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When Lightning Struck!: The Story of Martin Luther
Martin Luther’s life was too exciting not to be written for teens and younger readers! In this fast-paced, action-packed novel of Martin Luther’s life, teen readers (and more than a few adults!) will be introduced to a fascinating time when princes ruled Europe and knights roamed the countryside. They’ll learn about a time when powerful forces lined up against each other and believing the wrong thing could get you killed.When Lightning Struck! is far more than just an adventure story, of course. It also tells a theological story. Drawing carefully from Luther’s own words, this book introduces readers to a kindred spirit who struggled with what knowing God through Scripture means for daily life. They will understand what was at stake and how powerfully liberating Luther’s idea of grace through faith was—in his time and in ours! In crisp, enjoyable prose, author Danika Cooley conveys both the drama and the meaning of the Reformation for younger readers like no one before her!
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2015
19 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Danika Cooley
22 books14 followersDanika Cooley is an award-winning children’s author and Bible curriculum developer. Her Bible Road Trip™ curriculum is used across the globe. Each week, Danika encourages tens of thousands of parents to intentionally raise biblically literate children on her Thinking Kids blog. Her books include the Who What Why Christian history series and Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible. Danika is a homeschool mother of four with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Visual Art from the University of Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 20, 2017
I was excited to see a narrative biography of Luther marketed for teens and young adults. And then I read it.
Here's my problem with the book. It verges on being too academic to be considered a narrative biography and certainly too much so to be considered a YA novel. She uses a lot of actual quotes from Luther throughout and then cites them with end notes. In a YA novel. Additionally, a lot of things are left unexplained that should really be explained considering the audience. For instance, when Luther attends the Diet of Worms, the novel does little to explain what a Diet is. Furthermore, names of places and important people are thrown around with little context, making it difficult for anyone who is not a medieval theological scholar to keep up. Another example is that she continuously refers to a great dragon--Satan--that Luther believes he is battling with, but does not really explain the metaphor for the first half of the book or comment that it is a metaphor. I could see a teen picking this book up not knowing anything about Luther, reading about a great dragon battle in the first few pages, then getting to the end and realizing that there is no great dragon at all--it's not that kind of medieval fantasy book--and being both disappointed and confused. Finally, my biggest complaint about this book, is the author did a great job of commenting on Luther's short comings--she makes a reference to his writings on the Jews and also his growing stubbornness and anger as he got older--but does nothing to contextualize it or help the reader see how this young, insecure monk grows up to be an arrogant SOB. It does make a compelling narrative, it just needs to be explained in a way that keeps the character relatable. I don't mean that Luther's behavior should be defended, but it should be understood within the context.
All of the above said, the author does a decent job of making Luther's life interested and keeping the book fast paced. Her writing style is mostly approachable, even if it occasionally veers toward the academic. I recommend this book only if it is read with some knowledge about Luther already in place or if it accompanies other materials that delve deeper into Luther's later life. An excellent book that would be a good companion to this for high-school and college readers would be Kirsi Stjerna's and Brooks Schramm's "Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People," as they go into great detail explaining how Luther arrived at his wrong conclusions and what we can learn about prejudice and discrimination today.
In summary, I can see this book being used as a tool in confirmation or high school Sunday School, as long as it is along side more information that helps contextualize the story. In that context, I think the book would do well. On its own, I do not think it would be of interest without some prior knowledge of late Medieval Europe or the Reformation.
Here's my problem with the book. It verges on being too academic to be considered a narrative biography and certainly too much so to be considered a YA novel. She uses a lot of actual quotes from Luther throughout and then cites them with end notes. In a YA novel. Additionally, a lot of things are left unexplained that should really be explained considering the audience. For instance, when Luther attends the Diet of Worms, the novel does little to explain what a Diet is. Furthermore, names of places and important people are thrown around with little context, making it difficult for anyone who is not a medieval theological scholar to keep up. Another example is that she continuously refers to a great dragon--Satan--that Luther believes he is battling with, but does not really explain the metaphor for the first half of the book or comment that it is a metaphor. I could see a teen picking this book up not knowing anything about Luther, reading about a great dragon battle in the first few pages, then getting to the end and realizing that there is no great dragon at all--it's not that kind of medieval fantasy book--and being both disappointed and confused. Finally, my biggest complaint about this book, is the author did a great job of commenting on Luther's short comings--she makes a reference to his writings on the Jews and also his growing stubbornness and anger as he got older--but does nothing to contextualize it or help the reader see how this young, insecure monk grows up to be an arrogant SOB. It does make a compelling narrative, it just needs to be explained in a way that keeps the character relatable. I don't mean that Luther's behavior should be defended, but it should be understood within the context.
