Customer Reviews

Tabitha's Travels: A Family Story for Advent (Jotham's Journey Trilogy)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Our family absolutely loved Jotham's Journey and have recommended it to many people. We were very excited to pick up Tabitha's Travels, especially since we have several girls. The Christmas message is vividly displayed through Tabitha's experiences as she meets Jotham and then travels with her father to try to find Jotham after they realize that the caravan with which they sent the boy has placed him in terrible danger.

From the beginning Tabitha resents being a girl who isn't allowed to do all that the boys are doing. She is very smart and has many good ideas, but several times she is the only one can can solve a problem, making her a heroine. Several times in the story, she "comes to the rescue". Whereas in Jotham's Journey, Jotham's disobedience gets him into trouble; Tabitha disobeys but because it works out well, the disobedience is overlooked. Early on she thinks how boys would complain in her situation, but she doesn't because girls have to learn not to complain.
Tabitha's desire to be treated like a boy was so strong that it overwhelmed other parts of the story for us. Not until she meets Zechariah and he gives her wonderful words of wisdom is this issue addressed properly in the book.
Still a good story, but definitely not at the level of Jotham's Journey or even Bartholomew's Passage.

This is a great way to spend some time with your children during the Christmas season. We've also read "Jotham's Journey" and enjoyed it even more. My kids, even though they are getting older (11 and 15), still enjoy reading these every year.

After reading some lukewarm reviews, and thoroughly enjoying Jotham's Journey last Advent, I was apprehensive about including Tabitha's Travels into our 2010 Advent activities. Also, with two 6-year old boys, I was skeptical that a book with a girl as the main character would hold their interest. No worries. They plead for us to read more chapters each night and really get into the adventure. I think that the author has done an amazing job of telling a realistic old story with vivid details that capture even the youngest of imaginations. Yes, there are some suspenseful moments and some violence, but hey, the Bible has some of these too, yes? These tense moments can easily be explained to younger children and used as a tool to explain real world events. We have appreciated the discussion at the end of each chapter to assist families in real life application of the lesson of the day. Our family only has the highest praise for all of Mr. Ytreeide's Advent books and they have added a special richness to our celebration.

We had been waiting for Tabitha's Travels to be reprinted and are so excited to have it. It is a perfect compliment to the other 2 books in the series!

The subtitle of this book is, "A family story for advent." That, in our opinion, is extremely misleading. I've started reading it to my 9 and 4 year old sons and have had to edit several parts heavily because they were so scary. I would abandon the book altogether at this point except for the fact that they are so caught up in the story that they want to know how it turns out. Maybe a more appropriate subtitle would be, "A family story for advent for families whose children are all over the age of ten and not subject to nightmares."

This book was given to me as a birthday present, a I read it continuously. It truly is a story that keeps you turning each page, and I enjoyed that scene and plot. Arnold Ytreeide didn't do a bad job. Keep it up, Ytreeide!

This book is a wonderful advent book for the whole family. Designed to read a portion each day of the advent season with cliff hangers each day leading upt to the greatest gift of all.

This book is so well written - my 3 boys (ages 6-12) always BEG for me to read ANOTHER CHAPTER every night - and sometimes I give in because I want to know what happens next! The devotionals after each chapter are very personal and speak to all of us. We have used the other 2 books in this series for the past 2 years. We love the way the 3 books/adventures are all inter-woven. This series has made our advent tradition exciting and very meaningful. This is a our favorite part of Christmas.

Most items for Advent are pretty dry. The authors mean well, but they don't engage every age. This one, along with its partner books like Jotham's Journey (awesome book) engage all of our children ages 18-1 when my husband reads it each night during Advent. Every day leaves us with a cliff hanger. Many days have funny things said by richly written characters that have us rolling in laughter. We had wanted Tabitha's Travels after reading Jotham's Journey, but for a while it was out of print, and going for over $60 on Ebay. As soon as I saw that it was available again from the publisher I snapped it up on Amazon. Don't hesitate. I know you will love it, and will wind up recommending it to your friends, too.

If you like being on the edge of your seat after every chapter then you will love all Arnold Ytreeide stories. At this point, he has four books out. My kids of all ages adore these books. We have read and reread them outloud together as a family. His new book is during the time period before Easter. Fabulous!