Peril In The Palace

He motioned toward a group of men at the side of the room. They wore long yellow robes and yellow turbans. The men came forward and circled Kublai Khan’s throne. “We will see who has power,” Kublai Khan said. “Your God or the Mongol shamans.

Book: Peril in the Palace (AIO Imagination Station Books) by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker, Focus on the Family and Tyndale House Publishing, 2011

Genre: Adventure

Target Audience: Boys and girls 8-13

Subjects: Gospel, False Religions, Mongolia

Summary: First a Viking ship, then a Roman arena, now a Mongolian Palace! Patrick and Beth sure are getting around! Instead of a note, this time a knight appears in the Imagination Station and gives them a message himself saying where to go to help Mr. Whittaker’s relative, Albert. The mystery grows but the kids take the challenge. When they arrive in Mongolia they instantly get kidnapped by fierce Mongol warriors! Saved by a famous explorer, Marco Polo, the children journey to the palace of the great Kublai Khan to give him gifts in hopes of getting a golden tablet. The problem is that they arrive in the midst of a belief system clash. The great Khan has asked for 100 Christian teachers and has been denied. On the other hand, the shamans are present and plentiful and aren’t afraid to use magic tricks to convince the Khan to see things their way. As if that isn’t bad enough, before they have time to even ask for a golden tablet, war breaks out against Kublai Khan’s people and the children are shut away in a room to keep them from escaping to aid the enemy. Now they are trapped and still have no golden tablet and the entire country is in danger!

Notes: This is the 3^rd in the Imagination Station Adventures series. The series is much like the secular Magic Tree House books but instead of wizards and magic it’s imagination and inventions giving them the different place/different time experiences. The radio show the concept is taken from is very solid – full of great spiritual elements and lessons and challenges as well as fun and excitement. This book did a much better job than some of the other in the series at focusing on spiritual elements. The spiritual elements in this story is the historical event of Khan asking for 100 Christian teachers to be sent to teach the Mongols about Jesus, but those teachers never came. So in this fictional account, Patrick and Beth step up and proclaim a quick summary of the Gospel in an attempt to explain the truth to Kublai Khan. As with the Magic Tree House, part of the focus of the series is on giving a picture of the time and place featured in the setting of the book.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Romans 10:13-15 – for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"