2 out of 4 stars
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The Chest of Visions was written to fill the need for a more creative and accessible method for presenting the Gospel to young people. Tim Ferguson crafted an alternate universe and used string theory to place the inhabitants of Caperston, a planet in this other universe, in contact with inhabitants of Earth. The book was comprised of their communications, written as a crossover between letters and blog posts.
Mattpaul, a youth from the affluent valley of Caperston, experiments with his Compol (communication device) and stumbles upon a web page created by Tim, a person on Earth. Mattpaul happens to read something about the Bible, which he has never heard of. He then reaches out to Tim in order to introduce himself and ask him about the Bible. Tim responds and eventually links the messages to a public web page so youth from Earth can engage in the conversation. Around the same time, a new character, Chihaysu, enters Mattpaul’s life to teach him and his community about God. Chihaysu tries to convince the Valley People (author's capitalizations) that they should love the Mountain People, who are less prosperous, and vice versa. Mattpaul is deeply moved by the teaching and joins Chihaysu as he seeks to reconcile the groups. He shares these encounters with the earthlings and catches the attention of Alex, a boy who is struggling with the death of his best friend. As the story progresses, there is concern over how the people of Caperston will respond to such an unusual message as well as how Alex’s journey will turn out.
Ferguson took his years of experience working with youth in the Christian community to craft a unique lens for looking at the Gospel. The story addressed things that many children can relate to and are likely to desire answers for, such as grieving over a loved one, suffering the disapproval of a parent, and life generally turning out differently than expected. None of these issues were fixed with a magic moment and a few words – Mr. Ferguson gave them all time and space on the road to resolution. He also included an appendix of lessons and questions, which can be used to help readers get the most out of this story. There are even a few basic prayers woven into the storyline, and they may be useful for teaching children to pray.
Jose Gutierrez added hand-drawn images to the tale. They were not on every page, but they were frequent. Yet, the drawings were very sophisticated and suitable for older children and early teens. I most appreciated the second image, which showed most of the Caperston youth. I returned to it regularly to visualize the characters the way the author intended.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of elements that I did not enjoy in The Chest of Visions. My first major issue fell under the topic of “Stranger Danger.” Mattpaul included a lot of unnecessary information in his initial contact with Earth. I do not want children getting the idea that they can give out all of their personal information to strangers just because they are going to talk about the Bible. Second, Chihaysu was regularly compared to Jesus, but I saw no explicit Christ-like behavior from him. Chihaysu did seek to teach everyone about God and loving others, but so did many others from within and without the Bible. He never claimed to be God, did miracles, or promised to save people from death everlasting. Honestly, I would call him a bit of a coward after reading the story. Chihaysu even knew about Jesus – he read through a Gospel and some epistles – but he never included the savior in his teachings. For a book that is trying to develop the faith of youth, The Chest of Visions blurred a lot of lines. Ultimately, the book had an encouraging ending, but this also did nothing to affirm my faith.
In terms of editing, the book was rough. It was not drowning in writing errors, but there were several in most chapters. The issues were typically either extra or missing commas. The volume was primarily comprised of simple sentences. Despite the basic writing schema, Ferguson used large vocabulary as well as complex made-up words. Most notably, the preface and first appendix were laden with science concepts that some people only start to encounter in college. I, therefore, didn't believe that the author knew or understood his target audience.
All in all, I rate The Chest of Visions 2 out of 4 stars. I genuinely value the concept and purpose of the book and see how it could encourage children who are struggling with the difficult parts of life. However, I do not believe it accurately portrays the Christian teachings which were the basis for the story. With that being said, I think that young children would most enjoy the actual story, and youth groups trying to include readers of all levels could benefit from the straightforward writing. The discussions in Appendix 2 encourage critical thinking which would challenge the more advanced students. Finally, teens interested in physics and technology may appreciate the STEM aspects of the book.
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The Chest of Visions
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