“The music slowed and the final chord ended with a flourish. Annie and Drew held their breath as the music slowly faded and only stillness remained. Suddenly the curtain below the pipes flew back. An old man sitting on an oak bench squinted over the top of his glasses at the wide-eyed children. Neither the old man nor the children spoke for several seconds.”
The Mr. Pipes series by Douglas Bond, which begins with Mr. Pipes and The British Hymn Makers, are exceptionally written books for readers young and old. In Mr. Pipes and The British Hymn Makers, you will meet Annie and Drew, two young Americans who have a distaste for everything old, dismissing it as boring. When they have to spend a whole summer in the little English village of Olney, they gloomily view it as the worst summer ever. Until they are caught up by the village organist who takes charge of them for a summer of stories, new friends, and lots of adventures, the opposite of their expectations!
Douglas Bond has used a captivating storyline to tell readers about the history and origin of hymns. In Mr. Pipes and The British Hymn Makers, he writes, (through the stories of Mr. Pipes) all about the British hymns and their writers. A truly phenomenal book, appealing to both young and old. Fiction, and yet it tells factual stories throughout it. Mr. Pipes and The British Hymn Makers makes a wonderful read aloud, since the characters are captivating, and the stories they share are essential for Christian learning.
Considerations:
Douglas Bond is an Anglican, and therefore the theology in the book reflects this. I have never across anything that I severely disagreed with, however there are somethings that are good to clarify and address with younger readers. When we were reading this book aloud, these corrections were easy to do.
Moral Value: 5
Artistic Value: 5
Overall Value: 5
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