Unexpected Treasures

by Victoria Osteen, Diane Palmisciano (Illustrations)

Victoria Osteen has gained recognition and respect as a co-pastor of the world famous Lakewood Church together with her husband and best-selling author, Joel Osteen. Her message of faith and love targeted towards women and children have gained her respect and a loyal following of her own.

In Victoria Osteen's new storybook series, she takes her readers on exhuberant fantasy adventures that encourage children to use their imaginations to grow in their faith and inspiration. In this tale on the high-seas, two friends, "Captain" Jon and his "First Mate" Sue, embark on an adventure of imagination and discovery. While exploring the world on their imaginary ship, they rescue a couple of grumpy pirates whose boat has crashed while sailing after the ultimate treasure. Told with yo-ho-ho, sing-songy rhymes, these two adventurous friends teach the pirates that the best treasure of all is the love in our hearts.

A fun treasure map and answer-aloud question section at the end of the story encouage parents and children to talk about the lessons they've just learned and to discover the adventure in their own daily lives.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 6, 2009

About the author

Victoria Osteen is the wife of inspirational speaker Joel Osteen. They are both professing Christians and travel the world speaking positive messages into the atmosphere. They have written books too.

Reviews

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I pulled this book thinking it might work with the summer water theme. I didn't notice the author. This is a bit nauseating of a book, with its "forced" lessons and rhyming that does not flow well in rhythm. But I'm sure there is an audience for it.

[S.N. Arly · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only good thing I can say about this book is that it provided a teachable moment wherein I explained to my children that they could have whatever religious beliefs they wanted, but it should be because they have chosen these beliefs, not because they've been tricked into them.

We picked this up at the library. I paged through the first half and it looked like a slightly over the top "be nice to people" book, but otherwise fine. Like some other reviewers I found the rhyming pattern actually hurt the story, forcing unnatural repetition and language use from the characters. About halfway through, it suddenly turns from a children's imaginary pirate adventure to a preachy god book. There was nothing on the cover or back to warn me that I was very definitely not the target audience for this.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is religious though I did not realize that till I was part way through. It is really long... let me repeat really long and didatic. They try to rhyme but there is no rythme to the reading. Ages 5+

[Carryl Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that makes children think they hate books. Good children's books can teach morals well, but they should not sacrifice quality or fun. Parents are likely to like this book because of its Christian theme but children will likely find it overly wordy, long and preachy. I was also put off by the badly constructed poetry.

[Chee Keong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. A good story book for children.