Customer Reviews

Left Behind: The Kids: The Vanishings (Left Behind: The Kids (Pb))

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

In the original "Left Behind" series LaHaye and Jenkins tell a story of what would happen if Christ "raptured" his Church today - taking all of his faithful believers to heaven with him. In "The Kids" series the authors have made a haphazard attempt at adapting their story to a bunch of teenagers whom are all in some way connected to the adults of the original series.

I enjoy the adult series, but as a Sunday School teacher I have a lot of apprehensions about giving this book to children in the 9-12 age range that I so often see it listed as. This book only gets through the first quarter of the first in the adult book. The "ungodly" pasts of the characters is told to explain why they were not taken, but the story does not go far enough. The book cuts off too early and never shows the kids themselves making the realization that their actions are responsible for them being "left behind".

Be careful with this book. It should not just be handed to children, but backed up by discussions with adults who have also read the book. I would recommend using it in a group study however as the chapters are short enough that children ought to be able to read a chapter per week.

Why 3 stars? I like Jenkins and LaHaye. This book has merit and would be good in a group study. But I found certain segments of the book to be "too adult" for nine year olds.

I am a parent, a homeschooler, a conservative, and a committed Christian. I say all this up front so that my criticism of this series will be understood.

I believe in presenting the truth to my children to the best of my ability.

This means the truth of the Bible -- not the opinion of an extreme minority.

This means the truth of Church History -- warts and all.

This means the truth of Secular History.

This means the truth of what comprises good literature vs. poor literature -- and this series does not represent the quality of material I want my children to handle.

Truth is frequently painful and sometimes scary.

HOWEVER, I do NOT believe in deliberately frightening children into accepting or rejecting a particular opinion or viewpoint. It appears to this parent that such religious "scare tactics" are precisely what is being engaged in with these books.

My children know about heaven and hell. They know what it requires to end up in either of those destinations. They understand that hell is a pretty scary place. But I choose to teach them in a positive, rather than in a negative vein. Being "scared straight" is imperfect contrition. Granted, it beats no contrition at all -- but it results in fear rather than love.

This is what this series appears to accomplish: salvation through fear, rather than salvation through acceptance of the love of the God of Love.

Parents, pay attention to what your children read. Teach them about the love of God, not only through your words but through the example of your life. But don't try to frighten them into the Kingdom.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

I have read the original Left Behind series and loved it. I thought my 8 year old son might enjoy the kids. Fortunately I read the first two before he did because he is not ready. I strongly suggest that the parent read the book first, and knowing your child, decide whether they are ready for it or not.

I have to say that this book is by far the best book that I have read in my entire life. I was not very much a reader until I started reading these books. I have read 1-15 so far and they just get better and better.
I would highly recommend this to anyone aboe to read and understand what the rapture is. This is a good book and an easy way for young children to understand as they make the kids be left beind and show how their lives are with out god.
So come and join Judd, Lionel,Vicki and Ryan as they all struggle seven of the worst years that they are going to ever experience in their life time.

I thought that this book seemed very imaginative, when the truth is that it really will happen one day. The whole series is about four kids who get left behind when the Rapture happens. The Rapture is when Christ comes down and takes the Christians up to heaven with him. These four kids, Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and Ryan, are in the same town, so they meet when they go to their church after waking up to empty homes. Vicki, Judd, and Lionel become Christians first; Ryan was hesitant because of the pain of losing his parents, his mother in a car accident and his father in a plane accident. The others kids' parents went up to heaven. This book was hard to get into, but when you are a way into the middle, you won't want to put it down. This book captivated me. I was dying to read the sequel. This book made me want to become a REAL Christian for fear of this happening to me. If you buy this book, Left Behind the Kids: the Vanishings, I suggest that you buy them in the complete set before you go crazy looking for the rest in the series. I don't know what will happen by the end of the series, but why don't you read along, and we can find out together in these books.

Let me start out by saying that I love the premise. Unfortunately, that is about all I loved about the series. The writing is completely lacking in artistry and features characters that are so flat that it is very hard to care what happens to them. I have read the first six books, and amazingly little has happened thus far. It was only the bits of biblical prophesy sprinkled throughout that have held my interest. The authors have managed to make the apocalypse boring!!!!!
I guess my biggest complaint is that there is no subtlety about these books at all. The message could have been much more powerful if only it had not been so blatant. It was just too preachy for my liking, coming across more like propaganda than young adult literature.

I am going to tell you about a great book that i have been reading. The book is called Left Behind.It is about these four kids who have never met each other before.
They all end up meeting because they all run in to the same problem. Their Families have disappeared right out of their clothes. they all are shocked and are wondering what in the world is going on. Then they meet someone who tells them that jesus has came to rapture his church of all the people who believe in him. They got left behind because they were not believers. And now they need major help they need to talk to someone to help them understand what is happening.
I would really recommend this book to kids from the ages of 12-adult. These books are really inspiring. They have changed my perspective on life you need to enjoy life while you can. so why not join Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and Ryan in their adventure of the seven worst years of their lives.

Please, please, parents -- I absolutely adore the Left Behind series. But what I am talking about is not the one "for kids", though I obviously am part of the group the kids series is targeted towards. No, I avidly read the real Left Behind books, and I encourage kids everywhere to do the same, because they are excellent books, especially for those seeking a stronger faith. However, the kids series is not without its flaws. The other day, I was reading the original series, and a guy I know comes up and tells me that the books are terrible. "Why?" I ask defensively and a little bit angrily. Was he insulting Christianity or the writing style?

The latter, as it turns out. And he had directed the comment at the kids series, which is what he had mistaken my book for. He had gotten zip, zero, nothing out of the kids series when his mom had pushed the books on him. But I read a couple pages out of "Tribulation Force" and a bit of the action in the original "Left Behind," and he (not to mention the two or three kids sitting next to our table) was hooked. See? Don't spoil it for your kids. Either let them read the original now, or wait a year or two until they can handle the admittedly longer real series. Thanks for reading!

I've had this book for years and I'm just now reading it. At first I didn't want nothing to do with it because I was into Wicca but after being saved I decided to give it a try. I was very amazed.

In the first chapter the action starts. Throughout the first chapters you are introduced to Vicky,Ryan,Judd, and Lionel and you learn about them and what they are like. In the second half you get their reaction to the Rapture and see how it affects them. The last chapter all four of the kids meet up and watch a video that was left by The Pastor of a local church.

If you are a kid or teen and want a good book on what will happen when the Rapture takes place this is it.

Penny Lane

I am a 14 year old who for a English project chose to write about this book. I do not like to read, but once I started reading this book, I found it hard to put down. I know this book is fiction, but the rapture is going to happen and we all better be ready. This book got me thinking that I need to have a stronger relationship with God. I do not want to be one of those kids left behind. For the mother who thinks this book is nothing but a scare tacktic, if you think this book would scare them, just think of what they would feel if God comes and their not with him in the rapture. Sometimes the truth is what we need.