I love the concept of taking biblical accounts and combining them with historical facts to create a story that makes you feel as if you have traveled back in time to experience it right alongside them, so I was happy to get a chance to review Shepherd, Potter, Spy--and the Star Namer from Peggy Consolver - Author that does just that.
Who is Peggy Consolver?
What is the book about?
As a long-time Sunday School teacher, Peggy read through the Chronological Bible reading plan and discovered interesting insights from passages that stood out to her, such as:
Joshua 9 and 10
Genesis 10
Psalm 114.
From these passages, she was inspired to create a story based on the account of how the Gibeonites survived destruction. She was interested in telling the story from a fresh, unexpected perspective - That of a descendant of Ham. She chose to write the story from the perspective of a young Canaanite shepherd boy, Keshub.
The first step of her writing journey included a visit to Gibeon in the Palestinian West Bank and taking part in an archaeological dig where the pieces of history began to fill in the details of historic and biblical fact into her created story of a shepherd boy, a potter's son.
What is the book about?
The story is about a young 13-year-old shepherd boy, a Canaanite and descendent of Ham who finds himself caught up in a moment in biblical history. When he befriends the son of the Amorite King and discovers how evil the king is, and as he watches the Hebrews attacking city after city and the walls of Jericho fall, he begins to take his place in Gibeonite history as his life and all of his adventures begin to change.
The book is based on facts from history and accounts recorded in the Bible, though the author makes history come alive by creating an imaginary storyline told from this young shepherd boy's perspective.
The author includes scriptures from which she derived the story. One big one is from Joshua 10 where the sun stood still.
The book I received a 375-page, 46-chapter paperback copy of the book along with access to the study guide, which is available for purchase on the website but first offers you a free sample of a portion of it simply by clicking on the link on the page. I would highly recommend if you use the book as a biblical history study since it provides links to facts and videos that help bring the story to life, such as the kind of bear talked about in the book that the shepherd would have encountered or a style of knot tied. It also provides you with tons of questions for discussion to really bring the story home and apply the spiritual and historical aspects of the story to real life today.
The book is based on facts from history and accounts recorded in the Bible, though the author makes history come alive by creating an imaginary storyline told from this young shepherd boy's perspective.
The author includes scriptures from which she derived the story. One big one is from Joshua 10 where the sun stood still.
The book I received a 375-page, 46-chapter paperback copy of the book along with access to the study guide, which is available for purchase on the website but first offers you a free sample of a portion of it simply by clicking on the link on the page. I would highly recommend if you use the book as a biblical history study since it provides links to facts and videos that help bring the story to life, such as the kind of bear talked about in the book that the shepherd would have encountered or a style of knot tied. It also provides you with tons of questions for discussion to really bring the story home and apply the spiritual and historical aspects of the story to real life today.
How Did We Use It?
One of the first things I noticed is that the book is based upon some passages in the Bible, which the author suggested for reading. So, I looked them up starting with Joshua 9 and 10, which is the account of the Israelites making a peace treaty with the Gibeonites, against what God had commanded, and finally the account written of in Joshua of the day the sun stood still. At this point, I was hooked. Before deciding whether or not to include this in my children's course of study, I sat down to experience the book and the study guide for myself. It didn't take long before I realized this would make a great read-aloud for the entire family.
What Did We Think?
What a rivoting book. I was fascinated with the way the author was able to intertwine real historic and biblical accounts with a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Get ready, because when you start reading it, you may find yourself caught up in these historic biblical moments and forget you're living in the 21st century as the words float off the page and into your heart.
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Thank you for your puddle-jumping review! Have a blessed day.
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