1962 Newbery Medal Winner

After returning from the mountains outside of the town of Ketzah in Galilee during the first century, a young Jewish man named Daniel learns to let go of his hatred of the Romans because of the teachings of an odd carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth.

This is another one that I may not have enjoyed as much if I hadn't listened to it in audio format. Pete Bradbury narrated with great pacing and expression. His tone when he talked about Daniel made this scowling, hateful character more sympathetic to me even though he didn't experience much change until the very end of the book.

I'm somewhat biased about this book because I'm a Christian, but I thought the incorporation of Jesus was done well. It's not an easy thing to write about a religious figure without making the story boring or cheesy, but I felt like the character in this book was appropriately intense without overwhelming the narrative (contrast to another book I've read somewhat recently, [b:Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt|25347|Christ the Lord Out of Egypt (Christ the Lord, #1)|Anne Rice|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507443588s/25347.jpg|2926176], in which Jesus was the main character and it just... didn't... work for me).

Of course I am also biased about the message of the book--the "bow of bronze" symbolically becomes the character of Daniel, whose hate can only be "bent" by the love of Christ. The ending made me cry.

The big However, though, is that others have criticized and explained some of the problems in the way that the author depicts Judaism (note that these links are part of a discussion on whether the book belonged in a school's curriculum--as a librarian, I don't support censorship in the form of removal of books from a library, but I do support inclusivity and factual accuracy when it comes to a school's required reading list). Obviously a book that looks positively at Jesus in the first century may be bound to contain things that could be offensive to some Jewish people... the idea that Jesus is the Messiah that they waited for, for one. It sounds from the pages I linked to above, though, that the book goes further than that, and the author, although providing a great historical setting and details, wasn't spot-on when it came to accurate information about Jewish beliefs and culture of the time. I wouldn't go as far as to say that she demonized Judaism, since all of the characters are Jews just as Jesus was a Jew, but she does harp on "the law" quite a bit seemingly without understanding what all of the laws and contemporary ways of thinking were.

So, I can't give it five stars because of that, but I really enjoyed the book, and of course am a proponent of the message (which I didn't even think was overly message-y), that only love can drive out hate. ( )

I could almost appreciate this, were it not for the character of Samson... why does that mysterious individual have to be the only black character in the book? It sure looks like racism. Otoh, I love that the other characters seem real, and alive, not 2K yrs gone & dusty.

I read it for the Newbery Club; I would not have ever chosen it elsewise.

#1259 in our old book database. Rated: Good. ( )

A moving re-read, a decade after memorizing portions of the story to perform. My perspective has changed and new elements stood out to me. But it's still interesting historically and culturally, and both inspiring and challenging religiously and personally. ( )

After Daniel bar Jamin's father is crucified by the Roman Empire, Daniel wants nothing more than to rid his land of Israel of Roman control once and for all. Yet when David meets Jesus of Nazareth, a traveling carpenter with a gentle message of love and forgiveness, David starts to realize that the hate festering in his heart might be his true enemy after all.