Children of the King of Kings
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I loved the idea of these books before I got my hands on them. We live in a world in which little girls love princesses and little boys love to be warriors, and I’m all about Christians standing up and saying: (1) We can encourage that! and (2) We can reclaim the concept of royalty for our children! Why? Because God dreamed it up first. (Don’t take my word for it. Go to His Word. If you prefer online searches, use a site like www.biblegateway.com or www.blueletterbible.org to do a search for keywords like “King,” “princess,” or “armor.”)
These books, A Warrior Prince for God
and Princess with a Purpose
by Kelly Chapman, present the God-design for princesses and warrior princes. Both books are picture books but they have long pages of text, with the warrior one organized into five chapters.
In both, the protagonist – Caroline in one and Luke in the other – fall asleep and receive their royal summons in a dream. In both books, one of my favorite characters is Constant, the King’s helper, so named “because he constantly forgot things and constantly spoke in rhyme.” Both also include Keydon, the talking hose. Both also provide gender-appropriate examples of bullies; research and anecdotes shows that girls and boys tend to bully in different ways, and the depictions of the bullies were right on for each gender. Caroline was bullied at school by way of a prissy, condescending girl and Luke at the baseball field by way of mocking, overt bullies.
When one of those bullies asserts that “a warrior prince is rough and tough and likes to fight – like me!” he is corrected by Sir Britmore who admits that he used to think that before he met the King. Instead “He taught me that a warrior prince is a son of the King of kings. His purpose is to obey and serve the King. He never goes into battle without the King’s command or protection.”
As the idea of being a warrior prince is introduced, the story of David and Goliath is shared with the boys. And Luke learns a eternal lesson about drawing from God’s power when he is face to face with Drakon the snake who is obviously yet skillfully modeled after the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
At the end of the book, the Gospel is laid out on a page titled “How do I become a daughter of the King?” using John 3:16, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 6:18, and Romans 6:23. The next two pages has a prayer of salvation and a place to write your daughter’s name to declare her belief (beginning “Here ye! Hear ye! Let it be known throughout the land. Princess ______ is now a part of God’s royal plan.”)
(Side note which isn’t really a criticism of this book but rather children’s Bible-based books in general: I liked the retelling of David and Goliath, don’t get me wrong. And it worked in the context of this book. But, after reading lots of children’s books with biblical themes, particularly those geared toward boys, I’m beginning to think that we’re either raising boys to know no other story from the Bible – because this is the token one that’s always used – or that we have already raised that generation who have now become authors who don’t know enough Bible stories to draw from others.)
Tomorrow I’ll wrap this up by reviewing Princess with a Purpose, but I’ll give you one spoiler now: I recommend both. Wholeheartedly.
By royal decree – or rather requirement of the FTC – I must disclose to ye royal citizens that Harvest House Publishers provided this book to me for my humble review. The kindly servants asked for nothing but an honest opinion.
These books, A Warrior Prince for God
and Princess with a Purpose by Kelly Chapman, present the God-design for princesses and warrior princes. Both books are picture books but they have long pages of text, with the warrior one organized into five chapters.In both, the protagonist – Caroline in one and Luke in the other – fall asleep and receive their royal summons in a dream. In both books, one of my favorite characters is Constant, the King’s helper, so named “because he constantly forgot things and constantly spoke in rhyme.” Both also include Keydon, the talking hose. Both also provide gender-appropriate examples of bullies; research and anecdotes shows that girls and boys tend to bully in different ways, and the depictions of the bullies were right on for each gender. Caroline was bullied at school by way of a prissy, condescending girl and Luke at the baseball field by way of mocking, overt bullies. When one of those bullies asserts that “a warrior prince is rough and tough and likes to fight – like me!” he is corrected by Sir Britmore who admits that he used to think that before he met the King. Instead “He taught me that a warrior prince is a son of the King of kings. His purpose is to obey and serve the King. He never goes into battle without the King’s command or protection.”
As the idea of being a warrior prince is introduced, the story of David and Goliath is shared with the boys. And Luke learns a eternal lesson about drawing from God’s power when he is face to face with Drakon the snake who is obviously yet skillfully modeled after the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
At the end of the book, the Gospel is laid out on a page titled “How do I become a daughter of the King?” using John 3:16, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 6:18, and Romans 6:23. The next two pages has a prayer of salvation and a place to write your daughter’s name to declare her belief (beginning “Here ye! Hear ye! Let it be known throughout the land. Princess ______ is now a part of God’s royal plan.”)
(Side note which isn’t really a criticism of this book but rather children’s Bible-based books in general: I liked the retelling of David and Goliath, don’t get me wrong. And it worked in the context of this book. But, after reading lots of children’s books with biblical themes, particularly those geared toward boys, I’m beginning to think that we’re either raising boys to know no other story from the Bible – because this is the token one that’s always used – or that we have already raised that generation who have now become authors who don’t know enough Bible stories to draw from others.)
Tomorrow I’ll wrap this up by reviewing Princess with a Purpose, but I’ll give you one spoiler now: I recommend both. Wholeheartedly.
By royal decree – or rather requirement of the FTC – I must disclose to ye royal citizens that Harvest House Publishers provided this book to me for my humble review. The kindly servants asked for nothing but an honest opinion.