Wednesday, January 17, 2007

*Corrie Ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels' Den* by Janet and Geoff Benge


This was a book listed for Dialectic students to read in Year 4 of Tapestry of Grace. It was also listed as a supplement for Upper Grammar. I decided to give it a try for the younger ones (2nd, 3rd). We loved it. In fact Zander (nearly 5) sat and listened to many of the chapters with us. Jared (7th) read it as well. I do NOT plan to list every book we read in a school year. This one, however, deserves special mention.

I've long been a Corrie Ten Boom fan. I've read *Hiding Place* and *Tramp for the Lord*. I was skeptical when I saw this book. I expected a very watered down version of Corrie's life. I was WRONG. This book is written in a way that it is engaging and appropriate for young readers; but it does not in any way water down the power, the impact, or the message of the Ten Boom family.

Corrie's love for family, fellow human beings, and the Lord shines through in this book. The message of hope in the darkest situations is clearly portrayed. The message of forgiveness is simply amazing. I love that this book follows Corrie to the end of her life.

This is the first book *I'VE* read in the "Christian Heroes: Then and Now" series. I plan to find more titles from this series to use during our evening family reading times. These are the types of heroes I want my children to know and love. This book is a good introduction for young children. As an adult, who knew the story, I still found that the book held my interest. I have another biography series written for children that is fictionalized and it's sometimes hard for me to sort fact from fiction. I also have some "Heroes of the Faith" titles, but we found the writing in this book to be much more engaging. My older boys did note that they all begin by "giving the plot away". I wouldn't know, as this is the first one I've read. I sometimes worry about reading great books with the young ones - that they won't have the joy of reading them o their own...but honestly....there are so many good books on any given topic that I doubt that's a real problem to fret about. ::snort::

2 comments:

Kristine said...

Thank you for these specific comments. I've been following your reading, and based on this post, I've held it at my library, thinking Holly might enjoy it. :)

Kristine said...

Update: Holly flew through this and finished it last night. I was surprised; I didn't know if she'd even like it at all, but she really did.

Your blog is seriously impacting my reading choices lately. I just finished Sister Freaks and have Stolen Lives here to read soon. I know there's at least one more in the past few weeks, but can't think of it offhand. :)