Book Review – Ten Boys Who Changed The World by Irene Howat

Ten Boys Who Changed The World

Ten Boys Who Changed History In by Irene Howat

Synopsis:

Billy Graham ~ Brother Andrew ~ John Newton ~ George Müller ~ Nicky Cruz ~ William Carey ~ David Livingstone ~ Adoniram Judson ~ Eric Liddell ~ Luis Palau

Would you like to change your world?

These ten boys grew up to do just that! Find out how Eric won the race and honoured God; David became an explorer and explained the Bible; Adoniram was in prison and praised God; Nicky joined gangs and then the church; Luis was changed by God and God changed others; William translated the Bible and gave God’s word to India; George rescued orphans and was trusted with millions; Andrew smuggled Bibles into Russia and brought hope to thousands; John captured slaves but God used him to set them free; Billy preached and God used him to change people all around the world.

Read this book and find out what God wants you to do! (Taken from Goodreads page)

Review

The fourth entry into the boys’ series shows that Church history is filled will all sorts of interesting and forgotten people. While this volume probably has more famous folks there are still elements to be discovered.

In this volume, ten boys which include David Livingstone, Nicky Cruz, Brother Andrew, George Muller, William Carey, John Newton, Adoniram Judson, Billy Graham, Luis Palau, and Eric Liddell follow a similar story pattern of about 15 pages each. The sections starts off with a childhood and family setting and move to either some early important events or through to teenage and college-age and then into adulthood of what they’re known for. The stories include mostly fictional conversations so as to give young readers more than just facts to remember. The conversation are in the spirit of learning about the person. Each person also has a focus on their Christian faith and it usually inspires the conclusion of the story as a way to glorify God. At the end there is a “FACT” of the story expanded upon, a “KEYNOTE” that focuses on the aspect of the story to think about God, a “THINK” area in which a challenge question is presented for discussion, and a “PRAYER” section.

I believe this will be my last time highlighting this negative aspect of the book because I believe I may be putting too much stock in what the title is promising me. With the title involving people “who changed the world” I was thinking there would be more discussion to the impact of the person. For example, Eric Liddel is a famous person but how he exactly “changed the world” seems confined to his running and POW time. Of course, there’s more to his story and his story in relation to his faith is important and a blessing. However, “changed the world” is hard to see. Luis Palau’s story is last and I’m not at all sure what the ending had to do with him or overall why he’s highlighted among the other people here.

Putting my complaints against the promise of the title away for good, the stories are enjoyable. They also cover a wide variety of different times and places. I believe homeschool families could cover one story and get a history, geography, devotional, and English lesson out of reading one chapter per lesson. Really do pick these up for the younger readers in your life.

Final Grade

B+