Marco Polo is finally free from being a Christmas ornament and is now a book buddy with Anne the Librarian. But when no child chooses him as a book buddy because he’s too small, he wonders if he will ever be able to go on the adventures he always dreamed of.
Length: 68 pages
Read-Aloud age: 7+
When you purchase through a link, Love Joy Read-Alouds earns a small commission – at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!
LJR’s Thoughts on Marco Polo Brave Explorer
A quick sweet read, Marco Polo Brave Explorer takes us on a journey of one little mouse learning to be brave even when he’s afraid and a little boy learning to be brave in the dark and with his friends. The book is the second in the Book Buddy series so this review doesn’t cover the whole series. The story is clean and wholesome and a great addition as a chapter book for newly independent readers as well as a sweet read-aloud book for you and your littles.
Noteworthy
In our usual LJR fashion, we try to find anything that Christian families may want to know about ahead of time to address, skip, or dig deeper into. Take a look at what we found below. Our take on Discipleship Opportunities is at the bottom of the review.
Behavior Worth Mentioning: A little boy wants to bring Marco Polo home to sleep with at a sleepover because the mouse is small enough to hide and the little boy doesn’t want his friends to make fun of him. Seth makes sure his dad isn’t listening before telling the librarian why he is afraid of going to the sleepover.
Language: An older boy teases younger ones for being afraid of “anything with teeth” and being “scaredy cats” for not wanting to hear scary stories. He purposely calls younger boys names they have asked him not to call them.
Violence/Intense Scenes: There is a stuffed toy monster but it isn’t scary acting or scary looking. Marco Polo gets lost and fears he’ll never get back to Seth and home.
Discipleship Opportunities
The theme of the book is bravery. Whenever Marco Polo is afraid he reminds himself to be brave. In fact, during one part, Seth tells Marco Polo “You’re brave. That’s why I need you.” Though the command “do not fear” is found many times in the Bible, Philippians 4:6-9 may be a great section of the Bible to introduce to your kiddos for this book.
When Seth speaks to the librarian and tries to make sure his dad isn’t listening, start a conversation about “Honor your father and mother” (Exodus 20:12).
Seth also hides Marco Polo from his friends so a discussion about telling the truth and perhaps even a mention of the midwives in Exodus and how they didn’t tell the truth.
“High in the mountains, where the clouds lie on the ground like great cotton balls, is the Christmas town of Noel.”
Alexander’s mom is sick so he must travel to the lighting of the flame alone hoping he is chosen by the Keeper of the Flame as the new person to light the torch, the person who gives “the truest gift of Christmas.”
But Alexander meets an old man in need of help outside the city gates, he risks getting shut out and missing the lighting of the torch.
