Truth Seekers Mystery Series
Authors: Christina and Felice Gerwitz
Publisher: Media Angels
For more information or to order: www.mediaangels.com

Written by a homeschool student and her mom, the books in the Truth Seekers Mystery Series are so much more than "who-dunnits".  The authors successfully weave mystery and intrigue with clear explanations of facts that support a Creation science perspective.  For those of us who are Christians, this series will help our children to better understand those who hold to a humanistic, evolutionary view of the earth, man and dinosaurs.  As your family reads these books, they will find their faith strengthened and be armed with facts to support a Biblical worldview.

So far there have been three books released in the series: The Missing Link: Found, Dinosaur Quest at Diamond Peak and, the latest title, The Keys to the Past: Unlocked.  We were sent the first two titles for this review.  Throughout the series you will get to know the Murphy family led by archeologist-turned-professional photographer, Jack.  Teens Anna and Christian help their father on various assignments and find themselves on the edge (sometimes literally) of some hair-raising experiences.  Science facts are related as the teens discuss discoveries with those characters who do not hold the same beliefs as their family.  Throughout these discussions lots of detailed information is relayed, which can sometimes be a bit challenging for the reader to wade through.  Thankfully, the authors have included an extensive glossary and bibliography for those who wish to do more reading.  Felice Gerwitz has also written literature guides, which we'll talk about next.  Even though these books contain quite a bit of science jargon - after all this is a science-based series -- the stories have a smooth flow and are a lot of fun to read. 

As mentioned above, Felice has done an excellent job providing an opportunity for deeper study and understanding of both science and language arts concepts in the form of literature guides corresponding to each title.  She begins each chapter's lessons with reading comprehension questions - great for sparking discussion with your children.  Rounding out the language arts study, the guide provides vocabulary words for the student to define and a discussion of story elements such as character, plot and setting as well as drawing attention to literary techniques such as foreshadowing.  She also includes activities that encourage the student to use what they've learned to write their own stories.  More than just a literature study, the guides contain activity suggestions and leading questions for the student to "Dig Deeper" into the scientific information presented throughout the book.  This helps to further solidify their understanding of the facts presented both on the side of evolution and creation science, including topics such as carbon-14 and radioactive dating.

As a mom, I find that I need all the help I can get instilling strong family values and a Biblical worldview in my children.  Whether you prefer to use them as part of your curriculum with the literature guides or as an enjoyable family read aloud, the Truth Seekers Mystery Series delivers scientific facts, suspense and faith - all wrapped up in an action-packed mystery with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing to the very end!

Making the Grade: A
Cost: $8.99 for each book, $6.50 for the literature guides
Value for your homeschool dollar: 10
Reviewed by Cindy Prechtel, Editor