Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent (Storybooks for Advent) Paperback – August 26, 2008

I’m a senior and enjoyed this book a lot. The story is interesting, well written, and devotions after each day/chapter are good.Kindle version: There are many formatting mistakes (mostly two words together) and the font color is often not the best - it looks like grayish instead of a well defined black.

My kids (11 and 8) and I are reading this aloud every night currently, and wow this is such a well-written book! My kids love this story and beg for me to read "another chapter Mom, please!". That says a lot! :-) I do recommend this book not only for probably 8 or 9 years old and up, but also teens because it's that good. Also each chapter has a short devotional about the theme that is really good too. A heads up: There's some real-life scenarios that would be too heavy for kids younger than 8 or 9, but parents use discernment.;-) I'll definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading the others in the series! :-)

The book is designed for a parent to read aloud to the family. Children ages 4-10 would probably enjoy the story (the heroes/heroine) are all 10 years old. Readings are broken into sections to be read each day of Advent. At the end of each section are some questions to discuss. The reading always ends on a cliff-hanger so you want to come back every night and read it. Lots of customs and insight into the world of the Jews at the time of Jesus make it interesting even for adults. Great story! So are the sequels: Tabitha's Travels and Bartholomew's Passage. We also got Ishtar's Odyssey. I think it was written later and isn't quite as great, but still really good.

This advent book is perfect for Christmas. As a mom I enjoyed reading an exciting and suspenseful yet biblically sound story with a devotional and lesson that encouraged my spirit and my children’s. It’s great for the family together and we looked forward to it every night. I will mention though, if you have younger children, it can be very descriptive and slightly mature at some parts, for example without giving away the story, death, slavery, violence are mentioned. I just jumped over the descriptive parts and said something vague instead. I still give it 5 stars just parent discretion if you have little ones who might get nightmares and very empathetic you’ll want to be aware to avoid certain parts of the story and find a way around it. My 3 year old lost interest quickly but my 6 and 7 year olds loved it. We look forward to making this a new family tradition and we tie this in with Seeking Shepherd instead of the elf leading up to Christmas.

I'm a college student enjoying my time spent living at home with my parents during the pandemic. My family and I wanted a family advent devotional to use for our after dinner family devotions. This is a great story and I love reading it with my family even as an adult. It's great for families of all ages! Honestly, it's a little scary for really young children (maybe under 6) though as the main character is kidnapped by a pretty scary character who sells him as a slave. It is an entertaining story and every entry has a Bible reference and application at the end. Be prepared though because this is a really LONG story. If you start on December 1, you will have to read every day to keep up and each devotional takes at least 10 minutes if reading out loud. We started early November so that we don't have to read every night and we're still behind!

We have read Jotham's Journey and the rest of the series to our children over the years. They are grown now, but we all have really fond memories of our story time during Advent. These books are really well written and full of adventure and heart. I am now giving these books as gifts to young families. I highly recommend them for yours.

Read this aloud for advent to my family with pre-teens and teens. Everyone loved it and looked forward to it every day. We used a meal as an anchor - we read after the meal while we were still at the table. Great story for the advent season.

My family ranges in age from 5 (my youngest son) to 50 (me). Let me just say at the outset that every one of us loved this book. This is a good story, well told. But before I continue with the review, I want to tell you how we stumbled across this book.Back in July our church called a new pastor. I'm from a denomination that doesn't typically observe the Advent season, but our new pastor, who had never celebrated Advent either, wanted the church to try it. His goal was to help both the church and the families in our church to focus on Christ. It worked!In conjunction with the special services we had at church, each family was encouraged to find a way to set aside some time every day to put everything else aside for a family devotional. We did some extensive research and made a list of resources. My family chose this book. It's sectioned into daily readings, usually just 2 or 3 pages. We made an advent wreath and gathered around it each evening to read. The story is engaging.The central character, a young boy named Jotham, finds his life unexpectedly intertwined with the birth of the Messiah, and learns some important lessons about obedience and responsibility along the way. The story even attempts to show some of the unpleasant consequences of disobedience, and the sometimes harsh realities of life.My only caveat is that the short devotional thought at the end of each day's chapter is a little weak, but I was able to improvise easily and give it a little more substance. That doesn't affect my recommendation. This book gets 5 stars. If you're looking for a way to revitalize your family celebration of Christ's birth, this is a great place to start.