SARAH SCHEELE.COM
  • Home
  • Books
    • A Year with the Harrisons
    • Facets of Fantasy
    • This Merry Summertime
    • The Birthday Present
    • The Test of Devotion
    • Bellevere House
    • Victoria: A Tale of Spain
    • The Palladia Series
    • Ryan and Essie
  • Newsletter
  • Book Reviews Blog
  • Contact

The Journey Beyond: Seven Values of the Kingdom by Cheryl A. Matsen-Nieves

10/13/2019

 
Review 5 star

Find It On Amazon
​
The third installment of The Journey Beyond series, Seven Values of the Kingdom is a middle-grade fantasy story. Brother and sister Raphael and Haniel travel through a sequence of symbolic geodes accompanied by their awkward, insecure friend Frogeye, and their companions—a hilarious talking tree, a mystical wolf, a regal white horse, and an owl. At each geode they learn important personal lessons tailored for them as their journey to understand the universe continues. I gradually fell in love with the story and characters, until the climactic end with the rebuilding of the castle filled me with deep satisfaction. As an adult reader, I see how much this story would appeal to children, but the themes and ideas would make many adults feel equally at home.
​
Cheryl A. Matsen-Nieves has a poetic, visionary quality as an author, and The Journey Beyond uses the simplest language to depict deep themes in a really special way. The imagery is thoughtful and quietly beautiful. Each “stone” the characters travel through—stones are portals to the next step of their quest—was individualized and lovely, and the geodes were all different colors with different properties. I loved the pictures of actual gemstones that accompanied the descriptions. Reading Seven Values of the Kingdom was like an imaginative extrapolation of real life, envisioning walking through different jewels. Frogeye’s conclusion surprised me, but I was very pleased with it. This is the kind of book parents should be giving their kids. Recommended for anyone who likes middle-grade fantasy with a wholesome message. 

Comments are closed.
    Picture
    RSS Feed
    Picture

    Author

    This is the companion for Sarah Scheele's newsletter blog. In it I share reviews for books I'd recommend/are similar to my own. 

    I genuinely enjoyed every one of the books that appear on this blog and I recommend all the authors. The "Notable" category is for creative books that don't fully match with a genre category. All the other books are listed under their genre.

    Archives

    August 2022
    September 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019

    Categories

    All
    Chapter Books
    Children's Adventure
    Children's Educational
    Children's Fantasy
    Children's Mystery & Drama
    Christian Devotional
    Nonfiction
    Notable
    Picture Books
    Poetry
    Western
    Women's/Contemporary Fiction
    Young Adult


  • Home
  • Books
    • A Year with the Harrisons
    • Facets of Fantasy
    • This Merry Summertime
    • The Birthday Present
    • The Test of Devotion
    • Bellevere House
    • Victoria: A Tale of Spain
    • The Palladia Series
    • Ryan and Essie
  • Newsletter
  • Book Reviews Blog
  • Contact