All of the above said, the author does a decent job of making Luther's life interested and keeping the book fast paced. Her writing style is mostly approachable, even if it occasionally veers toward the academic. I recommend this book only if it is read with some knowledge about Luther already in place or if it accompanies other materials that delve deeper into Luther's later life. An excellent book that would be a good companion to this for high-school and college readers would be Kirsi Stjerna's and Brooks Schramm's "Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People," as they go into great detail explaining how Luther arrived at his wrong conclusions and what we can learn about prejudice and discrimination today.
In summary, I can see this book being used as a tool in confirmation or high school Sunday School, as long as it is along side more information that helps contextualize the story. In that context, I think the book would do well. On its own, I do not think it would be of interest without some prior knowledge of late Medieval Europe or the Reformation.
October 24, 2021
I had to read this book for school and it was so good. I don’t usually like books that I have to read for school but this one was great. It follows Martin Luther’s life very well and is very accurate to his life.
November 2, 2015
When Lightning Struck! is a historical fictional book on the true life of a European monk named Martin Luther, written from a Christian perspective. Many people don't know the life of this man, or the changes he brought about to the Christian faith we have today. Yesterday on Halloween, marked the 498th anniversary of this man nailing a document he wrote called The 95 Theses, to a church door in Germany.
Many people may wonder, why is this a big deal? Martin Luther lived in the time of the Catholic church and of outrageous spending and behavior of not only the common man, but also that of those in religious leadership roles. Luther himself was raised to become a lawyer and make a wealthy living in order to support his parents as they aged, according to the book. Upon a calling and scary lightning storm, Luther decided he wanted to be a monk.
The book depicts Luther as a funny and kind, yet also angry and sarcastic man. He was very angry at God and the beliefs of the church at the time. It was believed that people could go to confession, or even pay to avoid a certain amount of time in purgatory. After this time of purgatory, which could extend forever, at this point a person might be granted a chance into heaven.
In the book, Luther is excited to get to go to Rome, which was a holy city. Upon his arrival, he sees it is dirty and the monasteries draped in extravagance, and people paying money to see holy relics, in hopes of taking years of purgatory off their lives or the lives of loved ones.
He began to read the Bible thoroughly and started to understand that it was through faith alone, a term coined by him called Sola Fide was how a person could get into heaven. He didn't agree that paying money or doing good deeds was how people entered heaven. He began to write documents against the church at the time, to share his understanding of what is written in scripture. He also believed that only God could accept people into heaven, and not a pope or a priest, which was an extremely rebellious thought for the time.
Luther survived many different plagues and sicknesses that were not understood or knew how to be treated with modern medicine, as this was over 500 years ago. People also did not have different variations of the Bible or even own one Bible in their household at the time. Many had to go to a library, where books where nailed down to a table to read the Bible. Luther was able to translate the Bible from Latin into German so that others could read what the scriptures said for themselves, and he also wrote some hymns.
Luther was able to marry, and it was a nun of all people because of the changes he made. He made provisions to reform the thoughts of people and their salvation and faith, and because of this the day he nailed The 95 Theses became known in history as Reformation Day. He had a huge impact on the lives of the people at the time, and because of his bravery the faith many of us have today.
The author does an amazing job of remaining historically accurate, as there are pages of works cited and research notated at the back of the book. I had no idea the importance of this day, or what it took to have these changes occur. Luther wrote documents that had to be sent by letter, when people either walked or rode a horse; there were no cars. There were no computers to send an email or write a post expressing why something needed to be changed. He went up against individuals who thought they were in the right, and who would kill someone by going against them, all for his faith.
What an incredible testimony that is, and how he wanted to share it with others for their own salvation. I think this is where we as Christians miss the point sometimes. We are called to make disciples (Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.")
This book was beautifully written and it would be a wonderful read as a family discussion or even a small group, or youth group study. It is recommended for a middle school child and older. Children and adults alike, need to know how hard things used to be and how people made life threatening actions for the things some take for granted today. This was an amazing book and I would highly recommend it. It is full of action and I think many would enjoy reading it, and learning some history in a fun way.
As a member of Danika Cooley's Launch Team, I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and no other compensation was received.
This review originally appeared on my blog on November 1, 2015: http://raisingsamuels.blogspot.com/20....
Many people may wonder, why is this a big deal? Martin Luther lived in the time of the Catholic church and of outrageous spending and behavior of not only the common man, but also that of those in religious leadership roles. Luther himself was raised to become a lawyer and make a wealthy living in order to support his parents as they aged, according to the book. Upon a calling and scary lightning storm, Luther decided he wanted to be a monk.
