The Pilgrim's Progress

by Dan Larsen (Adapted by), John Bunyan

Journey with Christian on the most incredible adventure ever imagined. Reaching the Celestial City is a little more difficult than our hero bargained for! Will he pass safely through the Valley of the Shadow of Death?.

218 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 1989

About the author

Dan Larsen is a freelance book editor and proofreader in upstate New York who enjoys reading, sports, and watching old movies.

Reviews

[Anika Hodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This version is the perfect next step after reading illustrated storybook versions of Pilgrim's Progress. I read this to my 5.5 year old. I had to explain much of the allegories to him, but he was still able to comprehend much on his own. Loved reading this aloud and I will never not cry during the scene when Christian's burden is removed.

[Rainee Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My little kids enjoyed it. Some pictures were pretty intense, but when we talked about what was going on they were fine. We recently watched the new animated Pilgrim’s Progress, and this was a great addition to that resource and kept the conversations about Christian and the Celestial City going.

[sch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this little edition with the boys. Picture on every other page, some of them pretty intense.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why would anyone read this? It's not even that long, and yet it felt like it took me an eternity to read. I got the religious metaphor and everything, but I was so not interested in Christian's story at all, and i found him to be kind of a stuck-up guy. Instead of showing one of Christian's wicked companions, hear what he was saying and decide to change their ways and go with him and seek salvation; only the already converted are allowed to converse with him. I thought ignorance would get some character development, but no, apparently, he was unsavable. I did like Hopeful and Faithful. They were good friends and were both very hard working and open-minded. I only read it for school, but I would definitely not recommend it to be read for fun.

[John Rimmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my son Christian. It's not the first "kids version" of the story that I've read to my kids, but since this son was a tiny guy when we went through the others, and since it's where his name comes from, we went ahead and worked through this one...slowly (he's still learning to read). It was a surprisingly good annotation for children, especially because it included the second part of the story (Christiana's portion). Great-heart was his favorite character (as he should be).

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fair retelling of Pilgrim's Progress. It wasn't too short and felt like it retained a lot of the important aspects (though my memory is fuzzy on the unabridged version). The pictures also helped keep the kids interested. There are a few egregious typoes that might throw the unwary reader off, though. Now I need to reread the full version myself.

[Jim Mullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved The Pilgrim's Progress so this young reader version is a great way to present the original book's concept to young readers who may want to read the original book eventually.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young persons edition of the Pilgrim's Progress is very good - it goes through all the symbolism of the original but does make it easier to read.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent abridged version for children. I read this to my kids during lunch time during the school week.

[Kirsten Robeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

No wonder it's a classic. A great story with vivid imagery. I'm so glad I finally read it!