I had grand plans to do posts all year long to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg church on October 31, 1517. So far I've managed to do one over on my other blog.
Well, it's October. And if I get myself in gear, I can STILL do a pretty cool series of posts about this. I've got quite a few books about the Reformation and Martin Luther I can review, plus some other thoughts to share, so I'll be doing that throughout October both here and on Hamlette's Soliloquy, Lord willing and my life doesn't get even busier. And I'll begin with this review of a brand-new picture book!
Jaspersen's illustrations are really striking and unique. You know how in the Lord of the Rings movies, whenever Bilbo or Frodo put on the ring, they enter this sort of shadow world with unseen foes? This feels a lot like that -- shadowy forms of angels, demons, and people all blurring together into one realm. The "old evil foe" and his minions are depicted as a vast army in pointy armor trying to overtake the church and believers, and Satan is in one place depicted as a dragon-like creature being slain by Jesus as a knight in armor. In fact, some of the pictures might be a little scary for very little kids -- my five-year-old (who just renamed herself Mad Dog yesterday) was fine with them, but I could see my three-year-old nephew finding them a little too freaky. Just so you know.
In case you didn't know from my "Who Am I?" page or guess it from the fact that I want to highlight stuff about the Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther, I am a Lutheran. I'm working on a post about what that means to me for my other blog, and hope to have it up before the week is out. I'm putting that "500" icon with the Luther's Seal in it on the sidebars of both my blogs, and if you click on that, you'll go to all the posts in this series for that blog.
We just got this book, too! And it totally scared my almost-four-year old. :-) I hope people realize this book isn't for little kids and is more helpful for either older kids or adults. I appreciate the intent, though, and I like Kloria Press's books in general.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it's too intense for anyone under Kindergarten age. And my son would probably not have been able to handle it until he was in first grade.
DeleteI really like their other books that I've seen, and I love that I have met so many of the people involved :-)
I want a copy of this!
ReplyDeleteI did a church history year w/ my kids, and we studied the Reformers, pre and post Luther. It was amazing! Well, I loved it.
Have you ever made Diet of Worms cake? Very yummy.
"Mad Dog," ha! That's so (I want to say) cute, (but it doesn't sound right).
Ruth, you can buy it on Amazon, which is where I got it.
DeleteI've been pretty fascinated by the Reformation for a long time. So many of them were so courageous and inspiring.
Nope, never made Diet of Worms cake -- is it like a "dirt" cake?
Yeah, Mad Dog. She goes through nicknames pretty quickly lately. I think maybe five-year-olds have some kind of mid-childhood crisis or something, as my other two got kind of quirky around that age too.
Yes, Diet of Worms cake is like dirt cake w/ gummy worms. Mine was made w/ pudding (I don't know if that's the norm).
DeleteWe're having a Reformation Party with our homeschool group in a couple weeks, and I just might have to make this!
DeleteGlad to see another Reformation post! Looks like a really neat book. I liked the other book videos on the FB page too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Abby! I got another of their books, the board book, for our godson. It's very cute -- maybe I'll review it this month too, if I get a chance.
Delete