Trailblazer Series

The Trailblazer Series is a series of books for young people that presents itself to the reader as a blending of biography and historical fiction. We can see this intent in the titles, a couple of which are The Queen’s Smuggler - William Tyndale or The Chimney Sweep’s Ransom - John Wesley. It is also supposed to be a Christian series as we can see the titles suggest by the inclusion of the names of well known Christians. Thus, one would assume the best of all worlds—the young reader will receive an understanding about the period in which the story is set; the book will offer true biographical insights into the life of some distinguished pillar of the Christian faith; the story will obviously uphold Christian values and help build them into the life of the reader, and there will be an element of adventure to make all that real-life value even more interesting.

If, as a parent, this is what you are seeking for your child from this series of books, your hopes may be disappointed. Factual history is very limited in this series, and, surprisingly, it is often inaccurate. Biographical fact is treated the same way. All fact seems to give place to the fictional story line. It seems to simply be adjusted as needed to augment the personal views of the authors. Also, the biographical personages used as a backdrop for the adventures are often not used as positive role models. There is little good Christian example, if any, to be gleaned from them in some cases. The hope of Christian influence in these books seems lost in a rush of non-Christian, worldly adventure. Adventure? Oh, yes. There is that. However, the savor of the adventure really seems to steer the reader’s thoughts away from the Redeemer and the Christian walk that He seeks for us. In reading for Christian young people we want just the opposite. The feel of these books is that their appeal to the reader will be much more on the excitable carnal side of one’s nature.

Let’s consider the idea of adventure for a moment. There are those who promote the idea of injecting adventure into the process of child-rearing—especially in the home school arena. Some will say that children, especially boys, must have continual excitement, adventure, mountains to climb, triumphs to attain, etc. You get the picture. They say that life must be fun and exciting for the child to prosper. School must be fun in order for the child to learn. This philosophy, I believe, is more than harmful to a young person, especially a Christian young person.

Trying to create such an environment for a child defeats the goals involved in rearing children. Let me explain. As parents, we are preparing our children for life. Life is not generally easy. Life is not, as a rule, fun. However, it can bring much joy to the prudent. Life is seldom exciting. A child who has been taught to be diligent in the unexciting routine of normal life will find rewards in it. A child who has only been given an appetite for excitement and adventure will find himself ill-equipped, and lost upon the sea of real life. How many people do we know whose job description includes the words "excitement" and "adventure"? The mountains to be climbed in life are those of hard work, setbacks, sorrows, and perseverance. Young people who receive training in dealing with these mountains will have real triumphs in life. Those who do not will wish that their parents had prepared them better for life.

Misrepresenting the real issues of life to children also fosters a false pride in them. Such synthetic mountains and adventures are neither the real issues nor the difficult ones in life. Things like learning to give up one’s own desires for the benefit of others, and learning to do so as a way of life, dwarf such insignificant ideas of triumph. The one is real. The other is nothing. Yet, the child learns to be proud of what he has done—what he has done for himself. This is no way to instill in him gratitude for what the Saviour has done. How much better to teach him to climb the real mountain of self-denial.

I know. This is where we hear the comment, "They’re just kids. Let them have fun!" This does not require much effort. Children will have fun because that is what children do. What is required is balance. That balance is being lost. That is why our modern adult generations are full of so many irresponsible members who want an exciting shortcut for everything, and refuse to grow up. Let’s not do that to our children. What they truly want is not so much excitement, but love, guidance and patient interaction with parents who are willing to give the effort to make them ready for the real issues of life. And their greatest satisfactions in life are climbing real mountains and accomplishing something that really counts.

