R.C. Sproul. The Knight’s Map. Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, May 1st 2016. 39 pp.
5 out of 5
Purchase: Westminster | Amazon
I have previously enjoyed two of the author’s Christian children’s book titled The Priest with Dirty Clothes and The Donkey Who Carried a King. The author R.C. Sproul was not only a gifted theologian but wrote wonderful children’s book including this one. In light of his recent death he will surely be missed.
This is a story of a knight name Sir Charles who goes on a journey to find the Pearl of Great Price as a result of a letter from a King. In that same letter the King gave Sir Charles a map for his journey but since he had a hard time understanding it he asked various characters for help. Different characters gave different directions and advice with each yielding different results. Finally someone introduces Sir Charles to someone that can help him and Sir Charles looks at his map intently on following it. As a result he gets to the top of the mountain where he’s supposed to get to and gets a surprised discovery of just what exactly is the Pearl of Great Price.
I love the fact that this book is an allegory of the Christian life with the map being a symbol of the Holy Bible and Sir Charles the knight representing the Christian (it helps both begins with the letter C). The various characters Sir Charles runs into represent different forms of unbelief until finally Sir Charles meets someone name Pilgrim who guides him to meet the original mapmaker. This of course is the Holy Spirit. The book reminded me of Pilgrim’s Progress but at a level that is much more easier to grasp for younger children. I love how after the story there is a page addressing the parents followed by questions and answer for parents to talk and explain the story to their kids of the spiritual realities the story represent. The questions and explanation was just as fun for me as reading the story!
I appreciated the fact that this book was biblically solid and yet enjoyable for young ones. My three little girls who are all pre-school age also enjoyed this book when I read it aloud to them. The illustrations were beautiful and the handsome red colored hard cover with the golden lettering made the book extra appealing. I love how the story and illustration was timeless covering the knight’s adventure and yet the beginning and the end of the book situates this as a tale told by the grandpa to his grandchildren about the importance of trusting in God’s Word even as the world mocks Christians for believing the Bible. Nice work and something that I will be enjoying with my kids for years to come.
The Domain for Truth 
my son loves RC Sproul books. We have several of them, including this one. Very well done. In the spirit of recommending resources and you with small children, I also recommend the Theo videos. They are really well done as well and good to teach hard concepts to small children.
Thank you for the recommendations! I do appreciate them as you pointed out, being a parent of little ones! I am browsing through the Theo video website and I imagine it is this one right? https://www.theopresents.com/ Any personal recommendations of any of the many resources on there? Thanks ahead of time!
We have all 5 of the DVD’s. Each one is good. I’ m not sure I have a favorite. There are 3 or 4 little 10-11 minutes shorts in each video that teach a different principle. The God’s Heart video, for example teaches on justification, adoption and how to pray. At the end of every video he gives the good news ( a short Gospel presentation. They are very engaging and short enough to hold attention of the littlest ones. My son has had them since he was 4 ( he is 7 now) and he still watched them and loves them. so the 5 video’s are God’s Heart, God’s truth, God’s love, God’s grace & God’s desire. I don’t think you’d be disappointed with any of them 🙂
Thanks for the enjoyable review! From what I’ve seen and heard of R.C. on videos and podcasts – a theologian with a BIG warm heart – it’s understandable that he could get down to a child’s level.
As I was reading this book for the second time I was wondering what was Sproul’s secret that led him to write such biblically solid books that my kids could understand with parental guidance and I think you hit it on the nail: he’s a theologian writing with a big warm heart and a strong desire to explain God’s truth for the sake of people’s understanding!
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thank you Vincent for the reblog! How is your preparation for everything (health, holidays) going?
You’re very welcome Pastor Jim, all of the approvals are in place. Surgery moved to 1/3/18. Looking forward to getting this done. I’ll blog an update 1 b4 the surgery
Love his children’s books, thanks for sharing SlimJim ☺️