Four kids from various American subcultures all have two things in common—they want to live life their way—and their families or friends want to live life God’s way. This begins the pre Rapture story of Judd—the runaway, Vicki—the rebel, Lionel—the liar, and Ryan—the skeptic. Judd, the surly son of the successful businessman with a strong Christian family, just played the game until at sixteen he’d had enough, stole his dad’s credit card and ran. Vicki, called “trailer trash” is a 14-year-old going on 30, and doesn’t like it when her parents and kid sister get religion. Lionel, also played the church game, but inside he’s still a heathen. Ryan grew up in a family that equated Christianity with fantasy—until his best friend starts attending church . . . Then in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, everything changes.
Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye’s epic Left Behind: The Kids series provides a fascinating chronicle on the Rapture of the Church and the trials tribulations and victories of four teens left behind in the following seven years of apocalyptic chaos. Jesus told his disciples to keep watch regarding his promised return (Matt 25:13). Therefore, all Christians regardless of his or her End Times theology can find entertainment, instruction and encouragement from this series. Excellent writing characterizes The Vanishings, however, introducing four different characters over the first third of the book slows the action of book one. I trust that will be remedied in the following titles in this 40 book series!
Age Range: 10 and up
Genre: Apocalyptic
Series: Left Behind: The Kids, has forty titles in the series
Tyndale 1998
Available: Amazon, Christianbooks.com And ask for this title at your local library
I really liked this book. As a young reader it made me think about wanting to be ready for when Jesus returns.