The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald

Rating: My bookshelf (A favorite!!!)

Reading Level: Early Elementary, Mid Elementary, Late Elementary, All ages

A beautiful classic story of honor, bravery, and rescue from moral depravity. It could be described as a children’s version of Lord of the Rings . (And no wonder, since Tolkien admired the author.) This is a great read for families, and is the sequel to The Princess & the Goblin. (Read The Princess and the Goblin first!!!).

Possible Concerns:

• Violence: low, but present. The king’s army does slay a few enemies, but details are minor & mostly they inflict wounds that are not lethal. I’d suggest the violence is even less then the Narnia series, but of roughly the same caliber and depth.

• Magic/occult: there is some magic in the old princess grandmother, who is some what of a protector/near omniscient goddess who can change shape & disguise herself. She is the picture of goodness & wisdom. I don’t think her spiritual impact is negative at all; in fact, she encourages the main character to rise up from his spiritual depravity and become the man of his full potential.

Themes:

• You’re either moving closer to God or farther away. The trajectory is more important than the current state.
  
• It takes courage & pluck to stand up to lies, deceit, & moral depravity—especially when the rest of the world has lowered its standards. But you’ve got to do it!
  
• Beauty, honesty, loyalty, and other virtues are often hidden. Some of the sweetest souls are disguised in some of the more hideous outer shells.

Discussion:

• Curdie has so much faith in the princess that he doesn’t think before sticking his hands in the fire. What would you do for God without hesitating, if he asked it of you?
• The fire hurts but he comes out with a gift in a new skill. While he suffers, the princess weeps. Have you ever acquired a new skill or gift through suffering? Did anyone suffer with you as the princess did?
• Curdie has a magic gift of perception of a person’s true hands. What are signs we can use to perceive a person’s heart?
• Though Lina is hideous on the outside, she is a true warrior who fights for curdie have you ever been surprised by someone’s sacrificial love fighting for you when you did not expect it?
• The king’s household is full of people who have lied, stolen, and committed other crimes. Curdie invites them to repent, but instead they justify their actions by pointing to others who do worse, or by cheapening their sins using comparison. What are some sins that our culture tempts us to excuse or marginalize? How do the excuses of the household workers sound similar to excuses we hear today?

Bottom line: I loved this story, LOVED IT! It has minimal violence & tons of substance with rich spiritual undertones. George MacDonald is creative and clearly has an agenda of teaching kids to be truthful and honest even when the world does otherwise. I would like to have a copy for my own house; I wouldn’t mind kids reading it unsupervised.