The homeschool lifestyle doesn't have to be all books and unit studies. Take a break and curl up with a good mystery. The Missing Link: Found is a fun way to escape.
Media Angels, Inc. $8.99
http://www.mediaangels.com
Read Customer Review
The Missing Link: Found
Christina and Felice Gerwitz
The mother-daughter team of Felice and Christina Gerwitz have bridged a gap for homeschoolers interested in light reading in what has been called “tweener fiction” – the real term is “youth fiction”. Youth fiction is not normally something we associate with homeschooling, but it does have a place in the lives of growing families. The Missing Link: Found, the first in Media Angels’ Truth Seekers series, treats homeschoolers and their lifestyle as something normal without heavy-handed advocacy or explanations about issues like “socialization”. The book is not “literature” in the Narnia or Lord of the Rings sense. But it is fun.
The Gerwitz ladies introduce us to the Murphys as a family that is normal in every way. OK, so having your chartered fishing boat seized by the FBI, witnessing an explosion at the dock and chasing after shadowy characters bent on spoiling an archeological dig for some unknown criminal purpose isn’t on your family’s to-do list. I’m speaking less about the storyline of the book than it is about the characters themselves.
The Murphys live life to the fullest in an unbelievable string of events that may have most adults wincing and laying the book down thinking it’s as predictable as a Disney movie. Do that and you miss out on a real shock ending fit for a tweener novel. While they’re about their adventure to help at an archeological dig for their ailing uncle, teens Christian and Anna confront issues of faith and science in a challenging relationship with their cousin, David who could be best described as a non-practicing atheist.
The discovery of “Arcadia Man”, presumed to be a transitional link between primate and human on the evolutionary scale provides an intriguing backdrop to the dialogue between the cousins. Following the story, the reader is drawn into the discussion, learning about flaws in the Carbon 14 dating method used by scientists to determine the age of fossils. Considerable research is included without getting in the way of a good mystery. There are footnotes and resources at the back of the book for readers who want to learn more about archeology (and paleontology) from a Creationist perspective.
Christian and Anna have a strong sibling bond and yet they stumble into some of the same relational traps that trip up brothers and sisters in the real world. Fortunately, these are resolved in Christian love; the family prays at every turn and Jack Murphy disciplines his children in a loving and compassionate way. These moments come off as authentic Christianity, avoiding the tendency of some Christian themed fiction to follow a formula that dictates, “INSERT PRAYER HERE”.
This seems to be a reflection of the authors’ desire to write fiction that both challenges and strengthens a young reader’s faith. Their motivation is far more fascinating than the book itself. Felice Gerwitz says:
Success! Whatever one may think of the writing or the plot, the characters are engaging and leave you with that feeling you may have known them when you lived in another town.
That explains why the homeschool lifestyle of the characters in the book seems “normal”. It is written from a place of actual experience. If the book was intended to appeal to homeschoolers, I think it does so without taking away from its appeal to others. One of our boys picked up the book and having read the first chapter, declared it “dumb”. Then he booknapped it for a week. He has since retracted his one chapter review repeating my observation: all fiction books are “dumb” until you get hooked by the story or the characters. The Missing Link: Found does both.
Until this book was released, youth fiction targeted to Christians was largely skewed to kids who are living in the public and private school experience. You’ve seen the book, “If God loves me, why can’t I get my locker open?” Our version might be, “If God loves me, why can’t I get the plastic storage bin under my bed open?” – or any of 100 variations on that theme. The gap between popular kid fiction for Christian teens and the new tweener genre created by the Gerwitz team is broader and deeper than the cultural divide between institutional school and family school: the values systems are different in schools – even many Christian schools. If the Truth Seekers Series lives up to The Missing Link: Found, we have found a good model for filling that gap.
Quibbles & Bits
I ought to revisit my comment about Disney predictability. While the Disney formula takes a parent out of the picture, the Murphys are an intact family. However, an expectant Mom and little brother Andy are left behind in the early chapters while Dad and the teens go on their adventures. Never fear. As the story draws to a close, Mom is reunited with the rest of the family -- in the last three pages – and she isn’t expecting anymore. You’ll have to read it yourself to see how the family is blessed.
If this review has piqued your curiosity about the Truth Seekers Series, here’s another treat. Pay a visit to http://www.mediaangles.com. There are resources on the site well worth taking the time to browse through. There are presentations on DVD on a variety of topics, including one on how the publishing process works. Maybe you’ll take up the challenge of writing youth fiction with one of your own kids. Sound far-fetched? One of my sons has been writing back and forth with a friend who is now in college – she provides encouragement – and grammar coaching while he puts together stories. On the far coast, his cousin has already written her first novel. What do these three have in common? They’re all homeschooled. Maybe they’ll meet the Murphys at the next convention.
http://www.mediaangels.com
Read Customer Review
The Missing Link: FoundChristina and Felice Gerwitz
The mother-daughter team of Felice and Christina Gerwitz have bridged a gap for homeschoolers interested in light reading in what has been called “tweener fiction” – the real term is “youth fiction”. Youth fiction is not normally something we associate with homeschooling, but it does have a place in the lives of growing families. The Missing Link: Found, the first in Media Angels’ Truth Seekers series, treats homeschoolers and their lifestyle as something normal without heavy-handed advocacy or explanations about issues like “socialization”. The book is not “literature” in the Narnia or Lord of the Rings sense. But it is fun.
