armor of God and scripture in a way that felt very accessible to the target reading audience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ebook of this title for review.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super fun read-aloud in my family! We thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to get the rest of the series we don’t already have! I highly recommend if you’re looking for Christian middle grade fiction!

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of excitement that will holds your attention. Even though it's wrote for children ages 8+ the message it contains is wonderful for adults too. The author did an excellent job of writing a story about putting on the amour of God that will hold a child's attention. I highly recommend this book and the entire series. Thank you Barbour Publishing via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Millie]

I received this book from Netgalley in return of an honest review

I really liked this book. The characters, plot and setting were all very immersive. This book also had very good lessons for kids to remember. I highly recommend this book for kids ages 11+

[Kristi Drillien · Rating 2 out of 5]

While on the observation deck of the Willis Tower in Chicago with her family, Bella is suddenly transported to Shinar in 2300 B.C. There she sees the Tower of Babel mid-construction and becomes caught up in a dark plot to lead the people astray.

I am not completely sure what I just read. I expected an adventure similar to Superbook or Adventures in Odyssey, but there is definitely something else going on here. The tower being built, the reasons behind it, and Bella's attempt to stop the people and explain why what they're doing is wrong is a small part of the book (which is quite short anyway). But then there are some strange and unexpected fantasy elements going on, with a boy and a woman who are sort of like her guides through this experience, while also at times seeming to not know anything outside of what they should know if they were just regular people from that time period.

Then there are a couple of chapters that are "outside" of the adventure, involving people who are never properly introduced, and it's never explained who they are or why they're involved. One of them can communicate with the "bad guy" involved in the tower building, and gives him instructions. It's clear from this that there is a whole over-arcing plot going on throughout this series, and I jumped in at book 6. My mistake, but there was nothing in the synopsis at all that would give any indication that these stories are so very connected. Out of curiosity, I have now read the first book in the series, and it was nothing like this book; no over-arcing plot line was set up either, so I can only guess it came up later in the series.

So...I had a difficult time deciding on a star rating for this book. It was like reading someone's account of a dream. I don't want to down-rate it due to being so completely lost about the series-long story, but it would have been a lot better if I'd known I was being thrust into this ongoing, apparently supernatural battle between good and evil (for as much as I could tell from those sections).

Thank you to Netgalley and Barbour Publishing, Inc. for providing me a copy of this book to review.

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting adventure

My rating is 3.5 stars

When I saw this book available for review, I was intrigued. There are not many stories about the Tower of Babel, and especially not for kids.

There is high adventure as Bella and her new friend, Zion race to the top of the tower, chased by wolves and an evil being. I liked the way the elements of the spiritual armor we are told to don in the book of Ephesians showed up in the story to help Bella fight her battles.

I also appreciated the message of how important it is to not allow the accolades of others to become idols. It was nice that the author didn't shy away from using a rich vocabulary yet kept the story age-appropriate.

Imagine... The Tower Rising was not at all what I had expected. I thought it was going to be on the lines of the Adventures in Odyssey series or Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle, telling the story of a Biblical event through the eyes of a child from the present age. Not much of this story is about the building of the tower nor of the people at the time. Instead, when Bella travels unexpectedly in time to the Tower of Babel, her adventure is with fighting the powers of darkness attempting to build a tower to heaven in order to conquer the Kingdom of Heaven. I wasn't clear why it was her responsibility to stop the building of the tower. . .

A fun adventure, I classify this one as Christian fiction but not Biblical fiction.

Imagine... The Tower Rising is a fun adventure for elementary readers.

Read my full review at Among the Reads


I was given a copy of this book. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.

[Laura-Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to request this book to review through Netgalley, which they granted in exchange for my honest opinion, because I've never read a Christian novel which revolves around the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel and I was anxious to do so. Even though it's aimed at a younger market (younger than me for sure), I found it kept my attention even at my ripe old age of older than mold, but younger than dirt. Just as I thought the story would meander into a teen angst area for a while, the fantasy elements would kick-in with something truly unique, like having a stone with words on it melt into your hand, and it would grab my attention afresh.

It takes a few liberties in adding to the Biblical account of how mankind came to speak all our different languages, but it sticks to Scripture as close as it can for a speculative fiction story with a time/place shifting pre-teen as the protagonist. In fact, the story's main goal is to share the gospel, so it is full of Bible verses and life lessons from a Christian perspective. Even though adults will enjoy it, ultimately older children and teenagers will be able to relate to it the most.

With no profanity, sex, and only mild violence, I am happy to recommend this creative, well-constructed story about a time in history that definitely merits another look. I also note that this book is a part of a series which I also think merits some further investigation.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and to you for reading another one of my book reviews.

Sincerely, Laura-Lee

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this one was far out!
It blends Tower of Babel history with Revelations prophesy.
That’s a wild ride!

In this book, the Tower of Babel was going to be used by Satan to get back up to heaven to fight.
The Bible doesn’t specify, so that is acceptable Fictionalization.

Also a lot more intrigue about what’s happening in the Series arch to go along with Individual Book Arch.

Weird: that’s a lot of rabid wolves!

[Mana traverse les Pages · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a book that seems interesting to me to read or to make read to discover the biblical writings in another way...

However, I didn't hang too much, probably because I do not feel concerned (being an atheist) and that I read it in a period when I would have preferred not to approach religion so closely.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the Imagine series and Imagine... The Tower Rising is probably my favorite so far. I am giving it four and a half stars.