Charles Spurgeon read John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress over one hundred times. Many Christians today haven’t read it even once. That’s a tragedy!

The Pilgrim’s Progress is a favorite story at our home, and we’ve used several good resources for our children. We’re delighted to add one more: a dramatic reading for kids. This abridged reading is 1 hour and 44 minutes. Our kids love it.

(This abridgment, which J. I. Packer endorses, has corresponding curriculum that becomes available this month. I haven’t seen it, but I suspect that it’s good.)

Our family loves John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed four book versions of it, and we’ve added a fifth:

John Bunyan. The Pilgrim’s Progress. Edited by Lee Tung and Johnny Wong. Illustrated by Creator Art Studio. 2 vols. Leesburg, FL: Kingstone Comics, 2011. 304 pp. [volume 1 | volume 2]

The story changes several characters from boys to girls (e.g., Help is a leggy fairy, and Hopeful is a petite young lady!), but it hits the highlights and follows Bunyan’s basic storyline. (Some of the illustrations of women seem to cross the line by being too revealing, especially for a children’s book.) [Read more…] about ​The Pilgrim’s Progress: A Graphic Novel

I recently highlighted my favorite versions of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress that I’ve read to my three-year-old daughter:

1. The Pilgrim’s Progress for Children
2. Formalist and Hypocrisy Taking a Shortcut

Here’s another:

John Bunyan. Pilgrim’s Progress. Edited by Gary Schmidt. Illustrated by Barry Moser. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.

• Large hardcover (12.3 x 9.4 x 0.6 inches):
• Small hardcover (8.6 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches):

Young children would appreciate it if the picture-to-text ratio were better, but the text is beautifully written.

My top two favorites for young children are still the Pictorial Pilgrim’s Progress and Dangerous Journey .

My family loves John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). Charles Spurgeon read this classic over one hundred times. It’s a pity that many Christians today have not read it even once. Here are some versions we enjoy:

1. Pictorial Pilgrim’s Progress, illustrated by Joanne Brubaker (Chicago: Moody, 1960).

• It’s excellent for young children because there is a picture on every page, and the text is simple and straightforward.
• The Kindle version includes all the illustrations.
• The book is especially meaningful to me for reasons that are evident in the below correspondence I had with my former pastor, Mike Bullmore:

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[email from me to Mike Bullmore on 6/7/2010]

Dear Mike,

I’m in the process of cataloging my print and electronic library, and I just entered this book in my database:

Bunyan, John. Pictorial Pilgrim’s Progress. Chicago: Moody, 1960.

I opened it up and reread what I wrote on the inside cover:

I read this very book to Michael after he relapsed. He loved to look at the pictures as I read and explained Bunyan’s outstanding allegory. Now Michael is at the glorious end of his difficult journey, and I look forward to seeing him again in the celestial city!

Andy
4/25/2002

A little background:

I’m the second of seven children . . . . In December 1998 (during my freshman year of college), my family was shocked to learn that my youngest brother Michael, who was three years old at the time, had cancer—Stage IV Neuroblastoma. [Read more…] about The Pilgrim’s Progress for Children (and Adults)