Back to the Trailblazers—There are a few routine concepts in these books that I think discerning parents will find questionable. One very consistent theme is that each book has a hero, and that hero is a young person. This is not uncommon in reading for young people, but looking at the issue closely, hero-building does not make for healthy reading. Believe it or not, heroes really do tend to displace God in our lives. Whether or not we wish it, or are even conscious of it, there are two things that the idea of a hero always evokes—emulation and some level of worship. One tries to emulate one’s hero or heroes. This behavior is not in accordance with God’s Word. Scripture never teaches us to be like other men. It tells us to obey the words of Jesus, our Lord. It never teaches us to look up to men. It always teaches us to look up to our Redeemer. Incidently, people who learn to look up to certain others, always correspondingly learn to look down on certain others also. Even if we do not look down in a mean way, or we do it even kindly, it is still wrong. We either see others on the same plane, or we see them as above us or below us. Looking up at people is worship. Looking down at people is scorn. The Bible teaches that there is One above and none below.

You might be wondering, "What about the heroes of the faith?" The truth is that "heroes of the faith" is really a misnomer. In this case "heroes" is a misapplied term that people often use to describe an idea that is really nothing more than a Christian role model. A role model is a concept vastly different from a hero. A role model is someone from whom we might draw new ideas or encouragement for our efforts to live for the Lord. We may be struggling in some area, and be encouraged by how someone else has succeeded in that area. One might think of the martyrs and be encouraged at a time when he feels weak in the faith, but it is always Jesus that we seek to follow. The apostle Paul sometimes urged others to follow him, but only to follow his example in their own faith in Jesus Christ. A hero is a human whom we tend, often even subconsciously, to emulate or even follow. A role model is someone in whom we might find some support or encouragement in what we have consciously determined to be or do.

That being said, all of these books contain young heroes—young heroes being much more dangerous than older heroes, as we shall see. The young hero in each book is involved in situations in which he or she is constantly interacting with adults on their level. This is done in such a way as to readily imply to the reader that the youngster’s opinions and evaluations are often wiser than those of his or her elders. And the youngster’s sentiments will usually, as they are depicted to the reader, seem more important than those of older, wiser heads. The child hero is often portrayed as having greater awareness and wisdom than the biographical figure who is being used to give the story its Christian element. This gives the undiscerning young reader the idea that this renowned person of faith was guided through certain critical situations in life by the advice of some young "hero." Of course, such a wet-behind-the-ears young person never existed to offer advice.

In all of the books in this series that we read, these youths make their own decisions based on their own thought processes. They do not seek advice because they are the smartest ones in the story. Often, their thought processes are quite faulty, spawning very poor decisions. It is true that the story may imply that some of these decisions are not wise, but, as is possible only in fiction, an extremely unlikely coincidence always occurs to save the day. Thus, there are never anything but good consequences for truly bad decisions. Unfortunately, this gives the reader a false idea of real life, because, in reality, miraculous occurrences seldom arise to save us from the consequences of our foolish decisions. Only in fiction can stupidity always triumph. If you are a parent who talks to your children, and if you wonder sometimes about where or how they came up with certain silly ideas, because you neither believe or teach any such thing, consider looking more closely at the "Christian" materials that they read. Such ideologies are quite common nowadays in books promoted as Christian youth reading.

We, as parents, are often told by certain elements in our society, even certain "Christian" elements, not to stifle an independent spirit or independent thinking on the part of our children. However, is it not really a competent spirit and competent thinking that we want to encourage? What is the difference? The competent thinker has enough wisdom to realize that he or she may not have knowledge or experience to offer an opinion or make a decision on every situation. The competent individual does know where to go for proper counsel, and has the wisdom to know when it is needed and to seek it out. The independent young person does not. Instead, this person harbors the opinion that his or her opinions or decision-making abilities will be equal to the situation at hand, or at least as accurate as anyone else’s, including older, wiser individuals.

