As I always do, I read the story before Laura. In fact, Laura hasn't even read it yet. I wanted to give a review of this book because it was really a neat book. I was a little afraid it would be boring or too advanced. What I found was a wonderful retelling of the story of David. While reading the story of David in the Bible is best, this story put it all together in a format that mixes fiction with Scripture. The author added dialogue and imaginative descriptions not found in Scripture, making this a work of fiction. The result is an interesting exploration of King David's life from his early teenage years until he became King.
The book highlights David's relationship with God, his friendship with Jonathon, as well as his defense of King Saul, even when running for his life from Saul. Most of us, in this day and age, have a hard time understanding showing mercy over and over to someone that is trying to kill you. Yet, David continually showed mercy and respect over and over to Saul for being God's anointed, even to the point of sparing his life and not letting his soldiers take Saul's life.
I think Laura will enjoy this book. We are working hard this year to build certain skills that we have not focused on as much in the last couple of years. Reading for more than enjoyment, reading for application and information, are skills that Laura hasn't used and built much. She can often tell me highlights of the story, but not truly get in depth. While we are reading a lot for enjoyment and as books to highlight certain studies we are doing in history or science, The Fugitive King is one of the books I have scheduled for Laura that have study guides with them to teach her to look more in depth when she reads a story.
The guides will teach Laura about what protagonists and a antagonists are. She will study maps of the areas where many of the events in David's life take place. She will do some descriptive writing work as she learns about contrast paragraphs and short essays. She will learn what a covenant is when she studies David and Jonathon's friendship. She will learn what an ephod was in the Old Testament. She will also learn about shepherding and sheep, including different classifications of sheep in the Middle East. All of these studies make one book more of a unit study than just a quick reading of a story for enjoyment. I'm even thinking of adding a movie about King David to the study, but I will need to find one acceptable.
I'm trying not to add too much to any of my children's studies. It's easy to get excited about a topic and over-schedule them. The Fugitive King looks to be a fun adventure, though, that we will enjoy.
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