The book depicts Luther as a funny and kind, yet also angry and sarcastic man. He was very angry at God and the beliefs of the church at the time. It was believed that people could go to confession, or even pay to avoid a certain amount of time in purgatory. After this time of purgatory, which could extend forever, at this point a person might be granted a chance into heaven.
In the book, Luther is excited to get to go to Rome, which was a holy city. Upon his arrival, he sees it is dirty and the monasteries draped in extravagance, and people paying money to see holy relics, in hopes of taking years of purgatory off their lives or the lives of loved ones.
He began to read the Bible thoroughly and started to understand that it was through faith alone, a term coined by him called Sola Fide was how a person could get into heaven. He didn't agree that paying money or doing good deeds was how people entered heaven. He began to write documents against the church at the time, to share his understanding of what is written in scripture. He also believed that only God could accept people into heaven, and not a pope or a priest, which was an extremely rebellious thought for the time.
Luther survived many different plagues and sicknesses that were not understood or knew how to be treated with modern medicine, as this was over 500 years ago. People also did not have different variations of the Bible or even own one Bible in their household at the time. Many had to go to a library, where books where nailed down to a table to read the Bible. Luther was able to translate the Bible from Latin into German so that others could read what the scriptures said for themselves, and he also wrote some hymns.
Luther was able to marry, and it was a nun of all people because of the changes he made. He made provisions to reform the thoughts of people and their salvation and faith, and because of this the day he nailed The 95 Theses became known in history as Reformation Day. He had a huge impact on the lives of the people at the time, and because of his bravery the faith many of us have today.
The author does an amazing job of remaining historically accurate, as there are pages of works cited and research notated at the back of the book. I had no idea the importance of this day, or what it took to have these changes occur. Luther wrote documents that had to be sent by letter, when people either walked or rode a horse; there were no cars. There were no computers to send an email or write a post expressing why something needed to be changed. He went up against individuals who thought they were in the right, and who would kill someone by going against them, all for his faith.
What an incredible testimony that is, and how he wanted to share it with others for their own salvation. I think this is where we as Christians miss the point sometimes. We are called to make disciples (Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.")
This book was beautifully written and it would be a wonderful read as a family discussion or even a small group, or youth group study. It is recommended for a middle school child and older. Children and adults alike, need to know how hard things used to be and how people made life threatening actions for the things some take for granted today. This was an amazing book and I would highly recommend it. It is full of action and I think many would enjoy reading it, and learning some history in a fun way.
As a member of Danika Cooley's Launch Team, I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and no other compensation was received.
This review originally appeared on my blog on November 1, 2015: http://raisingsamuels.blogspot.com/20....
November 2, 2015
Growing up in a superstitious household, angered by injustice at an early age, Martin longed to reconcile the raging, demanding god he was taught to fear and the Loving Father he later found in scripture. Frightened of death and not doing enough good to please God to get into heaven, Martin Luther was spurred on by the words the just shall live by faith. As Martin seeks the answers to the tormenting questions and fears in his mind, he becomes perfectly poised to take up the mantle of truth for the reformation. This novel hits on all the highlights of Martin's youth and adulthood, clearly showing where God moved Martin into the right place at the right time to stand for Biblical truth and righteousness. Highly recommended!
November 13, 2017
In a few words, this book presented the life of Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, in terms any reader could understand. This book is very easy to read, and even though it is geared toward young adults, it can be enjoyed by readers of all levels. This is a perfect representation of a man who lead his life devoted to God, and who never pretended to be anything other than a plain human man. He never cared much for the ostentatious, so any book on his life should follow suit.
This book shows the internal struggle Martin Luther fought, and the battle he waged against the wrongs he saw committed in a church he loved. The book carefully takes Luther's own writings to reconstruct this story, and author takes pains to not make Luther out to be anything other than what he was. Because of these things, the reader learns a great deal about Martin Luther, the times and area he lived in, and the importance of what he accomplished, as well as the conflict this caused him personally.
This is a well written book, and considering the way that the Reformation has sculpted the world we live in today, I think that everyone could take away a greater understanding by reading this book.
This book shows the internal struggle Martin Luther fought, and the battle he waged against the wrongs he saw committed in a church he loved. The book carefully takes Luther's own writings to reconstruct this story, and author takes pains to not make Luther out to be anything other than what he was. Because of these things, the reader learns a great deal about Martin Luther, the times and area he lived in, and the importance of what he accomplished, as well as the conflict this caused him personally.
This is a well written book, and considering the way that the Reformation has sculpted the world we live in today, I think that everyone could take away a greater understanding by reading this book.
January 24, 2020
This is a model YA Historical fiction/biography. It is well written, compelling, historically accurate. She paints Luther as a real character, with some caricature, but for its length and audience it does a great job.