The competent thinker challenges the norm and seeks answers in the Word of God. He seeks counsel from godly sources of wisdom and experience, and balances all advice with what the Scriptures have to say on the subject. The independent thinker challenges everything, even the proven—sometimes even the Word. He seeks answers through his own wisdom—often answers that agree with his own desires. When he turns to the opinions of others, it is to those who will support the opinions he has already formed. This comes from his understanding that young people are very smart. (Where did he get such an idea?) This is not an atypical average teen mentality, but such ideas are augmented by the kind of stories in which the hero is a fictitious young person who knows everything. When we look back at the generation of people arriving at the age of adulthood in the 1960's, we see a parade of drug abuse and rock concerts. We also see them rebelling and revolting because they think they are so much smarter than the generation that is supporting them. Is it only coincidence that this generation grew up on The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and other stories like them. The same ideologies have now completely flooded that market called Christian reading, and the Trailblazer books encourage this independent thinking, which I think will be evident as we delve into a few excerpts.

By the way, it is not that there is something wrong with writing a Christian story for young people in which the protagonist is a young person. Such stories easily appeal to young people, and if written in the right setting and with the right intent, can yield very positive results. In an effort to reach a reader on some Christian level, however, the author, will not simply drop a hero into a fictitious worldly swashbuckling setting. The ordinary life of a Christian comes with plenty of dangers and temptations of its own. The idea is to focus on those spiritual dangers which beset us all; then to bring those dangers to life, making them real and making the reader aware of how truly dangerous they are; then to portray the essentials of how the struggle is truly won or lost. A young protagonist is as good a medium for this as any. A good Christian author can write a truly useful story and still capture the interest of the reader without running off into daydreams and worldliness.

We find one more confusing concept in the Trailblazer Series. This is the idea of the books being "historical fiction." This term is an oxymoron. Moreover, it indicates that which cannot exist. History is not fiction, and fiction is not, and cannot be, history. There is no meeting of the two. In reading, whenever any fiction at all is combined with history, unless the reader is thoroughly familiar in every respect with the history, he must assume that the work is all fiction. There is simply no way of knowing where history leaves off and fiction begins. In all cases, the uninitiated reader receives a skewed idea about history. In more than some cases, the reader receives a completely wrong idea of history. What the reader gets is determined by exactly how the author wants to use history as a component of his fiction. He knows the reader will not likely know the difference anyway. The idea that adding some names and dates to a fictional work gives it historical value simply will not transfer into real life and learning. The whole becomes a fabrication, and young readers have no idea what has been foisted upon their understanding (now a lack of understanding due to the author's "teaching").

This is not to say that a story might be created in which some history might be learned. However, it must be done in a way in which the reader can see real history unfold, as in a narrative by someone who is watching. The narrative must be all history and must be accurate. It cannot be full of injections of fictional adventure used to make the history interesting. This simply destroys the history. In the Trailblazer Series the stories are nearly totally fiction, even sometimes distorting what history is present to fit the story’s intent.

Let’s now look at some of the stories, themselves, to see a few examples.

I found The Queen’s Smuggler, William Tyndale to be an upsetting book in many ways. It is the story about a young fictional girl named Sarah portrayed as the daughter of the factual Thomas Poyntz. One can see from the very beginning how closely fact is confused with fiction in this book. Because Sarah is fictional, none of her actions and interactions are with real people, like the man who is supposed to be her father, have ever occurred. Hence, any feelings or philosophies voiced by her supposed father are not really his, but fabrications of the authors.

In this fairy tale, ten-year-old Sarah has managed to save the life of Anne Boleyn, who is in fact a real and famous person. Anne Boleyn has been saved from a drowning accident which, of course, never occurred in her real life. Because of this, Anne Boleyn takes a special liking to Sarah, and invites her to be one of her maids in waiting at the castle of Henry VIII. In the meantime, Sarah’s father invites William Tyndale to live in his house during these perilous times. Another young man, Henry Phillips (real person), finds this out and seeks to be friends with Tyndale. History states that Mr. Poyntz never trusted Phillips, who eventually betrayed Tyndale. Contrary to historical fact, the Jacksons state that all the adults, including Mr. Poyntz, trusted and liked Phillips, except for Sarah. Only young Sarah (fictional person) had the discernment to know Mr. Phillips was not to be trusted. For those of you who do not know the story, Mr. Phillips betrays Tyndale, and Tyndale goes to prison and death. It can only seem that the Jackson’s want to reinforce in young minds that they might consider themselves wiser than adults.

