Jack Templar Monster Hunter and Reaching Your Reluctant Reader - The Templar Chronicles Book One by Jeff Gunus

We received a sample in exchange for a honest and unbiased review.

We had the opportunity to review a book by Jeff Gunhus called Jack Templar Monster Hunter-The Templar Chronicles Book One .

My 11 year old son helped to review this book. About a year ago, he started getting into chapter books. He likes reading a couple chapters before going to sleep. Sometimes it takes him two to three weeks to finish one book. This book had him so captivated he finished it in a weeks time.

Jack Templar Monster Hunter-The Templar Chronicles Book One was published by Seven Guns Press in the year 2012, and authored by Jeff Gunhus. It is a fantasy read geared towards ages 9+. The book has 196 pages.

Jack Templar, an orphan who lives with his Aunt Sophie in the town of Sunnyvale. Jack has no memory of his parents and his Aunt has never revealed much about their deaths. Everything is ordinary until the day before Jack turns 14. He suddenly has a new strength that helps him defend a friend against a bully, and get noticed by the girl he has a crush on Cindy Adams. Jack is then visited by a mysterious girl, Eva who explains to him that he comes from a long line of monster hunters. That because of a truce made between monsters and humans children under the age of 14 are off limits. The girl tells Jack that as he is turning 14, a team of monsters are descending on the town of Sunnyvale, with the intent to kill him. The lord of the Creach (as the monsters are called) holds a personal grudge against Jack, and wants to kill him slow and painfully. To stay alive and save his friends Jack will do battle with vampires, harpies, werewolves and more.

In this volume Jack is plagued with questions about the past and why the monsters want him dead so badly? Why do other hunters call him the last Templar? Why is it whispered that Jack is the "one"? Jack discovers survival is now his full-time job.

I asked my son what he liked best about this book. Without giving away any of the great surprises this book has in store I will reword what he told me. He likes the book has all different types of monsters. He liked the element of surprise when some characters were not what they appeared to be. He is now positive in a few years he will discover he is a monster hunter. He apparently really likes Jack's character. His final assessment was "This was a super cool book" He has made it known he wants following books to this series.

This is a fast paced, entertaining adventure. There is some gore but there is just the right amount of humor to balance it out. Teenagers can relate to Jack throughout the book, he has just the right tone of a teenager. We look forward to reading more about Jack's adventures.

The author Jeff Gunhus is devoted to writing and the world of fantasy. This book came to be because Jeff was trying to get his then 11 year old interested in reading. Since the publication of this book in 2012 Jeff has become active in child literacy. Here is a list of his tips to help children read:

Set up time to read with them. There’s always time. Sometimes you just have to carve it out of something else. Have them read out loud. You’ll know better where they are getting hung up. Kids often avoid reading because they think they’re not good at it. Find out. Read with a pencil. Underline words your reader has a tough time pronouncing or can’t define. Transfer to a separate page later. Make them feel safe. Set the ground rules. Let them know that you didn’t know a lot of words when you were young. Confide that there are still words that you don’t know. There’s no judgment in the reading club.

Use books that are fun, easy reads at first. An author who ends each chapter with a white-knuckled cliffhanger helps. Only let them read that book in your sessions. Make it special and use the cliffhanger to get them excited for the next session. Encourage a separate book to read outside the reading sessions if they are getting the bug.

Relate to the book. Figure out how your reader’s life relates to the characters. This helps critical thinking and makes it fun. Write your own stories. They don’t have to be novels. But put your reader into the story, even if it’s just their name. Have fun with it. Be consistent. Once you set this appointment, nothing can touch it. Nothing.

Have fun! This isn’t school, it’s supposed to be fun. You might be surprised. I didn’t expect to like the Harry Potter books but I loved them. Outside of writing Jack Templar, I had my own burst of reading. It was great fun and the more the boys saw me with a book in my hand, the more likely they were to do the same. The quiet mornings with my boys became some of my favorite times with them. I hope you can experience the same.

You can purchase this book HERE .