Little Pilgrim's Progress: From John Bunyan's Classic [Paperback]

Helen Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 1989

To most children the record of Christian's pilgrimage is attractive simply as a story of adventure. But now Helen L. Taylor has simplified the vocabulary and concepts for younger readers, while keeping the story line intact. The result is a classic for youth, a delightful book with a message they can understand.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers (March 8, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802449263
• ISBN-13: 978-0802449269
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We loved this book!, November 2, 2002

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Little Pilgrim's Progress: From John Bunyan's Classic (Paperback)

In this wonderful book (published by Moody Press), author Helen L. Taylor takes the Christian classic Pilgrim's Progress and reworks it for younger readers. She simplified the words and concepts, but stayed remarkably close to the original story. The chapters are nice and short, which makes this an excellent bedtime read, which is how I read it to my nine-year-old son and eleven-year-old daughter.

This is really two stories in one book, the first story tells of Christian, a small boy living in the City of Destruction, who hears Evangelist talking about the Celestial City where the great King lives. Christian becomes a pilgrim, and sets off for the Celestial City. Along the way he has many encounters and learns many lessons. The second story is about Christiana, a friend of Christian, who sets out with others to walk the same path, and they encounter many trials, often different than the ones faced by Christian.

This is an excellent book. It is jam-packed with Christian concepts, which you can then stop, at a convenient chapter break, and explain. Indeed, if I have one complaint, it's that I wish that this book had a study guide to accompany it! My children were a little disquieted by the martyrdom of one character, but as this is also a part of the Christian experience, I am glad that this book addressed it.

So, I must say that my children and I all loved this book. As a matter of fact, I think that I will make reading it a yearly tradition (for a while, anyway). We highly recommend this book!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting!, July 18, 2004

By A Customer

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This review is from: Little Pilgrim's Progress: From John Bunyan's Classic (Paperback)

During my childhood nearly 40 years ago) I was utterly fascinated by this book. It stood out as one of the most interesting books of my childhood days, and it made an indelible impression on me. (Other favorites were C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, Little Princess, & Secret Garden). But back to Little Pilgrim's Progress: I'm not sure why this book was so intriguing to myself and my siblings, perhaps because the little pilgrem faced real dangers and even death??
Well, recently this book came up in conversation -- I hadn't thought of it for years -- and I dug out a copy, and started to read it. Moments later my nearly 6-year-old daughter came up and asked me if I would read it to her. My nearly 4-year-old son also wanted to listen. (I read freqently to my children, and they often are able to enjoy stories beyond their age level, but still I thought this would be too advanced to hold their attention.) But still, I decided to try. Of course, when I read I simplified or explained the language from time to time (some of the wording is old-fashioned). But to my astonishment, my children were absolutely riveted. The chapters in this book are short, and the children kept begging me to read more!! I was especially amazed that my 4-year-old remained totally engaged in the story (there are occasional illustrations, but it isn't a picture book; they were just listening). We finished the Christian part of the book in a few reading sessions over 3 days. (We later read the Christiana story, but the children didn't find it as interesting).
Conclusion: I'm not saying that this book would usually be of interest to such young children, but only wanted to comment that it can be a very exciting book and can provide much opportunity for thoughtful discussion with a parent.
Oh, I will add one more thing -- shortly after reading the book, one day my son asked if he could change his name to "Help" (like in the story). And later, he asked if he could be called "Greatheart". So now we jokingly have added those names to his middle name. Also, after reading the story concepts came up a lot in conversations over the following days and weeks.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I have ever read my children!, November 25, 1999

By 

Karen G. Sease (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Pilgrim's Progress: From John Bunyan's Classic (Paperback)

I was given this book, in its first printing, in an old stack of books about 6 years ago by my mother-in-law. The cover was different and uninteresting looking but it had no effect on what was inside the cover. This is the best book I have ever read to my children and they strongly agree. It took us a year to get through it at bedtime, but we all enjoyed it. They were 4 years old and 7 years old at the time, so the age range is much broader than specified. I learned so much from the book and so did they. It is challenging, both verbally and spiritually, and captivating. My children would beg me to read it to them because they couldn't wait to find out what happened to the children in the book. I recommend this book to everyone, both the Christian and non-Christian. You will not be sorry! Enjoy!