Dangerous Journey
“It seems just terrible that it doesn’t have a medal.”
So said my 8-year-old, who prizes any book with an embossed gold medal on the cover, as we neared the end of this exciting tale of Christian’s trip along the narrow road to Heaven. Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress is a retelling of Bunyan’s classic tale, penned in a prison cell and said to be one of the most widely read books in the English language.
It’s been years since I read the unabridged version. This is an abridgment, but it was glorious to read aloud, retaining much of the archaic vocabulary and stately King James rhythms. Neither my 5-year-old nor my 8-year-old asked many questions about word meanings; they were able to gather enough from the context, and were on the edge of their seats to know what would happen next.
My youngest is the one who always asks anxious plot questions: “Is he going to die?” “Is he going to win?” “What’s going to happen?!” She has a knack for asking at the perfect time, which tells me something about her (she’s an observant listener attuned to the pace of the tale) and something about the story (it’s a perfectly spun yarn). Of course I never answer. I always say, “I can’t wait to see!” or “It hasn’t told us yet. What do you think?” or “Let’s keep reading and find out!”
The illustrations by Alan Parry are spectacular. (Apparently, this was done as a television series, too.) You can inspect a few of them at the Google books version. Truth is, I’m dying to scan and post the illustration of Apollyon — who is, along with the other villains, breathtaking. But what kind of person breaks the rules with Pilgrim’s Progress? Surely I’d end up somehow magically sketched into the story as “Mrs. Worldly Plagiarist” or “The Copywronger.”
I’ve had this book since college, when I worked at a bookstore one Christmas break and my employer/friend presented me with it as a Christmas gift. I’ve waited to show it to the girls until the time felt right. I wondered, would they be scared by the vivid pictures? Would they be bored, or fail to catch on to the story? I needn’t have worried. Every chance they could get between reading sessions, the girls pored over the pages. They offered observations and questions and speculations about what was happening. (I never let them look beyond where we’d read so far.) My husband listened in and is now curious to read the complete version. All in all, this book is a huge hit in our family.
