The Forgotten King
Summary
The Forgotten King is a beautifully illustrated allegorical tale of God’s enduring love for His people, including the redemption brought by Jesus. The book itself is cloth-bound and really brings to mind fairy tales and stories that were made to endure the ages.
Assessment
While the book is geared towards younger children with the simplicity of its rhyme and storytelling, adults will be able to appreciate the quality and beauty of the woodcut-style illustrations on each page. The art is elegant and moving, while capturing that fairy tale-like quality.
The writing gets the story’s somewhat weighty subject matter across without getting too into the theological weeds and would be suitable for children aged 5 and up.
Light-o-Meter
Plot: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Writing: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Art: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Theological Message: 4 out of 7 Little Lights
Overall: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Talk
I absolutely love the enduring quality of this book and the feeling that it is going to last for and appeal to generations to come. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous; I am a huge history buff, so the woodcut aesthetic appeals to me greatly.
The writing suits the overall style of the story and its intended audience. Once or twice, the poetry struggles to keep up with the big and elegant concepts that the author was trying to describe, but it is still able to make its point quite clearly.
The only theological nitpick that I have with it is that the — obviously symbolic and allegorical — depiction of Christ’s sacrifice is highly sanitized. It is beautiful and it is very eloquent, but it is, in my opinion, a bit too gentle. No, we absolutely do not want to traumatize our children with graphic descriptions of what happened to Jesus on the cross; it’s neither age-appropriate nor necessary until they are older and are able to process the situation a lot better. However, we also want to make sure that we are not setting them up with the idea that Christ’s sacrifice was little more than Him coming to Earth and smiling away sin.
On the other side of this argument, we circle back to age-appropriateness and how well they are comprehending death. For very young children, I think the allegory can set them up to understand the concept of God’s love and redemption quite well. For children that are a little older, it may be lacking some depth.
Wrap-up
In conclusion, The Forgotten King is a delightful allegory that will enthrall readers of all ages and temperaments. In the vein of classic fairytales, this story strives to present the basic tenant of the Gospel in a way that is easy to understand, using breathtaking artwork. The quality of the book is unmatched by most books published today and will likely ensure the book is around for generations to come.
Where to Enjoy
Amazon: The Forgotten King: Kenneth Padgett, Shay Gregorie, & Stephen Crotts
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