Genre: Christianity; Short Stories; Classics; Juvenile Fiction; Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction; Children: Grades 4-6; Christian life; Fiction;
Average Review: 4.5 stars
Review: Kids Loved It : The "4 Stars" are based on the enthusiasm of my kids for this book, discounted to avoid grade inflation. I read this aloud to them, and they looked forward to each installment. As you probably know, this is an adaptation of the classic "The Pilgrim's Progress." What you have here is the basic storyline, heavily abridged for brevity and clarity but with some retention of original text. Bright vivid pictures help to tell the tale. The jacket information leads me to believe that the images are actually taken from a cartoon version (for lack of a better term) of this story, and the images do have that look. The backgrounds are obviously still images that the moving characters were superimposed upon - I have never seen this production on the screen but it looks like it followed the Scooby Doo school of animation. Anyway, my kids are not art critics and the pictures were very helpful in visualizing the story. I am not an expert on "The Pilgrim's Progress." I know the basic outline of the story. I have tried to read the book but gave up in frustration, and I think I recall watching a grainy film version in high school literature class. The theological message of the whole thing is not real clear to me. Some of the symbols are quite obvious - the burden on Pilgrim's back, the names of his various companions, the ultimate end-game (sort of) - but it's hard to make sense of the order of Pilgrim's various adventures and the parallels in our own lives. Do we always encounter the "Slough of Despair" so early in our journeys, never to return to it? And is that always before the "Wicket Gate" or not (and what the heck is a "Wicket Gate"). Doubting Castle? Vanity Fair? Hmm. Anyway, I wasn't moved to want to read the original, and I wouldn't call this a page-turner, but my kids really looked forward to it each night and that's what I was looking for.
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