I have many fond memories of my mom reading to me and my brothers when we were children. She would read aloud from a variety of books and we would all quietly listen, our minds totally invested in the story. She usually read award winning children's books or those that were related to a period in history we had learned about in school. In many ways, I think that this helped make me the avid reader I am today.
One of the books she read aloud was The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare which I recently decided to reread. This book is a historical fiction piece centered around the time of the Roman Empire in Israel. A young man by the name of Daniel bar Jamin wants to remove the Roman Empire from power in Israel. He wants to free his fellow Jews from their oppressors and is willing to live and kill for his people. Leaving behind his grandmother and sister, Daniel joins a group of Jews living on a mountain. Unafraid of violence, these men are known to cause trouble for not just the Romans, but the Jews they steal from. Daniel believes that violence is the only way to find freedom yet this is all challenged when a new teacher comes to his town. This new teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, has doctrines that go against everything Daniel learned on the mountain and yet, Daniel finds he is drawn to this man and his life changing principles centered around love. Forced to temporally leave his mountain and return to his family, he discovers important issues that he has been avoiding.
I found this book to be a fast-paced read with many surprising twists and turns that kept me interested in every page. I did not remember anything about the plot from my childhood so it was like I was reading it for the first time. As an adult, I enjoyed it; its well written and well developed with interesting characters. The book teaches many important lessons but I believe the most important is this: love is stronger than hate. I recommend this book to both adult and children who are comfortable with some accounts of violence.
~Abigail C
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