Second Chance (Left Behind: The Kids #2)
Second Chance (Left Behind: The Kids #2) book cover

Second Chance (Left Behind: The Kids #2)

Mass Market Paperback – July 1, 1998

by
Price
$5.99
Publisher
Tyndale House Publishers
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0842321945
Dimensions
4 x 0.7 x 6.7 inches
Weight
3.21 ounces

Description

Picking up where The Vanishings left off, Second Chance is just that: at the close of book one, Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and Ryan met up at New Hope Village Church and got the Good News from now-humbled pastor Bruce Barnes (who, despite his degree from Bible college, got left behind after the Rapture for failing to receive Christ, just like the kids). Lionel, nixed by the Messiah on a technicality in book one, jumps at the chance to join the winning team, but the other kids are too angry and confused after watching their world get turned upside down. Book two follows their search for truth as they piece together the wreckage of the Rapture in each of their lives, knowing full well that the end of the world isn't far off--just seven years, according to Bruce, once Israel signs a treaty with the Antichrist. By the book's end, two more Left Behind kids wise up, but one holds out, still too scared and mad to sign on. The Evangelical Christian science fiction series Left Behind: The Kids is a youth-oriented story line based on Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye's bestselling Left Behind . (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes Jerry B. Jenkins , former Vice President for Publishing and currently Writer-at-Large for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, is the author of more than 150 books, including the best-selling Left Behind series. Sixteen of his books have reached the New York Times best-seller list (seven in the number one spot) and have also appeared on the USA Today, Publisher's Weekly and Wall Street Journal best-seller lists. Tim LaHaye is an internationally known author, teacher, and expert on Bible prophecy. He is married to Beverly, who is the founder of the largest women's organization in America, Concerned Women for America. The LaHayes live in southern California.

Features & Highlights

  • This series is based on the best-selling adult Left Behind series. Readers will see the Rapture and Tribulation through the eyes of four kids who have been left behind.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(263)
★★★★
25%
(110)
★★★
15%
(66)
★★
7%
(31)
★
-7%
(-32)

Most Helpful Reviews

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For religious fundamentalists and wannabes only

"Second Chance," by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, is the second book in their "Left Behind: The Kids" series of young adult novels. These books are rooted in fundamentalist Christian theology. This novel takes place after an event known as the Rapture. According to the book, all true Christians mysteriously disappeared from the earth during this Rapture, and those people remaining on earth will eventually face an apocalyptic nighmare.
This sounds like the stuff of intense, sweaty-palmed drama, but this book is remarkably bland and boring. The characters are pretty much all shallow stereotypes, and the dialogue is dull. The melodramatic chapter titles ("Ordeal at O'Hare," "More Shocks," etc.) seem silly in light of the book's overall blandness.
The book seems to have two main purposes: (1) to scare impressionable teens into becoming religious fundamentalists, or (2) to reassure those readers who have already embraced fundamentalism. I know the book is part of a series, but its abrupt ending makes it unable to stand on its own apart from that series. Overall, a weak piece of literature.
8 people found this helpful
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A second chance with new hope....Great!

I just loved this book........Bruce gives Judd, Vickie, Lionel new hope that there still is a chance to be right with Jesus Christ......Ryan still hasn't decided at this time and has to be convince that there is a Savior.....Each and everyone of them sooner or later come to make a decision to recieving Jesus Christ.....Ryan is still upset about his parents...Judd and Vickie decided to go to the airport to pick-up the car from the airport.....exciting and exhilarating the ordeal it is just to move the car out in the open, and to drive out of the parking lot at the airport...a lot of action in this book....it is a must read....I don't want to tell anymore because I might spoil it for you......can't wait to get my hands on book 3......
5 people found this helpful
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A warning to parents. . .

I am a parent, a homeschooler, a conservative, and a committed Christian. I say all this up front so that my criticism of this series will be understood.
I believe in presenting the truth to my children to the best of my ability.
This means the truth of the Bible -- not the opinion of an extreme minority.
This means the truth of Church History -- warts and all.
This means the truth of Secular History.
This means the truth of what comprises good literature vs. poor literature -- and this series does not represent the quality of material I want my children to handle.
Truth is frequently painful and sometimes scary.
HOWEVER, I do NOT believe in deliberately frightening children into accepting or rejecting a particular opinion or viewpoint. It appears to this parent that such religious "scare tactics" are precisely what is being engaged in with these books.
My children know about heaven and hell. They know what it requires to end up in either of those destinations. They understand that hell is a pretty scary place. But I choose to teach them in a positive, rather than in a negative vein. Being "scared straight" is imperfect contrition. Granted, it beats no contrition at all -- but it results in fear rather than love.
This is what this series appears to accomplish: salvation through fear, rather than salvation through acceptance of the love of the God of Love.
Parents, pay attention to what your children read. Teach them about the love of God, not only through your words but through the example of your life. But don't try to frighten them into the Kingdom.
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
4 people found this helpful
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Second Chance

