And They Found Dragons Book 1: The Boy who Fell from the Stars by Ted Dekker and Rachelle Dekker

Rating: My bookshelf, Needs Minor Parent Supervision for Book 3

Reading level: Late Elementary, Middle School

A space/fantasy adventure in which the future of humanity depends on a small group of kids. The bullying is less intense than other Dekker books, and the themes of love and forgiveness are strong.

Possible Concerns:

• Bullying. (Calling a kid “Puke”, mostly verbal)
• Evil Spirit Control. A doctor/scientist becomes chemically dependent on a substance and hears voices that tell him to sabotage a community and murder a small boy.
• Murder. The doctor injects the boy with a substance that should kill him in the next 36 hours.
• Medical practitioner abuse. If your kid is afraid of going to the doctor or of needles, this might not be a good fit because the doctor is controlled by a satanic spirit and injects poison in the protagonist.
• Hint of Abuse. Suggestion that a grieving father “takes it out on his son,” and that’s why the son is a bully.

Things I liked:

• Healthy parent relationship. The boy and his mom are close and she teaches him to be a light.
• Loving your enemy. The boy loves the bully and tries to develop empathy for him.
• Valuing Biblical wisdom over other strengths.
• Teaching Biblical principles even when it is banned. The mother teaches about a great Teacher, Jeshua, and hides sacred books about him under the bed. This is clearly a Jesus figure.

I have heard mixed reviews about these books, including a critique that the writing is too dark and that the author proposed universalism (which I didn’t see). As for darkness, I think the darkness is reflective of the darkness in the spiritual world we live in. They’re not Newberry medal quality, but I walked away from the series with my faith challenged to love God more healthily, so I overall recommend them for a mature kid who is ok with a bit of fantasy and darkness.

See also my reviews of Book 2 in the series: Journey to the Silver Towers, and Book 3: The Rise of the Light Bringer (including discussion questions!)