A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Kristin Stiles
Most children are captivated by stories of kings and queens and princes and princesses, but as Nancy Guthrie points out in the beginning pages of her book, The True King, most of these stories are just made up. She takes her young readers on a true story of a King and His kingdom, the enemy He must defeat, and the glories of His reign. And the best thing about this story is that it is absolutely true, and the reader is invited to be part of this kingdom.
Guthrie does a magnificent job retelling the overarching story of the Bible at a level that is easily understood by a child and is still exciting. She presents God as the Great King who created everything in a perfect state, but then there was competition from a rival kingdom – the kingdom of the serpent. She leads her reader on a journey through time from creation to the fall to the calling of Abraham; the exodus from Egypt; the reign of the human king, David, and his son Solomon; the rebellion of the people; the exile in Babylon; to the arrival of the Son, the True King, who would live and die to defeat the kingdom of the serpent and then take His rightful place at His Father’s right hand where He will rule and reign forever. She introduces such lofty concepts as the protoevangelium (the first gospel – introduced in Genesis 3:15), the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, and imputation all in a way that is perfectly relatable to children without the sophisticated terminology. How wonderful for a child to be able to begin to grasp these ideas at such a young age!
The illustrations are also very endearing and just a delight to look at. Artist Jenny Brake has created beautiful pictures to accompany the story that adds to the enjoyment of this book. My favorite picture is one that is meant to depict the wait that the Israelites had while in exile. The page is divided into 9 panels each depicting a female sitting in a chair by a window. In each successive picture, she is older, as over the 70 years, she ages from a little girl to an old woman. What a clever way to represent time! There are only 2 depictions of Jesus, and they are both very vague. In one, He is seen with His back to the reader in the far distance, and in the other, He is a light gray silhouette encased in light.
I would highly recommend this book to parents. You will enjoy sharing it with your children and they will enjoy this tremendous true story that beats any fairy tale out there. What a wonderful way to provide your children with sound doctrine at such a young age!
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 TRUE KING, by Nancy Guthrie