Action-adventure stories for Christian kids
What if you lived in a town where Jesus’s parables literally came to life?
And what if someone was tampering with a certain parable and causing all sorts of chaos?
And what if you and your friends were the only ones who could solve the mystery and outwit the strange forces threatening the town?
Welcome to The Sword and Story Podcast—where we help Christian families find exciting, faith-filled books for their boys.
Our mission is to raise strong, courageous warriors for the Kingdom of God. Join us on a quest to discover stories that inspire our boys to grow into godly young men.
I’m your host, Laurie Christine. I’m an author, bible teacher, wife, and mom to four wild, wonderful, boys. I’m the author of the Dragon Slayer Bible Series, adventure-packed biblical fiction and devotions for middle-grade boys.
Our guests author today are Brock Eastman and Shaun Stevenson
Brock Eastman is an award-winning author who loves telling stories that connect faith, science, and adventure. He is a contributing author to the Imagination Station series, author of Faith and Science with Dr. Fizzlebop, and many other books for children and teens. Brock previously served as a producer and podcast host for Adventures in Odyssey at Focus on the Family. Now he and his kids host the Fizzlebop YouTube channel, where they explore faith and science together.
You can find him on Instagram here and on Facebook here, and YouTube here.
Shaun Stevenson is an author, speaker, and Children’s Pastor, who loves seeing families discover who God is, and what he is doing. As a writer and storyteller, he loves bringing Scripture to life for kids by creating fun ways for them to experience God’s Word.
The Parable Port Series
Action-adventure stories for Christian kids
The Parable Port series is a hilarious, fast-paced Christian action-adventure series for ages 8–12 set in a seaside town where Jesus’ parables literally come to life. When Anthony moves to Parable Port with his mom for a fresh start, he discovers the town is in chaos: orange birds are stalking people, flowering vines are spreading everywhere, and their pollen is knocking folks out cold—all because someone is tampering with the Parable of the Sower. Teaming up with new friends Duck, J.R., Grace, and Brooklyn, Anthony must solve riddles, follow clues, and outwit the strange forces threatening the town in a faith-filled mystery packed with laugh-out-loud antics, memorable adventures, and spiritual lessons. With chapter illustrations, a town map, a kid-friendly devotional, and even a Penguincast podcast tie-in, the series is perfect for reluctant readers and kids who love humor, mystery, and heart.
More Books in the Parable Port series by Brock Eastman and Shaun Stevenson
More Books by Brock Eastman
More Books by Shaun Stevenson
TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW
The Parable Port series by Brock Eastman and Shaun Stevenson
Laurie Christine: Brock Eastman and Shaun Stevenson, welcome to the Sword and Story Podcast.
Brock Eastman: Hey, thanks for having us.
Shaun Stevenson: Thank you so much for having us.
Laurie Christine: I am excited to talk with both of you today. You both have such an extensive ministry and I just love each of your hearts for kids. You’ve both been working with kids and writing for kids for many years. I would love to hear a little bit about your passion for kids and what your current ministry looks like. Sean, why don’t you start?
Shaun Stevenson: Every weekend I see 120 kids come to our church with their families. I’ve been doing children’s ministry now for over 20 years and it never ceases to amaze me how excited kids are to hear from God through scripture and through the stories of scripture. Telling the stories of who God is and what God has done, is doing, and will do one day is so important.
One of the best things about my job is when parents come and ask me if I have any books to recommend, or if I know of any really fun fiction books for their kids that would help them grow in their faith. It became a no-brainer to say, what if I wrote some myself? Coming together with Brock to write Parable Port, a series that really helps kids dive into the parables, is a huge passion of mine.
Laurie Christine: That is such an amazing ministry. You had a front row seat to what kinds of books kids are looking for and what is missing in the market. Brock, tell us a little bit about your ministry and writing for kids.
Brock Eastman: I’m a dad of four kiddos, 16, 14, 12, and 10, so that’s my audience. There are so many moments when I’m writing or asking them questions about stuff where their reaction tells me everything I need to know about what we’re writing, whether it’s funny or not funny or boring. It’s really great having that instant feedback.
