Sherds from a jar of clay

I love libraries, I still remember the joy of getting my own library card as a kid (an orange paper square with a metal strip with an embossed number) and my librarian, Mrs. Craigey who was my good friend and book recommender from grade school through high school. I even went to her retirement party when I was in college. My childhood fantasy was to be locked in a library or bookstore.

Anyway, now that my small local branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia has been reopened for a year the shelves are getting to be more well stocked and with the wonder of the internet loans from other branches are a snap. So, I am having fun raiding the stacks for books for me, for the kids and to add to the topics (especially history) that we are studying in homeschool.

I found a great children's (probably mid/late grade school) historical fiction series, The Roman Mysteries, by Caroline Lawrence. It is a projected series of 18 books, half of which are currently published the rest coming by 2009. They follow 4 young friends of different backgrounds as they live life and solve some mysteries that come their way. They are set in AD79 and following in the Roman World and general Mediterranean world of that time. They seem to be historically accurate and the books include a glossary of Latin terms used and some maps or diagrams. I have read the first 3 so far and plan to keep on going.

The thing that really intrigues me is the way the author portrays the religious life of the times including one of the protagonists being a 1st century Jewish Christian. It really gives a good sense of what it was like to live and believe in that time and place and what the interaction of the various belief systems was like. The author does not shy away from having the doctrines of Christian faith discussed or lived out by the characters involved. Pantheistic Roman religion is also portrayed as a living part of the live of characters.

I don't think my 6 year old is quite ready for these yet because the depictions of some things like slavery, being chased by wild dogs, people dying as Vesuvius erupts etc. would be too intense and themes of love and marriage, loss of loved ones while discussed with modesty and appropriateness are present and might be best left for a few years. Though I do look forward to sharing them with my kids. I may even add them to our church library wish list since I think they would be a great way for kids to understand what life for a believer might have been like in the 1st century AD. Plus they are just fun.