The Cooper Kids Adventure Series by Frank Peretti: My Experience

"Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self," -Cyril Connolly

Growing up in a Christian school and being an avid reader, my beloved elementary library was packed to the brim with good (and bad) Christian fiction.  From about second to fourth grade, I was obsessed with the Cooper Kids series by Frank Peretti.  If you weren't a nineties Christian kid, these books are about Jay and Lila Cooper and their dad.  The 8 books focus on their adventures and the mysteries they solve across the globe, with an appropriate dose of evangelical faith.

I remember falling in love with this series, determined to get my hands on all 8 books.  I was enthralled by the clever, descriptive writing, hooked by the intensity and action, amazed by the complexity and mystery, in awe of the characters' perseverance and faith. Little did I know, however, that these stories would shape me into the writer I am today.

The Cooper Kids series has been described as 'Indiana Jones mixed with Stephen king with a good dose of religion', which, I realize, is a good descriptor for my writing - from the mere flittings of ideas I have to my short stories to my full-length novels. Like this series, my writing is not afraid to push the envelope in terms of content.  Many Christian books don't even want to approach the invisible line between Christian fiction and secular fiction. Peretti, however, addresses the secular and the Christian, and, ultimately, has the motive to convert.  For example, my current novel is about two teenagers who get in a plane crash, and all this weird stuff starts happening.  But under that, it is a story from lost to found, of hope and redemption, of pain and strife, all via Jesus Christ.  On that note, the Coopers meet many people along their adventures, some who come to the light and some who reject it.  Realism in a realistic world - mostly.

These books tackle the paranormal in a supernatural way.  In a dark way.  The Cooper Kids Adventure Series are dark and edgy, but always contain the power and hope of Jesus Christ - which is all I aim to write about. All that I want - all that I need - to write about is the gritty realistic truth. The dark, the dirty, the hard-to-swallow, while never taking the focus off of the beaming hope of salvation.

I highly recommend the Cooper Kids series by Frank Peretti for any kid you know - or for the adventurous child inside you.

~The WordShaker