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Mr. Pipes #4
The Accidental Voyage: Discovering Hymns of the Early Centuries
Two American teens travel in Europe with David McCallum, an English organist known in his parish as Mr. Pipes. During a series of hair-raising adventures through time, Mr. Pipes introduces Annie and Drew to sixteen hymns from the early centuries and to hymnists Ambrose of Milan, Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Patrick, and more. Readers of The Accidental Voyage will come away with a new knowledge and appreciation of hymns from the early centuries. Homeschooling families will especially benefit from this resource.
258 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2005
About the author
Douglas Bond
45 books206 followersDouglas Bond, author of more than thirty books--several now in Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, and Korean--is father of six, and grandfather of eleven--and counting--is Director for the Oxford Creative Writing Master Class and the Carolina Creative Writing Master Class, two-time Grace Award book finalist, adjunct instructor in Church history, recent advisory member to the national committee for Reformed University Fellowship, award-winning teacher, speaker at conferences, and leader of Church history tours in Europe.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 15, 2015
Again, I disagree with some of Bond's opinions about contemporary music, but I appreciate his emphasis on truth and not watering down the gospel. The story is a lot of fun, if a little implausible at times, and the stories told and information given is really good.
I do find that the mixture of contemporary fiction story and historical information doesn't work that well for my siblings and I. The history sometimes seems dull beside the fiction (which is silly), and it is very easy to skim or skip. The children in the story seem to remember everything Mr. Pipes tells them, but I can remember very little of it.
I wish I had read the Mr. Pipes books out loud to one of my siblings, as I'm sure I would have profited more from the great history contained in them.
I do find that the mixture of contemporary fiction story and historical information doesn't work that well for my siblings and I. The history sometimes seems dull beside the fiction (which is silly), and it is very easy to skim or skip. The children in the story seem to remember everything Mr. Pipes tells them, but I can remember very little of it.
I wish I had read the Mr. Pipes books out loud to one of my siblings, as I'm sure I would have profited more from the great history contained in them.
July 18, 2014
Great as a family read-aloud; an interesting way to learn the stories behind the great hymn writers and their hymns. This is one of the "Mr. Pipes series"
December 14, 2014
Great hymns and fun storytelling! I wish he included the music as well as the text for the hymns, though.
December 16, 2022
This is the last book of the series, so we missed some context (but clearly not much) by skipping the others, but this was an interesting approach to teaching kids hymnology in an Adventures in Odyssey sort of way.
Some of the historical shaping was overly dramatic (Nero burning Rome and fiddling), while the writing for one of the main characters, Drew, was repetitive and rather annoying. I would say that the evident philosophy of music was rather simplistic at times, but the kids enjoyed it overall and I could at least appreciate the effort to teach and preserve some beautiful, old hymns.
Some of the historical shaping was overly dramatic (Nero burning Rome and fiddling), while the writing for one of the main characters, Drew, was repetitive and rather annoying. I would say that the evident philosophy of music was rather simplistic at times, but the kids enjoyed it overall and I could at least appreciate the effort to teach and preserve some beautiful, old hymns.
May 30, 2017
I enjoyed reading this with my nephew and trying to put on a British accent. Not so much a high-speed adventure, but a novel of history, lessons of faith and character, and occasional humor and excitement. Good for the homeschool student, with nautical terms defined in the back, though there are a few missing.
May 18, 2014
This book follows a brother and sister as they are led on a journey by an older man who explains Christian history- especially hymns- to them. I only made it to chapter 2 before I was offended enough to throw the book away. In the beginning of chapter 2 the brother makes a joke at Scripture’s expense. The older man mildly scolds him, but nothing more is said and the boy doesn’t express repentance.
Scripture is much too holy to use it out of context in order to bring a laugh. Even with the mild rebuke, the joke was still included in the book. I don’t suppose we would excuse the inclusion of a lewd joke even if it was rebuked and a sacrilegious joke is even worse. If the author had wanted to show that such jokes were wrong, he would have been better to have told the type of joke the boy told without telling the joke itself and then had the older man treat it more seriously and had the boy recognize the extent of his sin.
Beyond that, I wasn’t crazy about the book anyway. The same writing effects were used over and over again and the characters weren’t believable, their reactions, particularly the sister’s, seemed staged. I was sad not to like the book, because I love hymns. I also realize that many Christians would not have found the joke offensive. I don’t want to make it seem worse than it was, but in my mind it was bad enough to warrant throwing the whole book away and too bad for me to repeat. May Christians learn to treat God’s Word, God’s Name and God’s Day as holy and not assume that He is like us and can enjoy a "good" laugh at His expense.
Scripture is much too holy to use it out of context in order to bring a laugh. Even with the mild rebuke, the joke was still included in the book. I don’t suppose we would excuse the inclusion of a lewd joke even if it was rebuked and a sacrilegious joke is even worse. If the author had wanted to show that such jokes were wrong, he would have been better to have told the type of joke the boy told without telling the joke itself and then had the older man treat it more seriously and had the boy recognize the extent of his sin.
Beyond that, I wasn’t crazy about the book anyway. The same writing effects were used over and over again and the characters weren’t believable, their reactions, particularly the sister’s, seemed staged. I was sad not to like the book, because I love hymns. I also realize that many Christians would not have found the joke offensive. I don’t want to make it seem worse than it was, but in my mind it was bad enough to warrant throwing the whole book away and too bad for me to repeat. May Christians learn to treat God’s Word, God’s Name and God’s Day as holy and not assume that He is like us and can enjoy a "good" laugh at His expense.
August 29, 2016
Definitely for people who know/enjoy hymns! Fun series to learn about the background of some famous hymns and their authors. This volume has Mr. Pipes and Annie and Drew on an adventure in Italy and then--in an accidental voyage--back to England. Hymn writers covered include St. Patrick, St. Francis, St. Clement, and others. Text will feel preachy to some, but it is much better than most Christian fiction I've read! Bond weaves the information about the hymns along with plenty of theology fairly seamlessly into the story. Our family thoroughly enjoyed it.
November 11, 2016
An excellent read for both children and adults alike. Douglas Bond brings the adventures of Mr. Pipes and the children alive through his wonderful and detailed descriptions of the places and characters introduced in The Accidental Voyage. The gospel is presented clearly throughout the novel, simple enough for children to understand and enjoy. It is rare to find a book which not only contains church history and basic theology, but is written with sound and true doctrine.
January 19, 2015
While this isn't my favorite series by far, I was sad to see it end. I know because of the way it ended and because they never had more trips to England, that chances are there was death after this book. All in all, I am glad we found this series to complement our schooling.
April 24, 2024
"But when people stop believing, they stop worshiping; and when they stop worshiping, they come to the house of God only to see what man has done."
Mr. Pipes
Mr. Pipes
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews