Every parent knows that children will happily read the same story a thousand times. By the time my oldest daughter was two years old, she could already recite long portions of The Gruffalo and The Highway Rat from memory.
What you read to your children matters.
It shapes them. They learn from it. They grow into it.
How much better would it be if those memorised books, dog-eared and torn, were full of gospel truth? The stories we give to our kids should build them up and teach them the truth. They should also be good.
They should have rhythm, rhyme and drama.
How many stories do you know that fit those criteria?
There are some fantastic books out there but it’s a smaller pile than I’d like.
My goal is to make that pile much, much larger.
The King and the Dragon, Crossway 2022
The King and the Dragon is an allegorical look at the whole Bible story as the ‘true myth’ of the dragon-slaying hero told in a memorable rhyming style for younger children.
Then everything fell; the whole world became broken.
The King and the Dragon, James W. Shrimpton
But the King, in return, this great promise has spoken:
“I’ll send you a strong and most wonderful Knight
To slay the foul Dragon and put all things right.”
Well, all the King’s people waited for ages.
(This story is missing quite a few pages.)
They waited . . . for ages, and ages, and ages.
You can now order it from various sites, including bookshop.org, which supports independent bookshops in the UK.
For alternative/other country sites, I’ve collected those here: kingandthedragon.com
And if you’ve read it, head over to Goodreads and let people know what you think. It makes a huge difference.
And if there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.
Solomon’s Fables
Currently being published on Substack, Solomon’s Fables aims to instill the wisdom of Proverbs into our children by turning Solomon’s Proverbs into short animal fables that delight and shape young hearts and minds.
You can read it for free and subscribe here: