When a child reads as much as the Captain does, you learn to pay attention when a favorite book or series is named from amid a staggering stack of volumes.
Out of the 102 books the Captain read in 2024, he named The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls his favorite series of the year! Even more noteworthy than that, he declared without hesitation that the series was indeed “better than Magic Tree House,” a long-time favorite series for our son and children the world over for decades gone by. I actually didn’t believe it could be true at first.
“What?!” I asked. “You enjoyed it more than Magic Tree House?”
“Well, it’s honestly better!” he answered.
“How is it better?” I pressed him, genuinely curious.
“Well, for one thing it’s just more charming, and the stories are so great going into different parts of the Bible, and there’s no sorcery in them like in Magic Tree House.”
SORCERY. As a Christian family, we have not outlawed books that contain “gentle” amounts of it. But of course, we’re not really the book-banning type. 😆 We prefer to proceed cautiously on a book-by-book basis in this area and discuss the topic at length. (We discuss most things at length around here anyway.) We consider titles carefully on many points and postpone or forego books that include levels of sorcery that we aren’t sure about. In truth, we don’t know what the answer is for Christian families on the topic of sorcery in literature or where to “draw the line,” and I suspect we never will in this lifetime.
If your family has hacked the fairy-godmother-versus-witch-debate, we would love to hear your thoughts. For us, we are still hung up on the dicey details and the extra-confusing considerations presented by beloved, largely Christian-approved titles such as The Chronicles of Narnia or even The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In simplest form, we find it to be a very hairy affair, this discerning between “good sorcery” or “good magic” and bad. When Disney classics or Harry Potter waltz into the conversation it gets even harry-ier!
Suffice it to say, Magic Tree House books have their own shelf in our son’s room and we do not plan to change that at this time. The Captain treasures them and we don’t believe them to be particularly dangerous or offensive. Conversely, however, our beautifully-minded son genuinely dislikes the series’ inclusion of sorcery, for whatever reason, whether spiritually prompted or otherwise. This fact I am taking note of and meditating on.
And so…
For anyone on the lookout either for another series similar to Magic Tree House, or for a Christian ALTERNATIVE to Magic Tree House, here are the Captain’s comparisons ultimately in favor of The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls Series! We hope they are helpful to your family in navigating what makes it onto the shelves of your home library.
WHO DID IT BEST?
Magic Tree House or The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls?
The Captain’s Comparison Chart
| Magic Tree House | Hidden Scrolls | |
| Plot/Storyline | ✅ (more powerful, no sorcery) | |
| Character Development | ✅ (I prefer Annie to Mary) | ✅ (I prefer Peter to Jack) |
| Educational | ✅ (more thorough & detailed) | |
| Quantity of Books | ✅ (fifty+ books vs. only nine) | |
| Charm | ✅ (the stories are more special) | |
| Illustrations | ✅ (larger images but fewer) | ✅ (comic-like and plentiful) |
More details about The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls from The Captain’s 2024 Book Reviews:
“These are very funny books with a good amount of adventure (they are Bible stories after all). I like a lot how these characters time-travel to different stories in the Bible. First they go to the Garden of Eden, then the ark, then to Egypt with Moses, and so on through the Bible but they really linger a lot on the Jesus stories because the series ends when Jesus rises from the dead.”
The Captain would like to give this series his highest recommendation for a time-travel series! May you and your family have epic adventures in the Bible together!
Thanks for reading!
Love, Candace Arden & The Captain
