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Ishtar's Odyssey Extras

Ishtar's journey was so long it takes three maps to follow it all!

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From: Silas

 

Dear Mr. Ytreeide,

I like your books. Could you make a book about Nathan and Silas? My name is Silas too and I am 9 years old. One of my favorite characters in Jotham's Journey is Nathan. We just finished Amon's Adventure. Bye!!

 

Arnold Ytreeide

Silas -

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Thank you for your kind and thoughtful message!

 

One of MY favorite characters is Nathan, too! Although I kind of like them all :)

 

I'll have to think about another book with Nathan, but it sounds like fun. He shows up in some of the other books, of course, especially in Bartholomew's Passage. I'm just starting a new book that follows Jotham's grandson, Enoch. He's a mischievous boy, and so is Nathan, so maybe I'll have to include Nathan there. Hmmmm. I'll have to think about that, but at the moment I really like the idea!

 

As for Silas, a man with that name is healed in the book about Jotham's grandson, Ethan. In fact, I just got an email from the publisher about ten minutes ago letting me know that his book, Ethan's Challenge, will be coming out on September 23rd (2025). In that book, Ethan (13) goes on a missionary trip with Paul and Barnabas, and gets into all kinds of trouble.

 

But the Silas we usually think of shows up in the book after that, about Jotham's grandDAUGHTER, Eliana. She also goes on a missionary trip, this time with Paul and SILAS. That book will be coming out a year from September.

 

Both Ethan and Eliana are children of Amon, along with their brother Enoch. Each of them has their own book (coming up) as they travel with the apostle Paul.

 

Of course, Amon isn't done with his adventures either; Amon's Secret and Amon's Mission take him through some new and scary territory.

 

If all of this is really confusing, you can see all the books in order at JothamsJourney.com

 

But I really like the idea of having Nathan show up in Enoch's book, so thanks for suggesting I bring him back! I wonder how old he is now???

 

I pray for God's blessings on you, Silas, and on your family.

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Arnold Ytreeide

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From: Joan

Message: I teach the first grade in church and at Christmas I try to find good books to give the kids. As I was searching, I happened across Jotham's Journey.  I began reading it to my 98-year-old mother each night and it was difficult not to read ahead. We have since read the Easter book and are now reading Amon's Secret. I must say that the Lord has spoken to my heart more than once during this journey, so I am so thankful to have found them. My mom is also always anxious to go on to the next chapter! Thank you.

 

Arnold Ytreeide:

Thank you so much for your very kind note. I do believe that 98 is the oldest audience my books have ever had! It is an honor to have such a saint listen to these stories. God's blessings on you as you teach, and care for your mother. Thank you for writing!

 

Arnold

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From: Rebekah

Subject: More Invention + Adventure Books

Message: Hello! Our two boys, ages 11 and 12, are by nature inventive, creative, and design minded. I originally checked with our local library to see if they had any recommendations on chapter books that included invention with adventure. They were super helpful, but the result was that there were hardly any books like that. We had heard from friends about Jotham's Journey about that same time, and I had started it as a read aloud to the whole family and they were loving it. So one day I googled your name to see if it would turn up any books in the invention + adventure catagory and I was super excited to find the Mike Danford series! Our boys have been BLOWING through them and absolutely loving them! They are nearing the end of the series and I am again in search of books in this same category. Do you have any other books/series you would recommend? Thank you! And thanks for using your talents from the Lord to bless our family.

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Arnold Ytreeide:

Hello Rebekah, and thank you so much for the kind words and exciting report! I just LOVE to hear about kids reading the Danford series, I guess because I so love writing them!  FYI, Danford #11 should be out in early summer, and there will be at least one after that: each of my grandkids get to write one with me when they turn eight, and the last grandkid is just turning seven:)

 

As for other series, I don't know of a lot that include inventing as part of the premise. The one series I DO know is the "Tom Swift" series. But I'll have to clarify:

 

When my dad was young, he read the ORIGINAL Tom Swift series in the 1930s. Tom did things like invent a motorcycle.

When I was young, I read the NEW Tom Swift series, in the 1960s. Tom's son, Tom, did things like invent a floating highway over the jungle. When MY son was young, he tried reading the NEW new Swift series in the 1990s. They were awful. Don't go there.

But now I've heard there is a continuance of the series called "Tom Swift Inventor's Academy." I don't know anything about it, but it's fairly recent so at least it takes place in the current world. 

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Thank you again for your kind message, and please greet your kids for me! I'd love to hear their feedback on any of the books.

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Blessings on you all!

