Pilgrim's Progress

by Anna Trimiew

John Bunyan's Classic Story Adapted for Children

Genres: Classics, Christian, Christian Living, Childrens, Theology, Religion, Devotional

111 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pilgrim's Progress is awesome! It is a story about a Pilgrim named Christian travels from the city of Destruction to the Celestial city (heaven). Christian has to go through many dangers along the way. He also meets fake Pilgrims who try to make Christian turn off the narrow way.
Also, Christian meets a man named Faithful, they walk together towards the Celestial city. But when Faithful dies along the way, Christian has to travel by himself.
Again he meets a man named Hopeful, and they face the rest of the dangers to the Celestial city together. Hopeful stays with Christian the whole rest of the way to the Celestial city and enters with Christian.

A man named Ignorance joins them. Hopeful and Christian try to tell him that he came in the wrong way, but Ignorance does not listen to them.
When Ignorance, Hopeful, and Christian come to celestial city, Ignorance knocked on the door two angels asked him for his scroll to give to the King, Ignorance did not have one. Then the two angels grabbed him and threw him through the door of hell.
But when Hopeful and Christian knocked, they gave the two angels their scrolls and they got to live with the King!

This book is awesome! Everything represents the burden (sin), false Pilgrims and the wicked King (Satan), Celestial city (heaven), and I think a few more.
You have to read this book because it is AWESOME!!

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good version for children to read because it is shortened and simplified from the original. In fact, I read it to my daughter in about five sittings (and then she read it to herself!). As the book teaches the essence of the Christian life, including entering at the narrow gate and the importance of both knowledge and perseverance, it is wonderful to see a child recognize these concepts from this simplified version.

It was even helpful to me because it really whet my appetite to go out and buy the original "Pilgrim's Progress" for myself, which I have done.

It really gives the framework and skeleton of the story in a very satisfying way. I highly recommend it for children and for parents to give them the incentive to read the actual book!

[Carin Meerdink · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. I bought it to introduce Pilgrim's Progress to my just turned seven year old. I did like the pictures and the overall look of the book and appreciated the free map that came with it. However it seemed as if the story had been so condensed that it lost all nuance and much of the impact for me. The dialogue seemed so stilted and the plot seemed so rushed. My daughter seemed to enjoy it, but I was disappointed. It felt like just one step up from Cliff Notes.

[Erin Meloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man named Christian has a heavy burden on his back that weighs him down. He is distressed and worried that this burden will cause him to fall into hell. Another man named Evangelist sees him and gives him a scroll, and tells him to run away from the City of Destruction and toward the light in the distance. One of the first stops he makes on his journey is to the place of deliverance, where Christian comes to the cross and his burden falls off! He is then on his way to the Celestial City. Along the way, he encounters much temptation, trial, and some ease. Even though this path is very difficult it is worth it when he gets to the Celestial City, where he will get to praise God forever! This story is an allegory of the Christian life. It highlights key events, trials, and temptations that believers encounter in their lives, and does so in an action-packed and engaging story. What I love about this story is the way it was adapted. The original book, The Pilgrim's Progress, was written in the 1600's and is at a very difficult reading level. This version stays true to the original story in content, but presents it in easy to read language and quality illustrations. People of any age can enjoy this classic story, and learn that God is always with them, that He loves them, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for their sins, and that He rose from the dead three days later. Because of this, they can confess their sins to Him, be forgiven, and have Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. What amazing truth! This book is a great reminder that through the trials of life, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us" (Romans 8:37).

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence from the introduction: A long, long time ago, a prisoner sat in a cold jail in England.

First sentence from chapter one: "Oh, what must I do?" cried a man dressed in rags as he walked in the fields outside his house.

Anna Trimiew has adapted John Bunyan's classic allegory for young readers. It is illustrated by Drew Rose.

It does make the allegory more accessible to young readers. This is not the first adaptation for children, nor will it be the last adaptation for children. I've read a handful though not recently enough to rank them--to compare them side by side and say THIS is the one I'd recommend.

This is the first half of Pilgrim's Progress. It definitely feels abridged with some of the theology cut out or cut down at least. I've read the original, the unabridged several times. So I definitely had a vague feeling of missing some bits. But for an abridged version for young children--elementary school aged--it's serviceable enough. I did not care for the illustrations personally. BUT illustrations can be subjective. Maybe not everyone will see a Klingon on the cover.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book for children to learn this story in a more simple way told for them! I love the original book, but this one stuck very closely to it and had all the good and important parts left in it. The language stayed much the same, but had more explanations and less really big words. I love the colorful and interesting illustrations throughout it, they are beautiful! The info about John Bunyan and the book before chapter one was very helpful for setting the explanation and theme of the story. I also loved the definitions at the end of the book for the different words that the children reading it might not know. It helped me to understand it even better too. Overall this is a great book to introduce the story of Christian and his journey to children. I'd recommend it for all ages and it would be a great book to read to very young children. The curriculum that goes with it is very good too and I'm so glad that Christians put it together.

[Carol Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading "Little Pilgrim's Progress," Helen Taylor's beautiful retelling of Bunyon's classic, I was rather disappointed in this one. It seemed a little preachy to me. The author had lists throughout the book which seemed intended to interpret the meaning for the children reading the book. Instead, I would have preferred that she just let the beauty of the classic shine through and allow the children to enjoy the story at their own level of understanding. On the other hand, Taylor's edition simply tells the story so well that it encourages the children to read it again and again thereby understanding the underlying meaning a little more with each reading.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction for a first read through of Pilgrim's Progress. I'm not usually a big fan of adaptations of classics, but this is faithful to the story. The timeline is condensed and some updated language makes it more accessible to kids (and parents) who will get bogged down in the original. I don't think this should replace reading the original later on, but worth a read because the content is still great. We also listened to the audio version; I found one of the voices a little "movie announcer" intense, but all three of my boys really liked it, so kid approved.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

These illustrations are more minimalist than Alan Parry's 1985 illustrations for Dangerous Journey, but it does emphasize Pilgrim's armor more. Trimiew removes references to Giant Despair's weakness to sunlight. Reference is made to looking to Jesus for strength rather than that Jesus is the main character of the story, which is rational. Because everyone in Vanity Fair only does what they want, it is not obvious how anyone works.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent adaptation of Bunyan's book. The story is broken down into 13 chapters making it ideal for bedtime reading with children. It has attractive pictures and a map to keep children's interest. My son wants to read it again.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great. Wonderful. Terrific! I cannot express how wonderful this book was. I loved it. My kids loved it. And now they want to read the "grown-up" version of Pilgrim's Progress.

Also, the curriculum to go with it is AMAZING! Looking forward to going through the book again!