"Foundlings, book one of The Peleg Chronicles"

As someone who is fond of The Chronicles of Narnia, Historical Fiction, and Fantasy, I was excited to receive a new book from Zoe and Sozo Publishing~ "Foundlings, book one of The Peleg Chronicles". I was especially excited to preview a book that promised adventure with "No Magic, No Evolution, No Humanism", and it was of additional interest that it was written by Matthew Christian Harding,  a homeschooling father of four.

Here is a portion of a summary by the publishers:

Foundlings, book one of The Peleg Chronicles is Historical Fiction that takes place in the time period of Peleg, soon after the Tower of Babel dispersion. In its pages we meet dragons, giants, false priests, the death hunt, and under-city of the Dwarven Brotherhood(short human beings), and many memorable characters......Foundlings weaves together the Biblical principles of chivalry, truth, courage, duty, faith and love...." 

According to the author, Foundlings is intended for an audience of at least 10 to 12 years of age, depending on the personality of the child, and certainly no younger than 7. Those who are familiar with me, as well as my children won't be surprised to hear that I would increase those ages by about 2 years for my family(meaning that I didn't even have my 13 yo read this). This is mainly because there are some rather intense scenes involving the aforementioned false priests and their practices, as well as some of the possible realities of life (then and now) that we may not be ready to address, even in fiction.

That being said, there are some very interesting details in Foundlings, including "OOPARTS" (Out Of Place Artifacts) that are often ignored or "retooled" into fitting an evolutionary world view. I just had a discussion with my "history buff" father this past week about some of the amazing technological discoveries being made by archaeologists, so it was interesting to find some of these referenced in Foundlings~ Makes me want to go do some more "Digging"... ;)

There are characters and some locations that are historical, others that are imagined. This was one  "difficulty" I had in reading this book~ The author says that he took many of the character, place names, religious and cultural practices from more recent ancient history, and I had a hard time reconciling Celtic names/practices with more Tower of Babel ancients... Oh, and although the books do not include "magic", there IS a witch character who shows up on the first page, and cultish religious behavior on the part of the false priests.

I've always enjoyed books with the "fantasy" elements of dragons and "underground worlds". I appreciate that dragons, at least, have an authenticity in the Bible, although there are those who would argue the point. So once I got beyond MY preconceptions of the time period, I have to say that I did enjoy the story for the story's sake, and the elements of the plot-line. In fact, when I got to the end of the book, it left me eager to find out what happens to the characters in "Paladins book two".

If your family enjoys "Lord of the Rings", "Narnia", and historical fiction, I would urge you to look into Foundlings and use your discretion regarding its age-appropriateness for your children. I mustn't forget to add that there is a section after the story ends with "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" detailing the plan of salvation which makes this an excellent tool for sharing the TRUTH, the Good News, with youth who are intrigued with "Fantasy", dragons, and more...

Foundlings is available directly from Zoe and Sozo Publishers (Where you can read much more about the author and the Peleg Chronicles) your local bookstore, and online booksellers.
List price is $11.95, 232 pages

As always, I hope that this review is helpful to you as you determine where to spend your hard-earned homeschool budget. For other opinions on Foundlings, please visit the TOS Crew Blog.

Blessings~

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this/these item(s)/service for free as part of the TOS Crew Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."