Little Pilgrim's Big Journey: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress Fully Illustrated & Adapted for the Next Generation

The Pilgrim's Progress for Kids #1

by Tyler Van Halteren, Beatriz Mello (Illustrator)

A beautifully illustrated version of the Pilgrim's Progress designed for children ages 4 to 10, with beautiful artwork on every page and engaging text. Follow Christian on his unforgettable journey and help equip your kids to lead a life of faith as they follow the King's path to the Celestial City.

Next to the Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress is the most printed and translated book of all time. John Bunyan's ability to combine a dynamic adventure story with biblical truth has captivated the minds and hearts of children and adults for centuries. With 226 pages of captivating illustrations, Little Pilgrim's Big Journey makes this life-changing story more engaging than ever for kids.

Genres: Childrens, Christian, Fiction, Chapter Books, Picture Books, Parenting, Classics

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 16, 2020

About the author

Tyler holds a M.div from the Master's Seminary and has spent most of his life seeking to inspire children and youth to follow Christ and know God's Word.

After seeing 20 minute bedtime stories change his son's life, Tyler decided to take up the challenge of changing the world through biblically faithful and beautifully illustrated books.

Reviews

[Owen Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book with my daughter (4) and son (2). We have now been faithfully reading a chapter a night for a couple weeks, and they are captivated! My daughter asks me every evening if we are going to read “Pilgrim’s Project” (she can’t quite get pro-GRESS down yet😁). The illustrations are well done; they even hold my son’s attention through most of the reading. It is wonderful to have an exciting story to look forward to - with much talk about Jesus and the good news of the gospel after every chapter.

We are now on to book # 2!

[Blessing Bloodworth (naptimereaders) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read aloud with 3yo & 5yo girls.

Hands-down one of the most meaningful books you’ll share with your children. Not only will it lead to impact conversations, it will strengthen and encourage your own heart.

[Kevin Halloran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for great endorsements. Mark Dever’s words (spoken at T4G) on this one got me:

“Our church has given away books to families many years…and we have never had response like this from the families. People were coming back saying, 'Our kids are going crazy over this book.’”

I read this with my four-year-old daughter recently and now understand why. It’s a beautiful book inside and out and shares an all-time great story. Not to mention it’s a great tool for teaching the faith.

Thank you, Tyler Van Halteren, and thank you parents of Capitol Hill Baptist Church! :-)

(A side note: a week after I bought this I found out Poiema Publicaciones released a Spanish version of it. 🤦‍♂️ Seems to always happen to me!)

[Zak Mellgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: updated to five stars. My kids read this book all the time. They love it - especially my son. So while I personally prefer the newer illustrated version of Helen Taylor's work, there's no arguing with my children's great affection for this book.

Last year, we took our girls through the version by Helen Taylor that was beautifully illustrated by Joe Sutphin and published by Moody. Going through that book was an incredible experience - so much so that it affected my expectations for this book and caused it to be a bit of a letdown, especially since it's been widely praised as the modern go-to kids version of The Pilgrim's Progress. Little Pilgrim's Big Journey is good, but I'd recommend Little Pilgrim's Progress as your number one choice if you're wanting to introduce this story to young readers.

The illustrations in Little Pilgrim's Big Journey are well done, but in more of a computer generated art style than Joe Sutphin's pencil work. I far prefer the style, the beauty, and flowing, hand drawn vibrancy of the illustrations in Little Pilgrim's Progress.

Tyler Van Halteren shrinks The Pilgrim's Progress down into ten digestible chapters. After each chapter, he provides an explanation of the allegory just covered. This to me was the high point of the book, and it's something crucial that's missing from Moody's version of Helen Taylor's re-telling. He also provides some study questions.

However, I wanted Little Pilgrim's Big Journey to be twice as long. To me, it felt like a sprint. We read with our kids before bed and these chapters are designed to be read in a single sitting, so we finished it in less than two weeks. I was hoping for something we could work through perhaps over a month or more. Again, this is partially due to the influence of Moody's edition, which it took us more than two months to get through as a family.

All in all, this is a good way to introduce the classic allegory to little readers. But I think the current go-to for families is Moody's edition.

[Allie Osborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just.. get it. Judah is two and a half and he talks about the characters like they’re his best friends. Compelling adaptation for kids.

[Shannon Evanko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heard great things about these— but I was blown away! This one is the story of a christian’s walk with Christ told by allegory. Each chapter ended with a summary and some questions to ask the kids. Evelyn seemed to really comprehend a lot of it, but more shockingly— it kept my 4-year-old Andrew’s attention! That is a tall task. They loved it and wanted to start it over right when we finished.

[Rebekah Barkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of our Christmas book gifts in 2023, and Judson has asked for us to read it to him countless times since then. It’s surprisingly quite parallel to the actual story-line and even retains some of the original “big words” while also being very understandable for little ones. It’s been a launch pad for many good conversations with Judson!

