A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Kristin Stiles
Allegories are amazing tools for conveying information. The author takes the familiar and uses it to clarify what is unfamiliar. Jesus was a master at doing this with His parables. He took the characters, setting, and situations that were common to the culture He was living in and used them to teach concepts about the kingdom of God that were new and difficult for the people to grasp. Many of these parables involved farming, planting, and seeds. Scott James follows this example by presenting the entire story of redemption as an allegory in The Sower.
Creation is portrayed as the first planting. The garden is begun and all is perfect. It is growing exactly as it should. But then sin enters the world and bad fruit begins to appear. Corruption spreads, and the garden withers and becomes barren with very little good fruit in it. But the great Sower comes to the garden and works it with His own hands. Like one of His seeds, He must be buried in the ground. And just like a seed that is planted, He rises up to new life. The work of the Sower in preparing the hearts of men like a farmer would cultivate the ground happens. The land goes through seasons of great growth and other seasons of drought and famine, but still, the seeds are sown and the plants are attended by the devoted Sower. There is great hope as the garden will one day be completely remade and will be a glorious place shared with the Sower.
Scott James did a tremendous job carrying the analogy all the way through the redemption story. You can feel the love and care of the Sower as you read through the pages. While the word “sower” might be new to children, they typically have a good understanding of how planting seeds and caring for plants is done. I think children will really benefit from this allegory and will gain a much greater understanding of God’s plan of salvation.
The illustrations also lend a great deal to this book. Stephen Crotts’ print work is so artistic and brings further clarity and emotion to the words it accompanies. It is much different from the colorful or whimsical illustrations that are found in many children’s books, but it is perfectly suited to the subject matter. It is a beautiful book to look at.
I really enjoyed this book and I think it would be a wonderful addition to any library. I could see this being a perfect bedtime book to be shared again and again with your children.
Kristin Stiles is a home-school mom, a Sunday School teacher, and helps lead the “Young, Reading, & Reformed” children’s ministry at Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA.
Buy the books
THE SOWER, by Scott James