The Gerwitz ladies introduce us to the Murphys as a family that is normal in every way. OK, so having your chartered fishing boat seized by the FBI, witnessing an explosion at the dock and chasing after shadowy characters bent on spoiling an archeological dig for some unknown criminal purpose isn’t on your family’s to-do list. I’m speaking less about the storyline of the book than it is about the characters themselves.
The Murphys live life to the fullest in an unbelievable string of events that may have most adults wincing and laying the book down thinking it’s as predictable as a Disney movie. Do that and you miss out on a real shock ending fit for a tweener novel. While they’re about their adventure to help at an archeological dig for their ailing uncle, teens Christian and Anna confront issues of faith and science in a challenging relationship with their cousin, David who could be best described as a non-practicing atheist.
The discovery of “Arcadia Man”, presumed to be a transitional link between primate and human on the evolutionary scale provides an intriguing backdrop to the dialogue between the cousins. Following the story, the reader is drawn into the discussion, learning about flaws in the Carbon 14 dating method used by scientists to determine the age of fossils. Considerable research is included without getting in the way of a good mystery. There are footnotes and resources at the back of the book for readers who want to learn more about archeology (and paleontology) from a Creationist perspective.
Christian and Anna have a strong sibling bond and yet they stumble into some of the same relational traps that trip up brothers and sisters in the real world. Fortunately, these are resolved in Christian love; the family prays at every turn and Jack Murphy disciplines his children in a loving and compassionate way. These moments come off as authentic Christianity, avoiding the tendency of some Christian themed fiction to follow a formula that dictates, “INSERT PRAYER HERE”.
This seems to be a reflection of the authors’ desire to write fiction that both challenges and strengthens a young reader’s faith. Their motivation is far more fascinating than the book itself. Felice Gerwitz says:
These books are meant to help your children to stand up for their faith, by supplying them with Christian role models that are also homeschool children. I hope your children can identify with these characters, or at the very least wish they were friends!
Success! Whatever one may think of the writing or the plot, the characters are engaging and leave you with that feeling you may have known them when you lived in another town.
As a homeschool parent I know how difficult it is to find good books to read with good characters and morals. This book was co-authored by my then homeschooled daughter Christina. She enjoyed writing these books even though she didn't particularly enjoy reading at the time.
That explains why the homeschool lifestyle of the characters in the book seems “normal”. It is written from a place of actual experience. If the book was intended to appeal to homeschoolers, I think it does so without taking away from its appeal to others. One of our boys picked up the book and having read the first chapter, declared it “dumb”. Then he booknapped it for a week. He has since retracted his one chapter review repeating my observation: all fiction books are “dumb” until you get hooked by the story or the characters. The Missing Link: Found does both.
Until this book was released, youth fiction targeted to Christians was largely skewed to kids who are living in the public and private school experience. You’ve seen the book, “If God loves me, why can’t I get my locker open?” Our version might be, “If God loves me, why can’t I get the plastic storage bin under my bed open?” – or any of 100 variations on that theme. The gap between popular kid fiction for Christian teens and the new tweener genre created by the Gerwitz team is broader and deeper than the cultural divide between institutional school and family school: the values systems are different in schools – even many Christian schools. If the Truth Seekers Series lives up to The Missing Link: Found, we have found a good model for filling that gap.
Quibbles & Bits
I ought to revisit my comment about Disney predictability. While the Disney formula takes a parent out of the picture, the Murphys are an intact family. However, an expectant Mom and little brother Andy are left behind in the early chapters while Dad and the teens go on their adventures. Never fear. As the story draws to a close, Mom is reunited with the rest of the family -- in the last three pages – and she isn’t expecting anymore. You’ll have to read it yourself to see how the family is blessed.
If this review has piqued your curiosity about the Truth Seekers Series, here’s another treat. Pay a visit to http://www.mediaangles.com. There are resources on the site well worth taking the time to browse through. There are presentations on DVD on a variety of topics, including one on how the publishing process works. Maybe you’ll take up the challenge of writing youth fiction with one of your own kids. Sound far-fetched? One of my sons has been writing back and forth with a friend who is now in college – she provides encouragement – and grammar coaching while he puts together stories. On the far coast, his cousin has already written her first novel. What do these three have in common? They’re all homeschooled. Maybe they’ll meet the Murphys at the next convention.
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