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Mr. Pipes #3
Mr. Pipes Comes to America
This novel is the third volume in the Mr. Pipes series. It provides readers with a wealth of inspiring information regarding the lives of famous American hymn writers. Annie and Drew continue their action-packed adventures as Mr. Pipes visits America and teaches them about great hymns from American history. Grades 7-10.
194 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2007
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About the author
Douglas Bond
79 books227 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 29, 2016
This book was the best!!! Dr. Dudley was HILAROUS! XD A must read!
September 30, 2020
3 stars & 3/10 hearts. I don’t love this one as I love book one. It is highly hilarious and does have some good quotes and thoughts. I don’t agree with most of Bond’s ideas, though, especially about no more hymns being written in America. And his criticism of "In the Garden" is ridiculous and incorrect. But I love reading the beautiful hymns, the reminders of God’s watching over us, and seeing Dr. Dudley, Drew, and Mr. Pipes. ;)
July 28, 2015
Loved it so much! All three of the Mr. Pipes books are fantastic. Wonderful to read to children and adults alike. Glean a reformed perspective on worship by studying the stories behind the hymn and the life of the hymn writer and composer alike. We can all learn more about the hymns we sing in praise to our Almighty King!
A snippet from one of my favorite parts....
“But lots of people who sing praise choruses,” said Annie, “really do love Jesus—the songs are all about a close relationship with Jesus—most of them.”
“I don’t entirely doubt that, Annie,” said Mr. Pipes. “But, alas, the praise choruses of the postmodern church often feature a vague sort of relationship—a familiarity based on rather elastic sorts of notions about God—ones that can be stretched and pulled to fit in with popular ideas. Hold a great hymn of Ray Palmer, for example, up next to a praise chorus and you will observe several important differences.
“Like what?” asked Annie.
“The timeless hymns of the church are full of the reasons for our sung devotion to God. Praise choruses contain less and less doctrine so the praise springs not from clearly stated truths about God, His person and works, but from an ill-defined feeling of love and adoration. And the one doing the singing is much more the focus of consideration in most praise choruses than God, the stated object of the praise.”
“What do you mean” asked Annie.
“Well, typical first lines of postmodern praise singing illustrate my point best: “I bless You,” “I only want to love You,” and “I just want to praise You.” What we are doing and hoping to get out of this kind of singing seems much more important than the more difficult work of extolling the attributes and works of our Lord in a more Psalm-like manner.”
“But lots of the praise choruses are straight from Scripture,” said Annie, “even from the Psalms. How can there be anything wrong with those?”
“One must look at the bigger picture of what is happening in the church. The Psalms have been sung for thousands of years, but there is an important and disturbing difference between the Psalm singing of historic Christianity and today’s singing of portions of the Psalms.”
“How is it different?” asked Drew.
“Christian musicians today edit out the more complex doctrinal portions of Psalms and merely leave the praising bit in—now with fewer, if any, reasons stated for that praise. The simplest parts of Psalms are sung today—usually sung over and over again creating a warm but often only vague feeling of adoration.”
“So is feeling . . . bad in worship?” asked Annie.
“By no means,” replied Mr. Pipes. “The Psalms and the hymns of the church are full of deep emotion and heart-felt praise. But that spiritual feeling always follows objective doctrinal truth adorned in the poetry. The church today has an insatiable appetite for the religious feelings hoped for in worship but virtually no appetite for the theological content that must come first and inform the experience of God’s presence in our worship.”
“It’s sort of like you can’t get there from here,” said Drew. “You can’t have real feelings without the reasons for the feelings, right?”
“Precisely,” said Mr. Pipes.
(Mr. Pipes Comes to America, p. 183-84)
A snippet from one of my favorite parts....
“But lots of people who sing praise choruses,” said Annie, “really do love Jesus—the songs are all about a close relationship with Jesus—most of them.”
“I don’t entirely doubt that, Annie,” said Mr. Pipes. “But, alas, the praise choruses of the postmodern church often feature a vague sort of relationship—a familiarity based on rather elastic sorts of notions about God—ones that can be stretched and pulled to fit in with popular ideas. Hold a great hymn of Ray Palmer, for example, up next to a praise chorus and you will observe several important differences.
“Like what?” asked Annie.
“The timeless hymns of the church are full of the reasons for our sung devotion to God. Praise choruses contain less and less doctrine so the praise springs not from clearly stated truths about God, His person and works, but from an ill-defined feeling of love and adoration. And the one doing the singing is much more the focus of consideration in most praise choruses than God, the stated object of the praise.”
