Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew
I recently had the opportunity to review the book Pursued to Eternity by John Riley. This book was written as a fictional story that also included real life evidence for the Biblical creation account.
I received the paperback version of this chapter book. It is fairly short with only about 150 pages. That included the introduction and a list of references. The cover is in color but the small illustrations throughout the book are in black and white and typically found at the beginning of each chapter.
Book Summary
The introductory chapter begins the context of the book and then goes into a list of fictional characters in the book, references, and other background information. It also lets the reader know that all scripture references are from the ESV. It is a little confusing at first because the beginning of the introduction is done from the point of view of one of the fictional characters explained in the list of fictional characters later in the introduction.
Chapter one goes into an explanation of time, pursuit, eternity, and history. It also goes through a historical timeline that will later help the reader put the story in historical context.
Chapter two begins the story and takes the reader back to 2000 BC. The next five chapters move the reader forward to around 1700 to 1400 BC. This section of the book tells the story of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. This is done in part through non-fictional information, part through scripture, and also through a fictional story of two Egyptian families.
Chapter eight brings us to modern times and begins the story of two brothers, one a Christian and the other an atheist. These last ten chapters take us through their story and how they find archeological evidence for creation. This evidence eventually leads the atheist to believe and accept Jesus shortly before he dies.
What I Loved
I loved that the author gave some much information on creation and gave readers the resources they could use to find out more. I appreciated that he included scripture with-in the book. I also really enjoyed the story of the Egyptian families and their perspective on the events leading up to the Exodus.
What Was Challenging
The book switched from fiction to non-fiction several times throughout the book and at times that made it a little difficult to follow. I understood why the author chose to do this, but it did not always flow smoothly in the context of a storytelling.
Our Recommendations
While some students might enjoy just reading Pursued to Eternity, I think it would be best used in the context of a course or discussion about creation and apologetics. There is so much non-fiction information for students to work through and understand. I think the story makes those in-depth topics bit more entertaining and adds a different perspective. This could be done independently by the family or using his Creation vs. Evolution course at SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
A student might be disappointed if they went into reading it thinking of it as a novel, but when viewing it as a textbook or informational text; I think they would be pleasantly surprised by the addition of the story line.
Be sure to click on the graphic below to see how other Review Crew members used this book.
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