The Pilgrim's Progress: A Poetic Retelling of John Bunyan's Classic Tale

by Rousseaux Brasseur, Katya Longhi (Artist)

Overview

John Bunyan’s Bestseller as You’ve Never Experienced It Before
 
Did you know that John Bunyan’s timeless tale, ThePilgrim’s Progress, is the best selling book in history aside from the Bible, captivating millions of readers and impacting multiple generations of believers?
 
This fresh retelling of Bunyan’s masterwork features kid-friendly language in verse form, chronicling Christian’s quest for forgiveness, freedom, and an everlasting kingdom. Coupled with colorful illustrations that bring this epic journey to life, young readers ages eight and up will be inspired and captivated by this classic Christian allegory.
 
More than just a fantastical adventure, this book will help children gain greater knowledge of key Christian concepts in words they can understand, making it a perfect choice for family reading or a trustworthy alternative to screen time.
 
Bring this bestseller home and spark your child’s faith and imagination! 
      
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780736979481
Publisher:	Harvest House Publishers
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rousseaux Brasseur is an author, playwright, and actor with a passion for engaging kids with the truth of God’s Word. He wrote and coproduced a musical based on The Pilgrim’s Progress which became his inspiration for writing a poetic retelling of the story for children. He is also an avid collector of antique copies of John Bunyan’s book and has over 30 copies at his home in Medford, Oregon.
 


Katya Longhi studied at the Art Academy in Florence, Italy. Since then she has studied illustration at Nemo NT Academy of Digital Arts. In her spare time, Katya loves to read fairy tales and collect snow globes. She works as a freelance illustrator based in northern Italy where she lives with her very own Prince Charming.
 
 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The City of Destruction
2. Unroll The Scroll: Christian Meets Evangelist
3. Tromp Through the Swamp: Discouragement
4. Straying and Disobeying: Mt. Sinai & The Law
5. Back On Track: The Narrow Gate
6. Learning and Discerning: The Interpreter’s House
7. Four More Doors: The Interpreter’s House (Continued)
8. The Hill of Deliverance: The Cross
9. Nap Takers and Law Breakers
10. Fright in the Night: The Palace Beautiful
11. A Blessed Rest: The Palace Beautiful (Continued)
12. A Foe Down Below: Battle with Apollyon
13. The Depths of the Valley of Death
14. Journeying Along in Joyful Song: A Blessed Quest
15. Walking and Talking: Mr. Talksalot
16. Beware of the Fair: Evangelist’s Warning
17. Insanity Beyond Compare Inside Vanity Fair
18. The Fury of the Jury: Faithful’s Trial
19. Another Brother And Money Lovers: Hopeful  & Love-Gain
20. Get Rich Quick And A Hole In the Fence
21. The Violent Giant: Doubting Castle
22. Breakout of Doubt: Escape from the Dungeon
23. Fountains and Mountains: Emmanuel’s Land
24. Listen to A Lesson: Simpleton And Little-Faith
25. Make-Believers and Deceivers
26. Homeward Bound Through Enchanted Ground
27. A Conversation About the Way of Salvation
28. Two Friends Where the Path Ends
29. The Start of a New Story In The City of Glory
30. Epilogue: Whatever became of Christian’s Family?

Editorial Reviews

2020-06-30
A verse rendition of the 342-year-old quest fantasy’s first part.

Brasseur keeps the plot intact along with the Calvinist insistence on redemption through grace alone, not works, and cameos from pilgrim-eating giants Pagan and Pope. Except for New Testament quotations at each chapter’s head, however, he loses the original’s teeming, pace-killing Biblical references. Some of his other changes will strike readers as arbitrary: Erstwhile neighbors Obstinate and Pliable are “Sir Stubborn” and “Mr. Fickle,” and the Slough of Despond is, disappointingly, just a generic “marshland.” Still, he does somewhat modernize the original’s now-crabbed idiom: “Dad is being ridiculous; there’s nothing we should fear,” Christian’s children say. He sets most of Christian’s journey through the “narrow wicket-picket gate” in anapests, which creates a suitable sense of trotting along, but both meter and rhyme are inconsistent. In any case, this retelling doesn’t measure up in quality or feeling to Gary D. Schmidt’s magisterial John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1994), illustrated by Barry Moser. Longhi’s frequent full-page paintings likewise suffer in comparison, as her stiff, blocky figures never show other than theatrical emotions. Still, if Christian and most of the rest of the cast are White, Jesus sports an olive complexion, and Christian travels with brown-skinned companions Faithful (whose auto-da-fé is described but not depicted) and Hopeful.

Too many potholes for a steady Progress. (Verse fiction. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews