Customer Reviews

Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim's Progress

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read Pilgrim's Progress for the first time about a year ago, and "Dangerous Journey" really stays true to Bunyon's wonderful story. My boys--ages 5, 3 and 2--all love this book, but for different reasons. My 5 year old loves the action and excitement. My 3 year old (for whatever reason) loves the fact this whole thing is a dream--he often says, "I had a dream last night. . ." and then launches into some hilarious and imaginitive story. And my 2 year old loves the huge and vivid illustrations.

One of the things that sets this book apart from other children's books or videos (like Veggie Tales) is that the book refuses to soft-pedal the scary situations and frightening enemies that Christian encounters. The giants in this book are not overgrown pickles wearing boxing gloves, but enormous monsters with hairy warts and clubs the size of trees. The dialogue and illustrations can be shocking to 21st century parents in this politically correct age--and kids absolutely love it! (FYI--my kids have never had nightmares about any of this. We constantly remind them that God is in control of everything that Christian and his companions encounter.)

By reading this story to your kids, you can teach them about the sinfulness of man, the rage and power (but ultimate destruction) of the devil, and the overwhelming holiness, love and sovereignty of God. It's also a great way to express the idea that life is a journey, and although this is our Father's world, our true home is in that heavenly country across the River Jordan where our loving Savior is waiting to welcome us.

This was my favorite book growing up, the illistrations are great and the story keeps you on your toes. Great bedtime story book as something is always happening (beware you can't finish in night though). Dragons, demons, giants, dark woods, and angels. A good introduction to the Christian walk in a way a small child can enjoy and still savor as an adult.

John Bunyan has created a story that will, regardless of your religious affiliation, profoundly move your heart. The author has created settings and characters that boldly reflect the best and worst of all things experienced within a lifetime, for all time. Bunyan's book is as relevant and necessary today as at any point since being written in 1676. If you read only one version of Pilgrim's Progress, make sure that "Dangerous Journey," is it. The poetic flow and wonderful illustrations grab and hold onto to you at word one and never let go.

Ok, that title sounds like a cheesy Rex Reed movie review. But this book really did grab me. The illustrations are generously sized and very detailed. No matter how many times you have read Pilgrim's Progress you will be challenged to see things in a new light. And your kids will be drawn into the timeless story.

In a day when Western culture has lost its Biblical morrings and no longer sees life as a pilgrimage, a jounrey to Heaven, this book draws us out. It pulls us from the search for inner self-fulfilment and directs us outward to get on the road. This metaphor for the Christian life is just so gripping.

A must have for parents and their kids.

This is the favorite book of my 2 and 5 year old sons. The pictures are gorgeous and hold their attention while I read the story of Christian. Each chapter is the perfect length for reading before bedtime. Most of the time though my sons want me to read the WHOLE book!

The "4 Stars" are based on the enthusiasm of my kids for this book, discounted to avoid grade inflation. I read this aloud to them, and they looked forward to each installment. As you probably know, this is an adaptation of the classic "The Pilgrim's Progress." What you have here is the basic storyline, heavily abridged for brevity and clarity but with some retention of original text. Bright vivid pictures help to tell the tale. The jacket information leads me to believe that the images are actually taken from a cartoon version (for lack of a better term) of this story, and the images do have that look. The backgrounds are obviously still images that the moving characters were superimposed upon - I have never seen this production on the screen but it looks like it followed the Scooby Doo school of animation. Anyway, my kids are not art critics and the pictures were very helpful in visualizing the story.
I am not an expert on "The Pilgrim's Progress." I know the basic outline of the story. I have tried to read the book but gave up in frustration, and I think I recall watching a grainy film version in high school literature class. The theological message of the whole thing is not real clear to me. Some of the symbols are quite obvious - the burden on Pilgrim's back, the names of his various companions, the ultimate end-game (sort of) - but it's hard to make sense of the order of Pilgrim's various adventures and the parallels in our own lives. Do we always encounter the "Slough of Despair" so early in our journeys, never to return to it? And is that always before the "Wicket Gate" or not (and what the heck is a "Wicket Gate"). Doubting Castle? Vanity Fair? Hmm. Anyway, I wasn't moved to want to read the original, and I wouldn't call this a page-turner, but my kids really looked forward to it each night and that's what I was looking for.

I found the book to be very good 12 years ago. I read it to my children when they were able to understand it. I also found the illustrations to be extrodinary and helped explain the story very well. I am going to purchase this book again today for my daughter.

Dangerous Journey is an exciting abbreviation of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress -- perhaps most exciting to me is that it uses the original words of John Bunyan, selected to offer children a digestable version of the story.

The exciting illustrations were teriffically gruesome for my 3 and 4 year old children (Christian being tackled by a very fearsome dragon, piles of men's bones, and very monstrous monsters) -- and they begged excitedly to read another chapter from the book each night. I was initially hesitant about showing them some of the pictures, because I thought they might be too scary for pre-schoolers -- but the story does a wonderful job of constantly reminding the reader that the Lord reigns over everything that happens to Christian. We haven't had any nightmares or scary dreams about these villians.


Just as the original author intended, this adaptation personifies so many of the devil's schemes, and makes it easier to talk with children about avoiding pitfalls in their own lives -- because they can associate words like despair and vanity with places and images rather than abstract ideas that may be harder to grasp.

My one disappointment was that several of the characters and items were truncated too much in the abbreviation. They were so underdeveloped that they were not very helpful to the storyline. This, of course, wasn't any disappointment to my children, who excitedly met a new character on each page and had little concern when one was passed too quickly.

I am amazed that none of the other reviews caught at least one major flaw and perhaps there will be more. Simple, Sloth and Presumption are out of correct order in that The Dangerous Journey has them before the Interpreters House and before the burden is off Christian's back. John Bunyan's classic has these three characters placed after the Cross. It is important to stay true to the text because it is a Classic. This makes me wonder if the reviewers before me, have ever read the original. Such is the times in which we live. PS: The Video makes the same error.

I read this to my kids at church because it beautifully illustrates some of the most basic Christian principles. They couldn't wait to discover what happened next as Christian journeyed to the Celestial City. They each wanted to read aloud and after completing the book, they each wanted to borrow it so they could read it again at home. Guess why I'm online now? I think copies of their own will make great gifts! Can there be a higher compliment for a book?