Customer Reviews

Victory on the Walls: A Story of Nehemiah (Living History Library)

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

 

 

I read this as a read aloud to my nine year old son and we both loved it! It puts you in the time of the reconstruction of the temple and we really felt like we were there. We had been studying Biblical history up to this point and this pulled it all together for us. There is plenty of action and drama to keep young kids' attention and it is great that is is written from a young boys perspective. My son kept begging me to keep reading, "just one more chapter" was often the plea so we read it in about three days. Some of my favorite parts were when Nehemiah stood up and defended, without excuse, why they were following God's call and why they would not be intimidated. Powerful stuff!

Historical fiction retellings of Bible stories can be tricky propositions. It's no easy task for an author to create a new tale which weaves personages from salvation history in with fictional characters. Sometimes the results are highly unsatisfactory to the point where the original Scriptural passages are warped or wrongly interpreted. When done well, the new story can help elucidate the Scriptural passages and generate interest in them.

Victory on the Walls: A Story of Nehemiah by Frieda Clark Hyman is one of the latter variety. Mainly following the adventures of Bani, a fictional nephew of Nehemiah, the tale tells the story of how the Jewish people re-established themselves in Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity. It is based on the Biblical books 1 and 2 Ezra (Nehemiah) and the major events which occur in the story are drawn directly from Scripture.

On the whole, the story moves quickly and is well told. Nehemiah is presented as strong and focused, but at the same time compassionate and forgiving. The character of Bani is predominantly well drawn, although there are a few scenes where he appears too much like a petulant modern teen for my tastes. I found the writing a bit more simplistic than some of the other books in the genre. It can be easily read by a 10 year old, as the book is billed.

Victory on the Walls was interesting enough for me that a re-reading of the relevant Scriptural passages was warranted after I finished it. Hopefully the book will inspire others to do likewise.

Covering the story of Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem to lead the effort in rebuilding the wall, Mrs. Hyman's rendition is fairly close to the Biblical narrative in its basic facts. Unfortunately, the plot revolving around the main fictional character, Bani, is simple and rather predictable; my junior-high students found it rather uninteresting. Additionally, the book has multiple grammatical errors that are quite distracting. We will not be using this book with future students.

This book does a great job of bringing Ezra, Nehemiah, and the ancient world alive for students. My daughter and I both enjoyed reading this as part of her history studies. Highly recommended.

This is another excellent book from the Living History Library. We've never gotten one of these books and been disappointed. They really make history come alive, and because of that, the facts are easily retained. Very enjoyable read.