Beautiful gift book. There once was a king who ruled over a darkened kingdom. Crops were planted and then failed, houses were built and then neglected, people were impoverished and dispirited. But when a traveler arrives at the crumbling palace, he shows the monarch his kingdom through the lens of an enchanted spyglass -- a spyglass that shows him his kingdom not as it is, but as it could be. The king's imagination is ignited by the spark of faith, and with faith comes hope and change. By sharing his vision and inspiring his subjects to work alongside him, the king restores his land to glory. Faith is at the heart of master storyteller Richard Paul Evans's moving new fable, which is brought to life by the rich, magnificent oil paintings of artist Jonathan Linton. Together, author and artist have created a powerful story that will inspire readers young and old to see their world through the eyes of faith.
I so enjoy all of Richard Paul Evans' books, because the stories are timeless, keep your interest, and give a true moral compass in today's relative culture. Thanks for this book!
I'm hesitant to even post this book, given to my kids by a relative who is disconcerted that I'm not indoctrinating them with the value of just believing what people tell them without questioning BECAUSE IT JUST FEELS RIGHT, JUST BELIEVE IT, DON'T THINK, TRUST YOUR HEART, but I'd like to trade it for a kids book that teaches them something actually positive, about kindness, or love, or a sense of wonder.
Books that emphasize faith and belief and trusting one's heart over one's mind are as subversive and dangerous and children's books can get, and I want no part of them. We already have people living life and making laws and voting based on nothing but how they feel about the minute amount of information they've bothered to acquire, and we don't need more like that. Children are amazing blank slates, hungry to learn, to seek real truth, and adults just pile on their set dogmas, their idiocy, their religious beliefs, their low-information political ideologies, and it's a huge disservice to the kids.
Well, forget it: I want my kids to believe in the goodness of others and to have artistic vision, sure, but I certainly don't want a lesson of faith delivered to them in a box made of god, from a Mormon author who thinks faith trumps reason. If faith trumps reason, when was the last time religion cured a disease? Or made a life-improving discovery? Or did anything but make simple people feel better about dying or life being hard or what-have-you? No thanks, and keep your decrepit ideas away from my children.
As for this book itself, the illustrations are a creepy sort of photorealism I really don't care for--like "highlighted" Thomas Kinkade reproductions--the story is simple and easy enough, but it's loaded with god references, a veiled scripture reference, and ends on a smarmy note about FAITH BEING THE GREATEST TREASURE OF ALL. I beg to disagree. You might have faith that your god wants you to go to work to make money and be prosperous, while someone else has a different faith that he needs to crash a plane into your building and move onto a ridiculous afterlife; reason is what we need here. Reason, a sense of wonder, a sense of gratitude for what is and what's real--these are what we need to pass on to our children, not a high, unquestioning tolerance for nonsense.
Get your kid a good book instead. I recommend OWL AT HOME, by Arnold Lobel, which teaches kindness and friendship and a bit of healthy skepticism.
Books that emphasize faith and belief and trusting one's heart over one's mind are as subversive and dangerous and children's books can get, and I want no part of them. We already have people living life and making laws and voting based on nothing but how they feel about the minute amount of information they've bothered to acquire, and we don't need more like that. Children are amazing blank slates, hungry to learn, to seek real truth, and adults just pile on their set dogmas, their idiocy, their religious beliefs, their low-information political ideologies, and it's a huge disservice to the kids.
Well, forget it: I want my kids to believe in the goodness of others and to have artistic vision, sure, but I certainly don't want a lesson of faith delivered to them in a box made of god, from a Mormon author who thinks faith trumps reason. If faith trumps reason, when was the last time religion cured a disease? Or made a life-improving discovery? Or did anything but make simple people feel better about dying or life being hard or what-have-you? No thanks, and keep your decrepit ideas away from my children.
As for this book itself, the illustrations are a creepy sort of photorealism I really don't care for--like "highlighted" Thomas Kinkade reproductions--the story is simple and easy enough, but it's loaded with god references, a veiled scripture reference, and ends on a smarmy note about FAITH BEING THE GREATEST TREASURE OF ALL. I beg to disagree. You might have faith that your god wants you to go to work to make money and be prosperous, while someone else has a different faith that he needs to crash a plane into your building and move onto a ridiculous afterlife; reason is what we need here. Reason, a sense of wonder, a sense of gratitude for what is and what's real--these are what we need to pass on to our children, not a high, unquestioning tolerance for nonsense.
Get your kid a good book instead. I recommend OWL AT HOME, by Arnold Lobel, which teaches kindness and friendship and a bit of healthy skepticism.