As a career, God has always opened really exciting doors. I started at Focus on the Family working on Adventures in Odyssey and children’s and parenting products. I grew up listening to the show, so it was a real honor and blessing to be part of that for several years. Then I went to Compassion International, which helps release kids from poverty. That really started to expand my mind around what a global effort to evangelize kids all around the world looks like. After that, I found myself here at David C. Cook, where I lead up the Action Bible brand and kids publishing. I get to work with what is actually the number one Bible in the United States. It takes those stories and brings them to life so you feel like there’s a cinematic narrative on the page.
What Is Parable Port?
Laurie Christine: The project you guys are working on together is called the Parable Port series. All I know about it is what I read on the back of the book. My first mental image was the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie, with giant hamburgers coming out of the sky. Tell us about Parable Port.
Brock Eastman: Parable Port is a place where parables come to life. The first book is called The Sower’s Secret, and the Parable of the Mustard Seed is in there too. What you really need to know about the series is the world we’ve created. We wanted a place where not only could parables come to life, but kids could explore. If you open that first part of the book, you’ll see a big map.
This was supposed to be a picture book series. Then it rolled into an early chapter series, and then it became a middle grade series. I’ve been working on this for almost five years. As Sean mentioned, there wasn’t a lot out there for parables. We wanted a place where kids could experience them. Jesus told these great stories, and even as adults sometimes we ask, what does that mean? As a layperson, how do I apply it to my life? We wanted to bring those parables to life in a way that kids could start connecting them. Kids often need to be told something two or three times in different ways to really understand it.
Shaun Stevenson: In this series, the parables of Jesus literally come to life in a small town. All of a sudden there are vines growing everywhere, just like in the Parable of the Sower, where vines grow up around the plants. There are rocks, just like in the parable. There are birds that come flying into town, just like in the parable where the birds come and eat up all the seeds. The kids in the town have to figure out what is happening.
They all go to the same church together, and they have a Sunday school teacher, Abuelita Rosita, who tells them about the parables. As they’re learning the parables in Sunday school, they’re looking around and saying, wait, there are birds, there are rocks, there are vines, there are seeds. What’s going on? They’re piecing together the parable as readers are also piecing it together.
It’s a fun action adventure series with nonstop action. We really wanted this to be especially accessible for reluctant readers. We’ve infused a lot of humor into this book, and people have been telling us as they read book one and now book two that they’re literally laughing out loud while they’re reading. They’re having so much fun and they’re learning deep truths about God through these parables baked into the story.
One of the things we both wanted was to avoid the feeling of edutainment, where it feels like the book is just trying to teach you something without really focusing on story. We have a really strong story alongside the parable.
Books One and Two
Laurie Christine: The first book is The Sower’s Secret. What is the title of book two and what parable does it focus on?
Shaun Stevenson: Book two is called The Captain’s Clue and it’s all about the wise and the foolish builders. There may be a cameo from another Bible story in it, but I’m not going to spoil that. It goes through the story Jesus told where two people each build a house. One builds on rock, one builds on sand. The storms come, the floods rise, and the house on the sand falls while the house on the rock stands. Jesus is talking about how a person who listens to Jesus and not just hears but follows through is the person who has built on the solid foundation.
In Parable Port, parables literally come to life. So we brought in this huge storm, the once-in-a-century storm coming into town with floodwaters rising. The floodwaters bring some interesting creatures with them too. There are electric eels and sharks and octopuses and all kinds of fun things. There’s actually an argument in the book over whether it’s “octopuses” or “octopi,” and it can be either.
Books Three and Four
Laurie Christine: Do you know anything about books three and four yet?
Brock Eastman: Whether we’re allowed to share or not, we will. Book three is titled The Collector’s Cavern. It expands the world even more, and this one goes into the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep. There are around 40 parables in the Bible, so we have plenty of material, maybe 20 to 25 books worth. Book four we don’t have a title for yet, and we know where the parables are going, but that one is still very much in the works.
Why Humor Works in Storytelling
Laurie Christine: I love that you’ve incorporated action and humor and adventure. It’s like drinking a smoothie that tastes delicious, but oh, guess what? There are actually fruits and vegetables and vitamins in there. You’re getting a level of spiritual teaching, but it’s not preachy or didactic.
Brock Eastman: I will step back and say the humor was not the intent when we started as a picture book series. I think because of the character development, that’s where the humor really started to come out. When you force humor or try to make something funny, it typically isn’t. But when you develop a really good world and you’re telling a good story and those moments come out naturally, then I think it can be authentically funny. That’s just part of what we’ve developed as a world here.
A Cast Kids Can See Themselves In
Laurie Christine: I would love to know how this book can help our boys become strong, courageous warriors for God’s kingdom.
Shaun Stevenson: We intentionally created a really great group of so many different kinds of kids in this story. We have Blake, Duck, and Anthony. Each of them comes from a different kind of family. Anthony has a single mom. Duck has a huge family with tons of siblings and a little bit of a chaos household. Blake’s dad is not really in the picture. We wanted all these different kinds of kids so that when boys read this especially, they can see themselves in one of these characters and relate to it.
One of the most powerful things in our book, especially for boys, is the way the adults in the kids’ lives are not background characters. The adults are actually helping the kids and working alongside them. We thought that was such an important thing for kids to know. God puts adults into our lives, like Sunday school teachers and parents and grandparents and pastors, to help us grow in our own faith. In a lot of middle grade books, adults are either trying to stop the kids from doing things, they’re an obstacle, or they’re just used for humor. We did not want that. We wanted a place where kids are interacting with adults and learning that we are a community. We’re the body of Christ coming together to serve Jesus and share Jesus with others.
Laurie Christine: As a mom I definitely appreciate that. It’s a tricky spot because in middle grade books you don’t want the adults driving all the action, but you also want those adults to have a legitimate role in the story and not just be the dumb adult or the obstacle.
Where to Find the Books
Laurie Christine: Here is the back cover of Parable Port so our listeners can get a sense of what’s going on.
Parable Port is a hilarious, fast-paced Christian action adventure series for ages 8 to 12, set in a seaside town where Jesus’ parables literally come to life. When Anthony moves to Parable Port with his mom for a fresh start, he discovers the town is in chaos. Orange birds are stalking people, flowering vines are spreading everywhere, and their pollen is knocking folks out cold. All because someone is tampering with the Parable of the Sower. Teaming up with new friends Duck, JR, Grace, and Brooklyn, Anthony must solve riddles, follow clues, and outwit the strange forces threatening the town in a faith-filled mystery packed with laugh-out-loud antics, memorable adventures, and spiritual lessons. With chapter illustrations, a town map, a kid-friendly devotional, and even a Penguin Cast podcast, the series is perfect for reluctant readers and kids who love humor, mystery, and heart.
Brock Eastman: We would love for you to go into your local Barnes and Noble and get the book. Barnes and Noble has been really supportive of the series. They’ve changed how they approach middle grade fiction and moved Christian books back into the kids section rather than keeping them separate. It’s such a ministry and a witness for Christians to go in and buy their books. When somebody else sees it and asks what it is, that shows retailers that Christians care about these books and want them. Sean and I are doing our very best to hit as many Barnes and Nobles as possible and sign copies.
Of course, support your local independents too. If they don’t have it, go in and ask them to order it. The books are also sold everywhere, including Amazon, Target.com, and Walmart.com. But Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million would be a great first stop.
You can also go to parableport.com to get right to the Penguin Cast and other inside stuff. Sean created an amazing downloadable curriculum for Sunday school teachers and homeschool families to use for a lesson. We also released a group book guide for kids who want to do book clubs, and we’ll have one for Captain’s Clue as well. You can also find me personally at brockeastman.com.
