The Young Whit book series, written by experienced Adventures in Odyssey veterans Phil Lollar and Dave Arnold, explores the past of the show's main character, John Avery Whittaker. And it's definitely a wild ride. Book One, The Traitor's Treasure, features a ten-year-old Johnny Whittaker who finds himself in a mystery of missing Confederate gold and the question of whether Johnny’s ancestor was the coward and thief who stole it, as everyone believes. Book Two, The Shroud of Secrecy, comes out this April and involves a mystery surrounding a supposedly haunted mansion. And now we know the title of the third book in the series, The Thieves of Barrymore. Here's the summary: "Johnny’s family adjusts to his stepmother Fiona’s blindness due to a riding accident. Johnny and his father, Harold, also discover more about the old journal and the mysterious cloth that seems to heal people miraculously. Meanwhile, Johnny and his friend Emmy investigate as mysterious strangers move into town. Are the strangers planning to rob the town’s bank?" The book will be released in November.
John Avery Whittaker is Adventures in Odyssey's main character. We know him today as a wise, grandfatherly inventor and ice cream shop owner. But what was he like as a kid? In a new book series called Young Whit we get to hear more about all of little Johnny's childhood adventures. The first book in the series, The Traitor's Treasure, is already available in stores. The mystery in this first book involves Confederate gold missing since the end of the Civil War and the question of whether Johnny’s ancestor was the coward and thief who stole it, as everyone believes. The sequel, The Shroud of Secrecy, comes out in April. Find out more in our new video promo below. Andre Stojka, the voice of John Avery Whittaker, appears this week on the Official Podcast to read to us the first three chapters of The Traitor's Treasure, the first book in the new Young Whit series. In this book we learn that "something sinister happened decades ago to disgrace the Whittaker name. Can ten-year-old Johnny discover the truth—and find the traitor’s treasure—before they are gone forever?" You can already purchase The Traitor's Treasure in stores and online at Amazon, Focus on the Family and Christianbook. The sequel, entitled The Shroud of Secrecy, will be released in April 2019. While you listen to Mr. Whittaker read, you can follow along for yourself using the preview provided by Google books. Feel free to read along as Andre Stojka introduces us to the world of young John Avery Whittaker on the Official Podcast. If you are following along, just note that he doesn't read the prologue at the very beginning, but rather starts at Chapter 1. John Avery Whittaker, the main character of Adventures in Odyssey, is a fascinating person when you think about it. Whit served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, founded the Universal Press Foundation, and has made his mark on Odyssey as an inventor, teacher, spy, and owner of everyone's favorite ice cream shop and discovery emporium, known as Whit's End. Now Focus on the Family is embarking on the release of a brand-new book series to delve further into Mr. Whittaker's past. The series is entitled Young Whit and so far we have information about its first two volumes. The first book, The Traitor's Treasure, has just been released and is now available from Amazon, Focus on the Family and Christianbook. In this story Whit attempts to solve a mystery involving missing Confederate gold from the time of the Civil War. It is written by longtime Adventures in Odyssey writers and producers Phil Lollar and Dave Arnold. You can hear an interview with both of them on the Official Podcast where they discuss their inspiration for this exciting new project. The second book in the series, called The Shroud of Secrecy, will be released in April 2019 and is available now for preorder from Amazon and Christianbook. |