I admit it. In our house, we generally read for pure entertainment. It would be stretching the truth to claim anything less. It’s pretty difficult to become an avid reader if you don’t actually enjoy reading.
For the real book addicts, though, we’ll try pretty much anything once. My dad is like that. I once caught him reading a category romance that I’d picked up in a 3 for $1 bin – he’d run out of reading material. Reading straight the dictionary or an encyclopedia, same difference: those were normal in the house I grew up in. Read, regardless of what it is. And he passed that trait on to me.
Didn’t realize until this last month just how much of that my children have inherited. Sure, my teen will randomly read children’s books, and my 10-yr-old likes the encyclopedia, but since I’ve worked so hard to keep a (very) large variety of typical children’s books in the house, I just don’t see it often among my children.
So we have fantasy, we have mystery, we have a little bit of everything mainstream – mainstream is plentiful, and easy to pick up used copies cheaply.
Faith-based fiction, though – people tend to keep. And it is often from smaller publishing houses, making the price a little higher, and the public reach a little less. All of these combine to mean that we have very little faith-based fiction in our house… and I hadn’t even noticed the lack.
Sure, there are many titles that encourage good character, but few that exemplify daily life in a faith.
So when we had the opportunity to review Foundlings, book 1 of The Chronicles of Peleg, I asked my older children to read it, uncertain of what their reaction might be. An average-length paperback novel, it offers an intriguing cover that aroused curiosity while we waited our turn.
Aimed at middle grades based on the difficulty level, but appropriate for all ages, Foundlings rightly claims to offer a historical adventure without magic, evolution, or humanism.
My children are comfortable with books that include a myriad of ideas – I desire them to be able to discern the truth for themselves, and as such, believe they must have some experience of learning how to do so. Oddly enough, though, due to publishing’s vagaries and my lack of funds, I’d neglected to provide them with the opposite – books that unashamedly present faith without any allegorical trappings.
We all loved the story, the adventure – but the one thing that keep coming up during our discussion afterwards was how, in the words of my oldest, it was “too bright and shiny, almost blinding in its show of faith”.
I really struggled with what they were trying to tell me.
The conclusion that we finally came to was that while the story itself is fantastic, they felt that at times, the constant reminder of the “purpose” of the book was distracting, a bit more then necessary.
Another way this message came across was during our discussion of who we might recommend the book to. The kids heartily agreed that they would offer it to friends that they know are believers, but that they would be hesitant to recommend it to those who were not.
It’s perfect as a fun, yet quality, read for those of faith. It’s a fantastic read.
As a tool for outreach, I can’t recommend it. Used as an initial introduction to faith, the front-and-center status of religion without much background information would be coming on too strong for many.
And if you children are like mine, under-exposed to faith-based books, expect a bit of puzzlement along with their enjoyment. And plan to include books in the future, like book 2, Paladins, that address both faith and entertainment value.
Foundlings, The Chronicles of Peleg, Book 1 may be purchased from Zoe and Sozo Publishing for $11.95. The second book in the series, Paladins, is also available for the same price.
To see what other crew members had to say about this product, check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog post, Zoe and Sozo Publishing.
**I received this product for free as a member of the 2010-11 The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew so that I could provide you with an honest review of it by our family.**
