Review–Susan K. Marlow & Kregel Publications

• Susan K. Marlow, author
• Kregel Publications, publisher
• Goldtown Adventures Series: Tunnel of Gold
• Ages 8-12
• $7.99 per book. plus $2.50 shipping and handling
• Combo set: Books 1 & 2  for $13.95.

Jem, his sister Ellie, and his cousin Nathan return in a book as full of adventure as the first book in the Series, Badge of Honor. It is discovered that the only way to get gold out of the Midas Mine is to create an air shaft using an abandoned mine. Unfortunately, the abandoned mine is being used by a Chinese family, who will have to give up their right to work it.

Jem is caught in the middle of a miner’s riot. He quickly finds out the trouble is over a gold mine that has been “played out” or not producing gold anymore. Jem has to think quickly to save the Midas Mine.

Many opportunities for adventure as well as character building lessons arise during the book. Branding cattle, without permission, and then dealing with the consequences, or navigating how to be loyal to both the Chinese Immigrants and family in friends are just a few of the lessons learned.

ClarkClan Experiences

Last December, we reviewed a book by Susan K. Marlow called Badge of Honor. Badge of Honor was the first book in  the Goldtown Adventures Series. Ben and Rebekah were enthralled with the book, which we used as a read-aloud. Each night they would beg me to read “just one more chapter, please?”

When we were given a chance to review the second book in the series, Tunnel of Gold, Ben and Rebekah were very excited. The book came in the mail and we began reading it out loud. I only was able to read about three chapters out loud when I had to leave for a trip. Instead of waiting until I got back, Ben and Rebekah had their Grandma Clark read the book out loud to them.

I was given the report by all three of them, Grandma Clark, Ben, and Rebekah, that they all loved the book. Ben said it was as good as the first book. Rebekah said it was excellent and she really liked it. Grandma Clark said it was a pleasure to read and she liked the characters and how well developed they were.

Not only is the GoldTown Adventures series a set of great books, Susan K. Marlow has also written Enrichment guides for each book. The Enrichment Guides are provided free of charge on the Goldtown Adventures website.   The Enrichment Guide for Tunnel of Gold has five parts. Parts one through four cover the chapters in the book and part five is a page of related web links. The activities in the study correlate with the action in the book. The Enrichment Guide turns the reading of the books into a Literature and History study.

Each part begins with a vocabulary section and then a reading comprehension section. After that the activities vary based on the events in the book. Once part talks about brands, another is a recipe, and yet another part the Trans-Continental Railroad.

Recommendation

Ben and Rebekah both highly recommend the book. They gave it five stars out of five when I asked them what their rating would be. I liked that the book was based on Christian principles but is realistic in it’s characters. They make mistakes, they have problems, but they also trust in God, turning to Him for guidance.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed both books in the GoldTown Adventures Series. Visit the Crew Blog to read what others thought about the books in the series.