Shaun Stevenson: You can find me on the interwebs at seanstevensonbooks.com. That’s my main spot. The curriculum is also great for homeschool families who want to do a reading session on the book and then a Bible class based on the parable right after. It’s a free download, just a fun little add-on.
Brock Eastman: And you’ll hear kids say “interwebs” in the book too. That line came from Sean. I can say that with confidence.
More from Sean Stevenson
Laurie Christine: Sean, you also have a Throne series. Is it medieval fantasy?
Shaun Stevenson: Yes, it’s a medieval fantasy series. Each book is centered around a biblical figure. The first book goes through the life of Gideon and makes that a big part of the story. There are three books out in the series so far, along with a side quest short story.
I also write a lot of nonfiction. I have a book called Redefining the Kid Ministry Win that I wrote with my wife, which is all about children’s ministry and how to define what a children’s ministry win actually is. It really goes through how Jesus thought of children and what that looks like in the life of the church and in the life of a family. You can find a lot of children’s ministry lessons and materials at thekidmancreatives.com, which a lot of homeschool families have used for their Bible sessions as well.
More from Brock Eastman
Laurie Christine: Brock, you have an entire bookstore on your website with something for every age. One thing our listeners may not know is that you are also known as Dr. Fizzlebop. Who is Dr. Fizzlebop and what does he do?
Brock Eastman: Dr. Fizzlebop is probably one of the most fun projects I’ve gotten to work on. My kids and I pop on YouTube and do experiments together. It started as an article in Clubhouse Magazine, then became a small series for Tyndale Kids during COVID, and then became a devotional. The core book is a 52-week devotional with easy experiments, a how-to, and a “what’s the science behind it” section for kids and parents to do at home. It’s kitchen and room table science. You have all the ingredients in your pantry right now.
For boys especially, experiencing something that wows them is key. When they see a chemical reaction and ask, wait, I just made gas out of liquid and solid and blew up a balloon with that? You’ve got their attention. You share the devotional, you talk through it, and they’re going to lock that in because they’ve done something physical. As they get older and go through chemistry and biology class, those moments will come back and they’ll think, oh, I remember that Bible story.
A second Fizzlebop devotional will come out next summer, and Fizzlebop is also coming out in German, which I’m very excited about.
I also wrote a middle grade sci-fi series called Quest for Truth, a five-book series that’s really fast-paced high adventure. I’ve got a YA supernatural series called Sages of Darkness. My bestselling book of all is actually a board book called Bedtime on Nozark, which is a bedtime routine for kids using animals. My little guy didn’t want to brush his teeth, so I figured out how to teach him using animals, and my wife and her friend said that was a good idea for a book, so we made it one.
One book I’d especially highlight for boys is Edge of the Galaxy. It’s a 30-day devotional with a fiction story running through it about a family living on the moon Titan, the first family to settle there. Every entry has a devotional alongside the action story. That one is dead on for boys who need a fun devotional to read.
Closing Thoughts on Boys and Books
Brock Eastman: Thank you for what you’re doing. Trying to really appeal to boys is so important. I was a reluctant reader. I was a boy who didn’t like to read. I wish my parents had had a podcast like yours to get some recommendations. I had the Cooper Kids Adventures, and that was about the only series I had. So thank you, because it really, really matters.
Shaun Stevenson: As someone who worked in a Christian bookstore for a long time, the one group of people who always came in with a deer-in-the-headlights look were parents of boys. They would say, I need something, can you help me? Just having recommendations of things that boys are going to fall in love with, that they’re going to have so much fun with while also learning so much about God, is so important to both of us.
Laurie Christine: It is an honor to be able to recommend books. I have four boys of my own, so we’re always looking for new books that hold their excitement. And yes, some of my boys are reluctant readers who won’t pick up a book on their own. But when I’m reading to them and I get to the end of a chapter and they say, keep reading, keep reading, that is a win. When they want to find out what happens and they want to keep going, that is good enough feedback for me.
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