To say my eight and nine-year-old boys absolutely loved Captain Absolutely from Focus on the Family honestly doesn't even seem like I am accurately sharing the truth.They devoured it.
They argued over the book.
Each of them read it cover-to-cover one time, and since finishing it, they have both been calling "dibs" on taking it in the van whenever we have to go somewhere and continuing to read it.
It was a SMASHING success. Of course, getting two second graders to tell you what they liked about a book is as hard as taking them to the dentist. No matter how hard I tried, here is the best I could come up with.
First from my eight-year-old Elijah (aka "Sidge"):
Sidge: "I really liked that it was a superhero book."
Me: "Okay, but why do you like superhero books?"
Sidge: "Mom, you know that I think superheroes are awesome."
Me: "I know, but for my review I am trying to tell people why you think the book was awesome."
Sidge: "It was a comic book with superheroes mom."
Me: "Okay."
Sidge: "And I really liked that it was a superhero book."
You get the idea.
I tried again with nine-year-old Isaac.
Isaac: "I liked everything."
Me: "Like what kind of things?"
Isaac: "Like every thing."
(Isaac is an introvert so I couldn't even attempt to go deeper than that with him. He was already back reading or playing piano or doing one of his activities!)
I sat down and read the book too. I've never been a fan of comic books and I am not the intended audience. However, there isn't a Christian mother who doesn't appreciate what the author was trying to share with my children through his character Captain Absolutely. Written by Wooton Z. Bassett, the introduction to the book details the purpose behind this105-page comic book:
As Christians, our worldview is shaped by the absolute truth found in the Bible. God gave us detailed instructions: Love your neighbor. Be honest. Worship nothing but Him. And through it all, keep your eyes on Jesus. (Hebrews 12:2).
And this is why he wrote this book -- to show how bad guys try to mess with our vision and how we can fight back against those lies! It took Bassett five years to complete, and the drawings and witty humor comes flying through the pages!
The story follows Captain Absolutely as he attempts to spread truth to a crime-filled city. And I'll tell you what, while I am a non-comic-book-loving-grown-up, I was so blessed by the reminders splashed throughout this book -- that Satan, the author of lies, wants us to remember our sins and our past and all the things we have done wrong instead of remembering the absolute truth!
In another mini-story, an evil villain traps Captain Absolutely in the "Shackles of Selfishness." And while there, he can't fight evil. Every villain comes through uses words like:
"If you try to stop me, these children will hate you and everything you stand for."
"Welcome to my ultimate Lair of Distraction. You could bring 100 Bibles in here, and no one would read them."
"My Indignation Drones will poison the whole city against God -- using His words to do it."
As I have mentioned on my Blog in recent weeks, I have been battling anxiety. I truly believe that this is simply a distraction for me -- a diversion -- something to keep me from seeing God's truth. And as I read this comic book, I, a grown woman (aka "adult"), could see those truths coming through on the pages.
I actually think my two boys were the perfect age for this book, and I would say that it would work for children ages 7 and up. While it is obvious good for girls or boys, I really think boys are a huge audience for this book. It probably took them under two hours to read the book in its entirety -- and as I mentioned previously, they have gone back to browse it repeatedly.
You can check out more about this book on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, or YouTube. Seriously folks -- if you have a young boy in your life, take the opportunity to share this book with them. I love God's truth coming through in characters they want to read about.
Brilliant!
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