Read
November 11, 2025This fictional account of Martin Luther is intended for middle school to young adults. It was very interesting; I found it a bit difficult to keep the supporting characters straight, so I would have found a glossary helpful.
June 10, 2017
It is written for a young adult/teen level, but it was well-written
September 9, 2017
A good overview of Luther's life. Good for middle schoolers. Includes both the good and the bad of Luther's life.
February 13, 2020
As all true stories it end in tears. But such an excellent book that also helped my introduce my friend Martin to the kids. It showed them all the reasons I love the man.
July 2, 2021
I loved this book! It went through Martin Luther's entire life while being very interesting. I didn't get bored at all and especially liked the bits with quotes and excerpts from actual sayings of Martin Luther. I liked the parts with Martin and Catherine (his wife) they were written so life-like.
This is a very worthwhile biography, written positively towards Luther and the reformation.
This is a very worthwhile biography, written positively towards Luther and the reformation.
July 2, 2021
THis book was good. I learned about the life of Martin Luther and how he changed the way the bible was looked at.
December 8, 2021
This was a very good read and i enjoyed reading it as a family in October in honor of Reformation day.
Recommneded ages 13 & up.
Recommneded ages 13 & up.
November 6, 2015
What must one do to be saved? This is a question with which Martin Luther wrestled in his early years until he encountered Truth through the Word of God. His life would never be the same and neither would the lives of many others whom he has impacted. Employing vivid imagery and metaphor, Danika Cooley shares how God revealed Himself to Luther and used him to purify His church. "When Lightning Struck!" is the story of one man's journey to peace with God, which ironically led to growing unrest with the church leaders of the day. Luther modeled humbly appealing to authorities with whom he passionately disagreed and boldly asked the question, "Who will be king?" Perhaps what makes "When Lightning Struck!" unique is that it is thoroughly researched and quotes Luther extensively, yet appropriately, for the intended young adult audience. "When Lightning Struck!" is theologically rich and filled with many wonderful lessons. One such lesson, drawn from the life of Luther, is that, in order to save one's life, one must be willing to lose it for the sake of Christ. For what would you be willing to die? Luther was willing to sacrifice his life that all may come to a true knowledge of the love and grace of Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life and died in the place of sinners that all may have peace with God. He was a man who didn't waiver in his commitment and faithfulness to the Word of God. Mrs. Cooley does an excellent job communicating his story in an engaging and exciting way for the next generation in "When Lightning Struck!".
*Many thanks to Danika Cooley and Fortress Press for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!!
*Many thanks to Danika Cooley and Fortress Press for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!!
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November 1, 2025Writing isn't the best I've seen in YA but that's alright.
mentions: witches, goblins, demons, fairies, accusing someone of being a witch, death, dying in infancy, grief, anger, water sprites, hell, whipping, humiliation, switching, punishment, purgatory, refuse, fasting, starving, skeleton, dangerously thin, calling someone a pig/swine multiple times, satan, gory description of sword injury, blood, fever, punctured artery, black death, digging graves, corpses, typhoid fever, crying, terror, smell of death, dragons (bad), gods, praying to saints and mother mary, beating himself, picturing an angry God, waste, confession, corruption, etc.
mentions: witches, goblins, demons, fairies, accusing someone of being a witch, death, dying in infancy, grief, anger, water sprites, hell, whipping, humiliation, switching, punishment, purgatory, refuse, fasting, starving, skeleton, dangerously thin, calling someone a pig/swine multiple times, satan, gory description of sword injury, blood, fever, punctured artery, black death, digging graves, corpses, typhoid fever, crying, terror, smell of death, dragons (bad), gods, praying to saints and mother mary, beating himself, picturing an angry God, waste, confession, corruption, etc.
November 14, 2015
Great book to read! I love this and want to read her other books especially on Historical Fiction like this. I have learned a lot how they lived in those days and to understand other things in this book. It is hard to put down this book.
February 1, 2016
I liked the story of Martin Luther, but I struggled with inconsistencies in the book. For example, on p.42, the book says, "In May 1505, 22 year old Martin..." and on p. 44, it says, "July 1505, 21 year old Martin..." Did he get younger? I couldn't get past errors to let me enjoy the narrative.
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September 9, 2017Review here.
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November 9, 2017A very fair and thorough narrative of a great man. She is honest with his faults yet honors his dedication to fight for the authority of scripture. Difficult at times for my 7 and 9 year olds to understand as a read out loud. Ideal ages probably 9-13 years old to read independently.
November 29, 2017
Writing was great, your were transported to the time and place. The details is you follow Martin Luther were either validated or dismissed. (In my mind). I have shared the book with many people already.
A great read - fast paced.
A great read - fast paced.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews