Book Review: Jotham’s Journey: A Storybook for Advent

We intended to finish this on Christmas Day, but then sickness came over our home and we only finished it up on December 31st. But the story was so compelling that I was determined to finish it even out of season with the kids. Jotham’s Journey is a dangerous and lovely story of a young boy whose disobedience to his father led him on an adventure he wished he never began. Filled with villains and plots of vengeance, Jotham journeys in search of his father in the days before the birth of Messiah Jesus.

The narrative unfolds beautifully through the landscape of the arid and deserted terrain of Israel in the first century. The story introduces the readers to a diverse group of sects in the first century and how they interpreted the coming Messiah in the prophetic writings.

The story takes us through each day in Advent culminating on the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. Each portion of the story takes about 10 minues of reading with an additional Bible passage and short reflection. It is succint and captivating. It is splendidly written and written about the Splendor.

Rabbis, caves, fights, swords, shepherds, innkeepers, wise men all join to make Jotham’s Journey an adventure worth telling during the Advent Season.

The writing can at times be difficult to follow for little children. It is helpful to pause at times during the reading to offer a few definitions.

Jotham’s Journey is the first in a series of Advent stories. I highly recommend it.