The Wingfeather Saga and Christ typology: An enthusiastic book recommendation

Having just finished reading the fourth and final book in Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga, The Warden and the Wolf King, I can now gladly say that the Christ typology represented in the book is both reminiscent of what Jesus did, and emotionally powerful in its own right.  I won't go into any details about which character in the book represents Christ, nor in what way, because I hope you'll read this series for yourself staring with Book One, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.  Peterson's Christian allegory has much in common with C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia in that it too presents a moving story of love, courage, the ravages of sin, and the self-sacrifice of the heroes needed to combat it.  Where Peterson differs from Lewis is in the nutty quality of his writing and characters, something more reminiscent of Monty Python than you might expect from literature, but also something that gives this series the charm that will make its morals feel natural and not preachy.  I know that my favorite author of all time, Tolkien, hated allegory despite having C.S. Lewis as his best friend, and normally I'm not much of a fan of the genre either, but Peterson's allegory is a very loose one, the reader won't realize that there is a Christ figure in the story at all until the very end for that character is but one of a half dozen who display the moral virtues of, as he is called in the Wingfeather Saga, The Maker.  I wholly recommend this series for Christian parents to read to and with their children, it does contain the violence of war as the villain of the series, Gnag the Nameless, seeks to enslave the world and must be stopped, but stories of the strong defending the weak are ones we all should celebrate, plus kids will absolutely love the zaniness that permeates the story from beginning to end.  I look forward to reading these books to my daughter Clara who was born this past April, I just need to wait a few years to start.

“In death, my love, I loved you best.”

This is a profound line from one of the characters in Andrew Peterson's "The Monster in the Hollows" (book three of the Wingfeather Saga, book four is yet to come).  The trilogy is full of Biblical allusions and metaphors, but this one captures the Christ-like willingness to suffer and die for others in a powerful way.  It is not in his life here on Earth that Jesus proved his love, although he certainly loved the many that he healed and he wept at the tomb of Lazarus.  Rather, it was in his death on the cross that Jesus proved once and for all the limitless love of God for his children.  A love that would no accept defeat, a love that would bear the ultimate burden in order to redeem us and bring us home.  Most parents will understand this type of love; they would choose in an instant to trade their life for the life of their child.  We can understand this type of love.  What God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit chose to do goes beyond parental instinct.  Even before this world was made, God knew that making mankind in his own image would result in our rebellion and doom.  To make us without it would be to make us lesser beings; beings not capable of freely choosing to love our Creator.  Knowing all this, God chose to create us and planned from the beginning to send his Son, Jesus, to save us.  You see, it was in death that Jesus best showed how much he loved us.
In case you're wondering, I whole heartedly recommend the Wingfeather Saga; Peterson's books are entertaining and powerful with a Biblical morality woven into the framework and a redemption story at its heart.

The Edge of the Dark Sea

I'm 2/3 of the way through the first quarter in which I've taught "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness", by Andrew Peterson, to my class of ninth and tenth graders. This book came to my attention last year when my wife Nicole bought it and we read it together. Peterson is a Christian author, a famous singer/songwriter to boot, who wrote a great series that speaks to both kids and adults (I used it in Summer enrichment w/ 3-5th graders, they loved it). This book would be great for any kid to read (no fear of anything objectionable), and it contains solid moral principles of family, duty, and honor sprinkled throughout the narrative. On top of that, it's nuts. Not in the way of something that doesn't make any sense, but rather in the laugh-out-loud sort of way. The 2nd book in the series is, "North, or Be Eaten", the 3rd book will be out in 2011.