Children's Book Review


I love historical fiction! It's probably my favorite literary genre. So when I put God King by Joanne Williamson on my sons' reading list for this school year, I knew I would have as much fun reading it as they would. The last time we were studying ancient history, we read Williamson's Hittite Warrior, set in the biblical time period of the Judges. We fell in love with her vivid characters, readable style, and exciting way of making the action of the Bible come to life. This book was no different.

God King is set in the time of King Hezekiah, when the Assyrians had already conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and were knocking on Jerusalem's door. True to form, the book was easy to read and action-packed. Taharka, a young Egyptian pharaoh (thus the god king reference) must flee for his life to Judea. Once there, he witnesses first-hand Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem, coming away with a respect for Yahweh, the God of Judah. I came away with a neat discovery about King Hezekiah's "improvements" to the wall of Jerusalem. (Hint: see 2 Kings 18-19.)

The book is on an upper-elementary to middle school reading level and would be enjoyed by boys and girls equally. (There is a subplot involving a very pretty Egyptian girl to whom Taharka is betrothed.) It is published by Bethlehem Books, a company known for reprinting excellent, God-honoring historical fiction. Check it out!

Comments

Wendy said…
Thanks for sharing about this. I saw it on your sidebar the other day and had wondered about it. It's so nice to find good books like this.
September 11, 2007 at 8:25 AM
Kate said…
If our library doesn't have it, I'd like to borrow it from you. The older two would probably really enjoy it. :) Thanks for the great review!
September 11, 2007 at 8:30 AM
Kate said…
I arrived here from the Raising Five blog. I have been thinking so much about suffering lately and how to respond to it and read 106 responses to Katherine's loss of her nephew. Yours is the very last and the most powerful. That you can still say God is good after losing your brother. Healing words.

More on the topic of this post. We read God King and Hittite Warrior earlier this year. I loved them because they expanded my lens which I look through the Bible with. They made a greater portion of the ancient world come to life.

I also homeschool five (ages 12-3) Your red heads are adorable.

Kate
September 15, 2007 at 12:04 AM
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