“What do you mean” asked Annie.
“Well, typical first lines of postmodern praise singing illustrate my point best: “I bless You,” “I only want to love You,” and “I just want to praise You.” What we are doing and hoping to get out of this kind of singing seems much more important than the more difficult work of extolling the attributes and works of our Lord in a more Psalm-like manner.”
“But lots of the praise choruses are straight from Scripture,” said Annie, “even from the Psalms. How can there be anything wrong with those?”
“One must look at the bigger picture of what is happening in the church. The Psalms have been sung for thousands of years, but there is an important and disturbing difference between the Psalm singing of historic Christianity and today’s singing of portions of the Psalms.”
“How is it different?” asked Drew.
“Christian musicians today edit out the more complex doctrinal portions of Psalms and merely leave the praising bit in—now with fewer, if any, reasons stated for that praise. The simplest parts of Psalms are sung today—usually sung over and over again creating a warm but often only vague feeling of adoration.”
“So is feeling . . . bad in worship?” asked Annie.
“By no means,” replied Mr. Pipes. “The Psalms and the hymns of the church are full of deep emotion and heart-felt praise. But that spiritual feeling always follows objective doctrinal truth adorned in the poetry. The church today has an insatiable appetite for the religious feelings hoped for in worship but virtually no appetite for the theological content that must come first and inform the experience of God’s presence in our worship.”
“It’s sort of like you can’t get there from here,” said Drew. “You can’t have real feelings without the reasons for the feelings, right?”
“Precisely,” said Mr. Pipes.
(Mr. Pipes Comes to America, p. 183-84)
May 5, 2008
The third in the Mr. Pipes series can only improve upon the first two. Mr. Pipes travels to New England with Dr. Dudley to see a few historic sites with Drew and Annie before heading to the west coast to spend Christmas with their parents. The humor that amused the readers in the first two books hasn’t disappeared, nor has Dr. Dudley’s disdain for things not British or his overbearing concern for Mr. Pipes’ health. The storyline is just as charming, and children will read it for the mere pleasure of it.
However, the main ideas that are constantly reinforced are Godly behavior, understanding and sharing the Bible, contrasting good hymnody and shallow songs, appropriate music, poetry, great men of faith, and doctrine. Mr. Pipes teaches an excellent course on great Church hymnody effortlessly and very enjoyably to all readers. Highly to be recommended!
However, the main ideas that are constantly reinforced are Godly behavior, understanding and sharing the Bible, contrasting good hymnody and shallow songs, appropriate music, poetry, great men of faith, and doctrine. Mr. Pipes teaches an excellent course on great Church hymnody effortlessly and very enjoyably to all readers. Highly to be recommended!
February 3, 2015
This is our third Mr. Pipes book that we have read aloud together and we have one more in the series to read. This one takes place in and around Boston around Christmas time. I didn't find the hymnwriter content as interesting as the other books, but maybe that says something about American hymnwriters and not Douglas Bond's writing.
There are many times where the dialogue seems a bit contrived, even a bit preachy, although I have no issue with the hymnology ideas presented by Douglas Bond through the character of Mr. Pipes. I understand the problems with modern worship music, it just doesn't always work for me as an adult. But these books aren't for adults and Seth seems to be interested in finishing the series, so we will be reading The Accidental Voyage later this year.
There are many times where the dialogue seems a bit contrived, even a bit preachy, although I have no issue with the hymnology ideas presented by Douglas Bond through the character of Mr. Pipes. I understand the problems with modern worship music, it just doesn't always work for me as an adult. But these books aren't for adults and Seth seems to be interested in finishing the series, so we will be reading The Accidental Voyage later this year.
August 4, 2016
An enjoyable, informative, and inspiring book for children or adults.
At first I didn't like Dr. Dudley--he is rather childish and unbelievable, but after a while I just accepted it, and he was sort of funny.
Though I occasionally enjoy a chorus, I agree with Mr. Bond and Mr. Pipes that the majority of old hymns are much deeper and better for true worship of God.
At first I didn't like Dr. Dudley--he is rather childish and unbelievable, but after a while I just accepted it, and he was sort of funny.
Though I occasionally enjoy a chorus, I agree with Mr. Bond and Mr. Pipes that the majority of old hymns are much deeper and better for true worship of God.
August 12, 2016
I'm in a quandary with all the Mr. Pipes books. I love the subject matter, but I'm not sure the format works the best.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews