Joshua and the Children
by Joseph Girzone
The second book of Joseph Girzone's Joshua series, Joshua and the Children, puts a modern-day Jesus in the middle of a battlefield. In a small town in Ireland, torn by a Catholic-Protestant divide. We see Joshua interact with the people around him. With them, he faces terrorist attacks, addresses the hatred such acts engenders, and seeks to find new ways of living together. Hopefully in peace with one another. And to Joshua, this is of special importance. It has always been his prayer that the followers of Jesus would all be one.
But, of course, that isn't a message that is very welcome in his current situation. And he pays the price for speaking his message of peace. He is hated, he is beaten, he is an outcast. His attempts to bring harmony bring mostly h
arm to himself.
Even so, Joshua manages to make a few friends in his new setting, including a family from the Middle East (which sets us up for the next book). Amongst those few, we see real differences made in their lives. Many reconciliations are brought about. Even if the message is rejected in the surrounding culture at large, it seems there is a small circle for whom Joshua's message has some impact. That is the part of the book that most offers hope, even in the troubled places in which the book is set.
Reviewed by Shelly Bryant 2010
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