Peril in the Palace is the third in a series of easy-to-read chapter books that follow the time traveling adventures of cousins Beth and Patrick. This time their leap through time takes them to China during the time of the Khan’s and Marco Polo (China 1271).

Beth and Patrick find themselves in a culture very different from their own that they have a hard time grasping, get to debunk the false power of Mongol magicians who challenge the power of the living God, and are swept away by giant eagles (rocs). Though filled with plenty of adventurous moments (as always) the cousins search for the golden tablet of Kublai Khan leads them into new territory for the series – and likely for many young readers as well.

Beth and Patrick visit the court of a ruler and blunder their way through etiquette they know nothing of. These scenes produce a bit of a lull in the middle of the book, which makes this read slightly more sedate than the others in the series, but my children still gobbled it right up. My five-year-old asked for it EVERY day as her read-aloud of choice (which meant it was her favorite book at the time), and my eight-year-old read it herself in only a couple of days – she just devours these books!

Given a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of 2.1, the short sentences, action-filled chapters, and engaging illustrations help children to move through the text quickly and easily while building all-important fluency with this high-interest read. Even more importantly, this book glorifies and honors God as the only true God. Peril in the Palace does have a definite cliff-hanger ending, even more than the two previous books do in the series, so you might want to make sure you have book four on hand – Revenge of the Red Knight so your children can keep going!

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com ( )