Adapted by Alexa Villenueva

Having retained my own personal collection of childhood books through the years, I find that my library is pretty boy-heavy. While we try to find some good “girl books” for my daughter when we can, she’s not yet into the American Girl series and wasn’t a huge fan of Fancy Nancy. Thus when it comes to choosing books that will appeal to both my 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, I need to find those with strong princesses or female leads, as well as fighting and classic male power. No masculinity-shaming going on here.

This is what first drew us to this King Arthur adaptation, though I’ve got to admit that we never finished it together. My kids didn’t want to move past Chapter 13, because neither of them liked the image of or concept of “Queen Morgana…An Enchantress”. Even after I perused the final pages with them to show that she would eventually lose, they still refused to let me go on. I’m OK with that.

I’ve probably written it before, but I’d much rather my kids be sensitive to their fears at this age than be straight-up fearless and without filters for their eyes, ears, and little brains. It will be much easier for them to grow into courage as they mature than it would be for them to reign in their boldness at some point down the line.

That their little friends love monsters and zombies while they themselves choose not to watch even Monsters Inc. “because it will give me bad dreams” doesn’t bother me in the least. In fact, I praise them for their honesty and discernment. At some point these same friends or others will introduce my kids to things that they simply shouldn’t watch or experience, and it’ll be tough on them. I get that. But like Andrew Peterson teaches in his fantastic song “You’ll Find Your Way”, I can’t stop my kids from making mistakes down the road. All I can and should give them are the “roots” and “foundation” that will help them find their way back to where they should be. That’s my responsibility as a parent, and I caught a glimpse of that here with this book.

This isn’t much of a review for the book, which was as well-written as any Illustrated Classic Edition, so my apologies. But I’m grateful for a glimpse into the hearts of my kids, and I praise God for their sensitivity at such a young age. They’ve taught me something about discernment with this one.

©2019 E.T.