Training Happy Hearts: More Bible-Based Fiction for Kids {A Secret of the Hidden Scrolls Review and Giveaway}

Which books have been keeping my youngest child smiling and turning pages?

The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Shepherd’s Stone (Book 5), and The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Lion’s Roar (Book 6) by WorthyKids Books - two books we are reviewing today and - at the bottom of this post - sharing a giveaway for. (Actually, the giveway includes ALL the books in the series to date!)

The Best of Both Worlds

Because of the way The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Shepherd’s Stone (Book 5) and The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Lion’s Roar (Book 6) are written, they can be read as stand-alone books or read in order of the series, which means you get the best of both worlds depending on the type of reader you are - a good single read or a whole series to enjoy!Like other books in the The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series, Books 5 and 6 are also filled with adventure, fun, and Bible history - making another "best of both worlds" a reality: the fun of fiction with the truth of real Bible story facts!

This two-in-one plus is actually the mission of The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls author M.J. Thomas.

As the true story behind the fiction stories goes: Thomas is a dad who could not find a book that balanced faith, adventure, and education. So, he decided to begin writing his own time-travel adventure stories for his son in order to help him and other children discover the Bible and grow in faith while immersing themselves in engaging fiction.

With The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series that resulted, Thomas certainly met his mission! My youngest child thoroughly enjoyed when we read Books 1, 2, 3 and 4 together in the past and was excited to read Books 5 and 6 on his own!

Ideal for Children to Read to Selves or for Families to Read Together

The books are perfect for kids like my son to read on their own (as happened for my son this time) or for families to enjoy as read alouds (which has happened for us with earlier books in the series.)

Each softcover book is about 120 pages long and divided into 14 chapters. The font is a decent size and black-and-white illustrations help children imagine the characters and plot as they read along.

The books also each contain a page that refers you to where in the Bible you can read about the things that occur in the book and are good at weaving fiction together with true Bible stories.

My Son's Thoughts

Here is what my son had to say about the books:

I wanted The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls, because I have read the rest of the series and liked it. Mom used to read them to me, but now I read them to myself. They are easy to read.

In Book Five: The Shepherd's Stone Peter, Mary, and their dog Hank find a map of their Uncle's house and go into a throne room that they had always thought was a pantry. There, they find a crown in a harp.

Uncle Solomon comes and the crown fits on Peter, because it was the crown of David who was also a kid. So, Peter, Mary, and their dog put the crown and harp in their adventure bag and hear a lion's roar. They go and unlock the door where the lion is and get a scroll.

Then, they go back in time where there are three wolves. So, Peter and Mary climb up a tall tree and Hank stays behind.

David gets the wolves away with his sling. Then, they introduce themselves and Peter and Mary sleep in David's tent.

They wake up the next morning and hear a horn. David knows what it means and goes home, because his parents want him to send food to his brothers.

Peter and Mary go with David and also meet his other brothers who are mean to him.

David goes to the battlefield, and they want to take a shortcut. So, they do, but it is through a valley of darkness and death. There, they meet a bear an scare it off.

David gets to the camp and gives his brothers food.

Then, there is Goliath, and David wants to fight him. He goes to the king's house, tries on the king's armor, and it does not fit.

David is going to fight the next day, and Peter and Mary see a man in black and go spy on him. They find out that he's going to sneak up on David and attack him when he's focused on Goliath. So, they were going to go warn David, but the archangel tells them that they cannot, because they cannot change history. So, they don't tell him and plan to fight him (Satan) themselves.

So, David fights Goliath. He kills him. Then, Satan sneaks up behind David and more adventure continues.

In the end, like in all the books, the kids solve the mystery of the scroll and go back to modern times.

(I dare say, my son's narration of Book 5 was one of the longest narrations he has ever offered me.)

He also said:

In Book Six: The Lion's Roar, Peter Mary, and Hank are at their Uncle Solomon's house. In the house, there is a weird lion that roars and the kids grab a scroll and go back in time to ancient Babylon.

They get there and they see an idol - a fake god. They go into the place and a crow squawks, "Bow." Then, the high priest walks in and tells them to bow. They don't, so he goes to throw them in jail, but Michael the Archangel comes down to protect them.

Then, Peter, Mary, and Hank are chased down by the high priest, and they run to the hanging gardens to meet Michael. After they meet him, they also meet a person who is an Israelite.

Peter, Mary, and Hank go back to the Israelite's house and meet Shadrach. Then, they meet Daniel, and he gets thrown into the lion's den, because he was praying to someone besides the king.

At night, Peter and Mary try to push the rock that covers the den aside to see if Daniel is okay, and the high priest comes and pushes them in.

Michael the Archangel is down there and protects Peter, Mary, and Daniel.

In the end, they figure out all the words to the scroll, and the kids get teleported to modern times.I liked this story, because it was entertaining. I knew the Bible story already and liked seeing how the author told it. It stayed true to the Bible while making it eventful and fun. It also reminded us to trust God.

My son then concluded his thoughts as follows:

I have a question for the author: When will the series end? When will they meet their parents again?

I recommend these books for kids from second to fourth or fifth grade to read on their own or for families to read together. They are family friendly.

You can learn about the Bible and history and have fun reading. I want to read more in the series!

As you can tell, the books engaged my youngest son, and he remembered a lot after reading them. Thus, I would recommend them to others.

In fact, my daughter is not reading Books 5 and 6, and a friend borrowed earlier books in the series from me.

The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Shepherd’s Stone (Book 5), and The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Lion’s Roar (Book 6) are like other books from the same series by WorthyKids Books: engaging and educational, mixing adventure-filled fiction with true Bible stories to bring Bible history alive in a wholesome way for today's kids.