From February 18 2012
One of my chess buddies put me on to The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall. Written in 1959, this fantasy adventure for young readers–a Newbery Award-winner, by the way–is completely devoid of sex, blood-drinking, profanity, and the rest of the current staples of young readers’ fiction. Instead, it just has to plod along with adventure, humor, engaging characters, an amazingly tantalizing historical background, and nice, clear prose. There isn’t even any sorcery or witchcraft in it.
Kids will like it because it’s easy to read without being dumbed-down, and it’s highly imaginative. Adults will enjoy it for exactly the same reasons. It’s probably perfect for reading aloud to your home-schooled 10-year-old.
This is not an overtly “Christian” book. If it has a message, it’s a plea to resist the pressures of conformity. But it’s not hard to imagine God using this book to do good–which is a great deal more than you can say about a lot of the current young readers’ fiction.
That sounds like a wonderful book; the kind I liked to read as a child.
I hope it gains wide recognition and acceptance.
My youngest “child” is fifty years old, but I will pass on the information
to others who have children and young grandchildren.
But they’ll go out and buy my books, too–right? Please say I’m right!
Learning to stand on one’s own two feet and not being forced into conformity is a very valuable lesson.
That is a really important lesson, not being taught so much in these times.
There are a lot of things which could have been better, in my upbringing and early life, but I did get the message of self sufficiency. It took me a while to find my footing, as an adult, but I always pursued opportunity, and done my best.
What amazes me, is that throughout my life, there have been a steady stream of people who discouraged my self sufficiency. Hard to respect people like that.
I wonder why anyone would discourage someone’s self sufficiency.
I don’t know, but I’ve seen it happen far more often than I would have imagined.