Pilgrim's Progress in Many Forms

In February, a lovely friend of mine contacted me to ask if I would write a four-part play for her church's Vacation Bible School. She was reading Pilgrim's Progress for the first time with her sons and the story moved her. She wondered if I could work the book into a children's play with appeal for kids from ages 5 to 12. This sent me on a hunt for the beautiful children's version I had purchased in England during my time living there. (Side note: My husband is desperate for me to lean down our extensive collection of children's books, since our boys are now teens and young adults. This book reminds me why I hang on.)

My edition was retold by Jean Watson and published through Scripture Union in England in 1980. It is a beautiful book. The illustrations by Peter Wane are described as "warm, energetic drawings [that] capture the unique spirit of Bunyan's world, where dragons and demons mix with very human heroes and down-to-earth villains." The sketches are stirring and accompany the story well. After reviewing (and working from) several children's versions of Bunyan's esteemed book, I think this one is my favorite. Here is an example of one of the drawings within the book:

My second favorite children's version is also adapted by Jean Watson. It is called The Family Pilgrim's Progress and was also published in England by Christian Focus Publications, Ltd., in 2007. What I appreciated most about this version was the inclusion of accompanying scripture passages. I noticed this, too, in the one adult version by Bunyan that I checked out on my library's Hoopla. This is so helpful, because it parallels the story line to truths from God's Word. Clearly, John Bunyan was working from a solid knowledge of the Bible.

My third favorite was a bit of a surprise to me. One of my favorite middle grade authors is Gary D. Schmidt. He is the author of The Wednesday Wars, Okay for Now, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Orbiting Jupiter, and a major favorite, Trouble. I had no idea he had written a retelling of Pilgrim's Progress. His version was published by Eerdmann's Books for Young Readers in 2008. I was dismayed when my library said the book was due back with no renewals available because someone else wanted to read it. I milked the last 3 days with that book for all they were worth.

I consulted three other versions: A 2-volume Pilgrim's Progress Comic version published by Kingstone Comics. This would hold more appeal for young people seeking a heightened visual re-telling but, given some of the content, might be more appropriate for teens than children. Then there was Dan Larsen's retelling for Illustrated Christian Classics, published by Barbour and Company, Inc., in 1992. Finally, I briefly consulted Helen L. Taylor's Little Pilgrim's Progress, which claims over half a million sold, yet it was my least favorite version. I think my chief complaint is portraying Christian as a "little pilgrim." I suppose the constant identifier of "little Christian" didn't sit well with me. Not that this is a bad re-telling. I simply prefer the others over this one.

Since my library had an animated movie version, I figured I should research that, as well. Wow! If I had sat down with my young children, I might have turned this off. It is incredibly dark and the portrayal of evil, with grunts and screeches, and guttural sound effects, is almost terrifying. I understand that this is a story of good versus evil. I know that evil is always attempting to lure Christian off the path. Yet, in attempting to maintain children's attention, I think the embellishment of evil in the tale was extreme.

I was thrilled with the opportunity to work on a writing project again (my focus has been so absorbed with marketing my book that I haven't written regularly, apart from my daily morning pages). Plus, it was exciting to draw so many spiritual applications through re-telling Bunyan's splendid story. I guess my enthusiasm for these applications took hold because without prompting, I also worked up supplemental materials (curriculum they could use with the play presentation, scripture memory verses and games, and even a Walk-Through-the-Journey exercise to help kids cement the main ideas into a logical pattern with phrases and actions - similar to the Walk-Through-the-Bible program).

I came across one other version I would have loved to review. My sister texted to ask if I had seen the children's Pilgrim's Progress book that our friend, Sonja, sent with her grandchild as their family moves to do missionary work in Albania. It looked marvelous! Thankfully, I had enough options to work with to complete the task. The press for completion was so intense that I often woke from a dream about the play (that, and dreams of praying, since I've been laser-focused on that, as well).