[Lonita Shirk Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent an hour reading this to my nieces this afternoon. 100/10 recommend. Some of the concepts went over my 4 year old nieces head... she asked if we also have to walk very far to get to heaven 😏 but it's a great book for school age children.

[Clarissa Unruh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book for young children. A short summary of Pilgrims Progress. Gorgeously illustrated. My kids, 6 & 4, were fascinated. It’s one of those that the children barely understand the surface of the deeper meaning and the older they get and the more we read it the more meaning it will hold. It’s one of those books that’s fascinating for children and it has meaning for me as well. Now THATS a good book. 10 stars if I could.

[Laura Robinson (naptimereaders) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adored this book. So did my 5 year old! He has it on audiobook for the Yoto player and has it memorized!

Such a sweet book with the gospel laced throughout!

[Ali McNeely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great little book for kids. The boys asked a lot of good questions; the allegory makes them think instead of just ingesting the story. But the story is great, too.

[Caleb Batchelor · Rating 5 out of 5]

By “adapted for kids,” think they meant “adapted for me.” Favorite book I read to Jane (besides Everyone Poops and Dr. Seuss books).

[Mark Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with Charlotte.

Fun adaptation of a wonderful classic. Charlotte’s too little (2.5yo) for the summaries and reflection questions but she loved the story and illustrations.

[Drew Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book of the little pilgrim trilogy, all of which are fantastic. There are many children’s adaptations of pilgrims progress. This one is my favorite. My 4 year old and 3 year old love it and want to read it over and over again. The stories are short, well-illustrated, and focused on the blessings and challenges of the Christian life. Through each story we learned that it’s not easy to be a pilgrim, but it’s good. I especially appreciate the God-centeredness of the story. Doubting castle, vanity fair, Apollyon the dragon, and many other places and foes try to keep little pilgrim from his destination but the king helps him every time. The children stumble into sin, repent, and keep moving toward the celestial city all because they love the King. After finishing the trilogy my four year old said “I want to be a pilgrim!” May it be so. I heartily recommend this series!

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know it’s a good book when your son wants to shorten his time at the playground so he can go inside to read about little Pilgrim. Our son is 3, and he enjoys the book. He has a few books he wants read over and over. And this book has been added to that collection.

I am happy to own a version fit for my son. Now, when he meets Christian again in the same book years later, it will be like being reacquainted with a familiar friend.

It’s also well written. The sentences flow and are expressive. When I read the book out loud to my son, it sounds great. And the literary devices sprinkled throughout, such as alliteration, add to the joy of reading.

[Jesse Froese · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time reading through this book with my kids. I’ve also read the adult version to them. My 7 year old compared the two many times. It’s amazing how much of both of them that they remember! Great book. I love the questions after each chapter to help direct the conversation the correct direction using scripture.

[Jordan Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this with my seven year old son and we both enjoyed it. At the end of every chapter there is a summary page that helps with comprehension. My son asked really great questions every time we read together and I found that we discussed the book throughout the day even when we weren’t reading it. I highly recommend !

[Malia Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been so great for our homeschool! Engaging story, beautiful illustrations, and rich biblical truth.
I loved that after every chapter there are chapter summaries and allegory explanations that sparked great discussions with my kids. It’s the kind of read-aloud that feeds both hearts and minds. We’re so excited to start Part 2!

[Chantelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son that’s five loved the story, and the pictures. (Cause there scary) one of those books we will read again and again, and the meaning will sink deeper as he (they) gets older.
Enjoyed it for me to. We are well into the next book already.

[Nelleke Plouffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 4-year-old loved this book, though he made very sure I skipped all the between-chapter explanations. I agree with him. I think just letting them sit with the story and make their own connections when it is natural for them to do so is much better than explaining everything.

[Madeline Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parents- I highly recommend as a read aloud for young kids! (And adults because, let’s be honest, PP is hard to get through). The illustrations are beautiful and we have the coloring book that goes along with it!

[Vanessa Hekert · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids were captivated with this book! Very well done!

[Samuel Bierig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real good. "dangerous Journey" is still better. But if you are trying to expand a three year old's capacity to sit and listen to some good reading' you could do worse than this. Its a good one.

[cierra grace miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a 1-2 Grade teacher. My students could comprehend the book well and are huge fans! It breaks down the story clearly, and the scary/hard parts are still scary but not traumatizing:) It has questions for review and discussion in the back of the books, and at the end of each chapter there is a summary and questions section as well. The illustration is beautiful and fun. 10/10 recommend!

[Ashley Bacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read this maybe 4 times to the kids now and have loved every time. It’s the perfect introduction to the classic and everything it represents. Yes and amen.

[Grace Batterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a sweet retelling! I think I enjoyed it just as much as my two year old did.

[Anna Caranci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this. A fantastic retelling of the original, allowing for young readers to grasp the great truths John Bunyan presents in his allegory.

[Sarah Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

My boys (3 and 5) loved this and we had so many good conversations throughout. Good luck reading aloud the last chapter without getting weepy…

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so good. I highly recommend!

[Robbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this with my three-year old was a very edifying experience.