Arnold

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From: Andrew

Subject: New Books

Message: Just curious, I got the Mike Danford Adventure series books 7-10 for Christmas and have already read almost all of them. I absolutely love these books, and was wondering if there are any more that are going to come out, or if book 10 was the last book of the series. Thanks!

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Arnold Ytreeide:

Hi Andrew -

It's good to hear from you again.

I'm so glad you're enjoying the books - you're sure reading through them fast! To answer your question, yes, the plan is that the Mike Danford series will continue. For how long I can't say, but at least two more books. The next one should be out in early summer (2025), but that depends on many things. I'm in the midst of finishing up the next (9th) book in the Jotham's Journey series, which has a deadline of March 15th, so after that I'll get serious about Mike's next adventure -- not that I'm not already working on it:)

Blessings on you and your family!

Arnold

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From: Matthew

Subject: When can I read Amon's Adventure?

Message: 2022 we read Jotham, 2023 we read Bartholomew, and in 2024 we read Tabitha and we plan to read Isthar in 2025. Should we wait until 2026 to read Amon's Adventure or can we read it in 2025? What about Amon's Secret and Amon's Mission, can we read those in 2025 after Amon's Adventure?

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Arnold Ytreeide:

Hi Matthew - great question!

 

It would be "okay" to read Amon in 2025, but just be aware that Ishtar does show up in Amon as an adult (as do Jotham, Bart, and Tabitha) so that might be a little weird. On the other hand, my experience is that children adapt really easily and would probably fully understand next Advent when you read about him as a child.

 

Other than that, there's no reason to wait. But the books should be read in order after that: Amon's Adventure covers the Easter story, Amon's Secret covers the book of Acts from the ascension through Paul's conversion, Amon's Mission covers Acts from the beginnings of the church up to Paul's 1st missionary journey. The next (and last) three books follow Amon's kids as each of them goes on one of Paul's journeys with him.

 

Hope that helps! And I'd love to hear your feedback on the newer  books if you read those!

 

Blessings on you all --

Arnold

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From: Ben

Subject: Great for all ages!

We first joined the JQP train when our youth leader read a portion of Jotham's Journey to our high school football team. Now we rotate through the four books every year with our five kiddos (5-12yo). We've thoroughly steeped JQP's books into our family's Christmas traditions and have 6+ years of these under our belts! (I still cry almost every night reading the devotional at the end of each chapter.) lol

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Arnold Ytreeide:

Ben -

Thank you so much for your kind message. I believe this is the first time I've ever heard of our books being read to a football team! It's so good to hear from families who continue to honor Advent, and I look forward to hearing from you again when it starts all over with the GRANDchildren:)

 

This year I'm reading Jotham to one of our grandchildren for the first time, and I have to admit that I, too, have a hard time keeping the tears at bay -- not because of the writing, but because of the message. Many blessings on you and your family as we celebrate the birth of Christ!

 

Arnold

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From: Carrie

I would love to see more of the Mike Danford Adventure Series on Audible. Or if not Audible, then another means for it to be read in audio. This is SO helpful for our homeschool lunch hour as we listen to our books as we read along as well! Thank you~

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Arnold Ytreeide:

We have good news for you, Carrie!

ALL of the Mike Danford series is slated to be released in audio book form in the coming months!

It will take some time, of course, since it's the same AMAZING voice (Allen B. Ellis) doing all of them, and it's quite an involved process. But  that's the plan!

We'll be doing them in order, and the next book -- Tracking Bigfoot -- has already been recorded. It's going through its final mastering process, but should be available within the month.

Thanks for writing, and I hope this helps you in your work!

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From: Carrie

Oh how lovely! This is fantastic news as I have already planned out our homeschool read aloud for this upcoming school year, I planned for Submarine Spy and Tracking Bigfoot in our 2nd Semester.  This seems to work out perfectly. Then of course,  the following year, we'll continue with each one as it becomes available. Thank you so much for your time and good news!!

p.s. My kids and I LOVE Arnold Ytreeide's books!! It all started will reading Jotham's Journey through Ishtar's Odyssey.  Arnold is a fantastic writer. (God-given talent) 

In Him

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From: Erin

My kids wanted me to write to say how much we all LOVE your books. We were SO excited to go on here and see that there are more books to come as we were going to request that you write more! These books have really helped shape the way that we view some of the biblical events and they bring it to life so well.

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Arnold Ytreeide:

Erin and Family -

Thank you so much for the kind words of encouragement -- it truly means a lot to me, and makes all the researching and writing worthwhile. Yes, God willing, there will be more volumes in both of my current series, and some future works besides. Another 20 or 30 hours in every day would be helpful, if you could pray for that please:)

Many blessings on you all.

Arnold

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From Rachel:

I have read all your books except for Angel Express and have loved them all! I look forward to reading Angel Express soon and (Hopefully!) more

 

Arnold Ytreeide:

Rachel -

Thank you so much for your message. I'm so glad you're enjoying the books! I hope you like Angel Express just as much. Keep reading, and remember that There's Nothing Wrong with Doing Right!

Arnold

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From Gay:

As Easter approaches I am getting out our Amon books and I was reminded that a new addition is coming. May we expect to have it available soon? As with so many fans, we adore Amon, Jotham, Tabitha, Bartholemew and all of the characters who have now become part of our family. Thank you for the passion you pour into the gift God has given you. We are immensely blessed.

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Arnold Ytreeide:

Hi Gay, and thanks for writing!

 

The publisher just recently let us know that Amon's Mission will be released on September 17th (2024).

 

This is book #7 in what will be a 10 book series (counting the four Advent books). "Mission" and the subsequent books will cover all of the book of Acts and all of the epistles as Amon and his future family continue to have adventures! 

 

Blessings on you, and thank you again for your email!

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From Anna:

Subject: Love the Mike Danford Series

Message: I absolutely love the Mike Danford Adventure Series. I have just finished reading the 9th book of Mike and Josh. It was a very amazing and well written book. Please write many more of them. This Christmas we read Tabitha, and it was amazing, we love the story and above all we love the adventure. Keep up the good work, by the way we love the cliff hangers. The cliff hangers keep me up late into the night reading away. You're doing an amazing job writing these amazing books.

  

Arnold Ytreeide

Anna -

Thank you so much for writing! I'm glad you like the books because they sure are fun to write. And don't worry -- more are on the way!

Arnold

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From Wyatt:

Subject: More please!

Message: We have been using the Jotham's Journey advent series as well as the Easter stories for about 7 years. They are fantastic. We have read the whole advent set twice (or more) and they are still great. My only gripe is that there are only 4 (+1 Easter) books. We want more. To be clear they don't need to be in the Jotham's Journey story world. I just love the way you integrate a thoughtful devotional into each chapter it is such a great advent adventure and experience for our family. Thanks so much and write more...notably I think my big kids would appreciate a story that follows someone a little older wrestling with teen issues rather than child issues.

 

Arnold Ytreeide:

Wyatt -

 

We do so appreciate your comments! And the fact is, there already ARE more books, and even more are coming! The publisher of this series -- Kregel Publications -- asked me a few years ago for a whole series, continuing on from Amon's Adventure. "Amon's Secret" is already out, and follows the beginnings of the early church. "Amon's Mission" is done and will be published in the coming months: Amon is now sixteen, and facing some very adult problems and decisions (boys were typically married between 13 and 18 in those days). I'm writing the next book in the series right now, which follows Amon's son and covers Paul's first missionary journey. Future books will cover the rest of Acts and the New Testament.

 

None of these "new" books -- from Amon's Secret on -- are tied to one particular time of year. Of course, any of the books can be read at any time of year, but there are no holidays to follow with the newest books, so they can easily be read at any time.

 

The only other titles I can offer, at the moment, are the Mike Danford series. These follow the adventures of two contemporary seventeen-year-olds, so the situations they find themselves in, and the problems they face, are much more relatable to older teens -- especially if read in order. These are adventure books, so there are no "devotionals", but the teens wrestle with many spiritual questions throughout. We've had many parents comment over the years that they read the books as a family, and even their college-aged "kids" love to get involved.

 

I hope that gives you some encouragement, and I'll do my best to keep writing as long as God keeps inspiring! It's very encouraging to ME that there are so many parents like yourself out there who are looking for wholesome and educational literature for their kids!

Arnold

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From Cole:

Such a good book!

I want to thank you so much for writing the Mike Danford book series. Our family reads a chapter of the latest adventure every night before bed and are constantly begging to read another chapter. We love the Christian message and thoughtful storyline. We can’t wait to read the latest book! Thank you, Cole

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Arnold Ytreeide:

Thank you so much, Cole. Writing Christian fiction is no way to get rich, but comments like yours are worth far more than money! Blessings on you and your family. (And sorry about the nightly begging -- we get it at our house too:)

Arnold



From Jonathan:
I have loved your books so much and have shared them with my friend who loves them too. I can't wait for your next books to come out and to read them!
-Jonathan, 12 years old

Arnold Ytreeide:
Thank you so much, Jonathan! It's an honor to have you invest your time in my writing, and I hope my books will continue to earn your interest, and maybe help prepare you for your future. The next book in the Danford series will be coming out in late spring. Blessing on you, and I'd love to hear from you again!

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