The book that my daughter and I got to read for this review is Billy Graham, America's Pastor. This was an especially timely book, as Billy Graham's death and beginning of his life in heaven has just occurred two months ago, so he was in the news a lot recently. We got to use this along with our regular homeschool schedule, so we were interested to try out the downloadable unit study/curriculum guide that accompanies this book.
The book begins with introducing Billy Frank (as he was known as a child) and his family and life on the farm. It gives a good background on his upbringing and family life, and how he came to Christ. After high school, he got a job selling Fuller Brushes door to door as he awaited attending college. The story follows Billy throughout his college(s) career and his pathway into ministry. Readers also get a glimpse at his family life, as he married and eventually had children (ummm...possibly TMI about a reproductive health issue that he had!! just a note if you're reading the book aloud and decide to research that with your kids...maybe check it out first!) Billy's life as an evangelist and preacher took many twists and turns, working in different areas of ministry, but always, always preaching the Gospel and seeing many come to saving faith in Christ. He was linked with several political and historic figures and preached at many venues, large and small, always following what God was directing him.
Near the end of the book, readers might be surprised to read that Billy Graham has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but the reasoning behind it is amazing, Billy Graham's foresight into introducing folks to the gospel after he is gone...the quote in the book explains, "...the reason I agreed to do this is that I thought one day some little child will walk along this street and look down and say, 'Mommy, who is Billy Graham?' That mother would be able to tell her child, 'Billy Graham was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me explain to you what the Gospel is'..." His whole life was dedicated to sharing the Gospel, and readers of this book will be able to catch that theme right away as they read the many avenues of his life that exemplified that.
As far as the book itself goes, it is a very nicely-written book, short-ish chapters which are easy to read. My 13-year old daughter loved reading the book--and is hooked on these series! She wanted to share a bit about what she thought: "I really enjoyed this book. I have heard about Billy Graham's recent death, but I hadn't realized why it was such a big deal. This book about him was descriptive about his life (but not OVERLY descriptive). He developed to be an extraordinary evangelist, and influenced many around the world. The book told about the joys and challenges in his life, and how he overcame them, not on his own, but with God."
We also utilized some of the study guide which came with the book. There is a guide which walks homeschooling parents through how to utilize these books and the unit study materials in different aspects of their homeschool curriculum. There are downloadable timelines, fact sheets, study questions, and more! We used the study questions so that as she read, she would pause to answer the guided questions. Some were things that required a little more research, others were just responses to questions about the reading. These additional materials help the student delve deeper into the material and into vocabulary, geography, and other things related to the subject's life.
SO--no surprise--we really enjoyed this book. Our family highly recommends the books by YWAM Publishing in the Heroes of History and other series! If you are using them as a homeschool tool, the downloadable unit studies are definitely a great tool for you to use as well!
To read some thoughts by other homeschooling families on books from this Heroes of History series or some from the Christian Heroes Then & Now, please click on the link below!
