The Bronze Bow (1961)

I am split so many ways on this... As a depiction of life in Jesus' time, it's fascinating. As a kids' book, it's well-written but doesn't captivate me. As a Christian book - the protagonist is one of Jesus' followers, to some extent - it's also fascinating; why follow this one among all the other choices? The use of Samson is annoying - we never find out how much he understood or really anything about him, he's just (eventually) convenient muscle, and extra guilt for Daniel. Like most kids' books, there are an awful lot of convenient people and events, popping up at just the right time and place so the protagonist can make the right choices (this is why I say it doesn't captivate me). But it was most definitely worth reading (probably would be more worth reading if I were younger), might be worth rereading in a few years. ( )

Newbery Medal 1962. Daniel is seeking revenge on the Romans for crucifying his father. He must return home to care for his mentally ill sister, but is still active in the resistance. Meeting Jesus opens his eyes to the power of love and forgiveness. ( )

I actually started this book several months ago and put it down to read something else before I had finished the first few chapters. Since I am determined to make it through the Newbery list, I knew it had to be read. I'm glad I picked it back up as it ended up being quite a good book. I was impressed how Elizabeth George Speare wrote the book with religious undertones without being an overly religious book. This keeps the novel readable for anyone regardless of faith. The look into the day to day life of the characters in the time was very interesting. I'm not sure I had read a book in this setting before and enjoyed it. Overall, I was greatly impressed with this work. ( )

My book group chose the perfect time to read this book, Easter and Passover were happening as we read it. We all enjoyed the book. We found it had a lot of depth as well as quite a lot of action. We stormed through the last few chapters unable to put it down. Our memories told us that we had not liked the book as much when we were children and that we missed the deeper message back then. We wondered how kids today would react to it. ( )

I think I may have read this a decade or more ago. It seemed somewhat familiar. Good story, well written. ( )