I thought Second Chance was a great book. It makes me think a lot more about the Rapture and how awful things will be- disasters, more crime, loneliness. The main characters, Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and Ryan, have all come from Christian homes where all their families were Christians and raptured. I found that the way this book was written made it easy to read. This was a great book because it wasn't boring or difficult to read and it made me think a lot more about my relationship with Christ.
4 people found this helpful
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Second Chance - Book 2 of the Left Behind Kids Series

Second Chance is book #2 in the series about four teens who are left behind on Earth when Christ raptures his true followers to heaven. The four of them are the only ones left from their families. They now face an uncertain future. This second installment picks up exactly where book #1 left off, with the four kids, Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and Ryan finding each other in a local church where they learn from a man named Bruce Barnes that even though they missed out on being snatched away to Heaven at the Rapture, they could still become Christians. Judd, Vicki, and Lionel become post-Rapture Christians. Ryan is still a holdout, and is still skeptical and very confused. Throughout the course of this book, we learn how the four kids cope with living in a world plunged into mass chaos, anarchy, fear, disaster, and peril. Judd and Vicki find themselves in an ordeal when they attempt to free Judd's car from a parking garage at O'Hare airport. There is a dangerous encounter for Judd and Vicki as they try to solve the ordeal. Lionel and Ryan recieve a disturbing message from Lionel's uncle Andre Dupree. Fearing that his uncle is going to take his own life, Lionel and Ryan rush to Chicago, to try to keep Andre from killing himself . . .
This second book in the Left Behind Kids series kept me on the edge of my seat. This book, like the first one, ends with a cliffhanger ending, that will shock you and keep you guessing until you read book 3 . . .
3 people found this helpful
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The book was okay I guess

The book was okay I guess but I found it a bit of a scare tactic and used as a way to convert non-christians into going to church which you shouldn't do.

The book started off where the first left us. All four kids are at the church and Lionel has accepted christ but the other three want to wait. Finally they break up. Lionel and Ryan go off and Vicki and Judd do the same. By the end Lionel's uncle is dead and two more of the kids have come to christ.

Maybe it's just me but I think the writers are going for a Judd Vicki pairing later on down the road. I hope so but you never know.

Penny Lane
2 people found this helpful
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A griping adventure.

The four kids have found themselves lost in a world of disappointment. Ryan's parents die in seperate accidents and he blames God for their deaths. Lionel's uncle disappears and he is convinced that his uncle was murdered. Vicky's family is raptured, and she finds herself alone. Judd finds her and comforts her. Judd's family has also been raptured. Judd comes to the realization that he was wrong, not only about church and

God, but also in regards to his own family.

I personally thought that this book was very interesting. It made me it made me think like a detective. The twists and turns confused me until I could figure it out. I rated this book one star under the first book of the series because book two was a little depressing. However, I really liked it.
2 people found this helpful
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NOT AT ALL LEFT BEHIND IN BRILLIANCE!

This is a brilliant book with a superb story line. It makes you think very deeply. It is thought provoking and helps you to understand simply, things about a very cryptic time in the future that WILL happen. Mayb it won't happen like that but sumthin like it! It is kool. The Christians will b brought away like that suddenly! And the soul searching with Ryan, Judd and the others is brilliant. And Lionel learning 2 walk the Christian walk is superb. It is a good book that I strongly recommend u 2 read! Go 4 it! Thanx!
2 people found this helpful
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Awesome

I could hardly wait to get the second book. Although this series is fiction...it definitely is Biblically based. It makes you think why some "good" people were left behind. Another thing I like about this series is, the writers give you a "run down" of what happened in book one....so if you don't remember everything that happened in book one or if you didn't read book one...no problem.
2 people found this helpful
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Left Behind: The Kids V. 2 "Second Chance" (FEBER)

The second in the Left Behind series, the four characters go deeper in depth to how the billions of people disappeared across the earth. They try to make sense of it and how to join their family members and friends in heaven. A pastor at the local church, Bruce Barnes, who was also left behind, tries to persuade them that after a seven year period of tribulation, Christ will come again to take the rest of the believers.
1 people found this helpful

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