Sarah travels to England and smuggles a New Testament to Anne Boleyn, who gives it to King Henry. Tyndale is burned at the stake, but shortly after his death, King Henry permits the New Testament to be printed in England, and, of course, this is primarily due to young fictional Sarah’s bravery in smuggling the New Testament to Anne Boleyn. At this point do you think the young reader is emotionally identifying with this young person that never existed, and this act of bravery that never occurred? Or is the reader thinking, "But, of course, none of this ever happened at all. There was no Sarah. There was no derring-do. God simply worked His will to protect His Word in His way as He always does. Thank God for His benevolence." What think ye, parent?

What have the Jacksons done here? They have distorted history, added the distortion to an already damaging piece of fiction, and repackaged the whole as something that will be believed by the children who read it. They took due credit from Mr. Poyntz, using it to improperly give false credence to the wisdom of youth in the form of a fictional character. When diligent Christian parents sense the seeds of a know-it-all attitude developing in their children, I always suggest that they check what their children are reading.

There are other subtle disturbing things in this book, including one incident (history?—or fiction?) where Mr. Tyndale removes an old woman’s clothing and bedding, and gives her a bed bath, while a boy looks discreetly away, and Sarah "dries the flabby skin." Would a man in that day disrobe and bathe a woman with a female present, able, and available to do so? Would it not be more appropriate for a woman to bathe another woman? Are we to believe that William Tyndale knew nothing of propriety? Would a godly man have the boy be present?

But another question begs. Where is the purpose for including such a scene in a book for children. It obviously never occurred. What is the goal of an author in forcing these sorts of mental pictures upon unsuspecting children needlessly? Again, the book is aimed at children. It seems here, as in other passages in the Trailblazer Series, that a good deed is introduced only because it is used to provide cover to vividly paint on the reader’s mind a crude or vulgar situation.

Kidnapped by River Rats - William and Catherine Booth. Mind you, this is a children’s book. In it they will learn of bars, drinking, stealing, and even white slave trade of young girls. White slave trade of young girls? Oh, yes, to be used for men in France as mistresses. England was an evil place for youngsters during that time, but it is not necessary to present unnecessary evil in the name of adventure to our young people, and then call it Christian reading.

"For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret."—Ephesians 5:12. If we need to talk about the evils, we can say there was a problem with alcohol and discuss its impact on society. It is never necessary to paint an adventurous, captivating picture of the seamy side of life. And it should never be presented to children, especially under the heading "Christian." Very little is presented of the Booths in this book, so the elements of history and biography are fairly limited to the title.

The Chimney Sweep’s Ransom - John Wesley is another book where children will learn of drunken fathers, brothers and sisters who have knock-down, drag-out fights, parents selling children, and get a generous dose of independent thinking. It is interesting to note that the authors felt it necessary to report that a youth in this book used the chamber pot. We are, once again, back at the door of unnecessary crudeness. It would be similar for an author today to say the main character used the toilet. No secular author with any taste at all includes such unnecessarily crude details just for the sake of exposing personal bodily functions. Why should it be necessary in (supposedly) Christian literature?

The youths in this book are, once again, presented as having greater integrity than the parents, and, in the end, because of the good children, the bad parents come to the Lord. As for John Wesley’s part in this book, he is only a part of a fictional encounter with the main character. He barely gets more than a mention. Thus, the historical and biographical content is zero.

Spy for the Night Riders - Martin Luther encourages disobedience to parents, romance, independent thinking, and feminism. The story will appeal to the daydreaming, carnal side of a youth to be or to do something more than his or her parents, but not necessarily through effort or diligence. The main theme is to break away from the mold of ordinary men and women, and dare to somehow be special or different from ordinary, boring people busy about the reality of daily life.

The Betrayer’s Fortune - Menno Simons is probably one of the best books the Jacksons have written. Although, it does have flaws that would keep one from recommending it. The major flaw is the independent thinking of the young protagonist. His mother was arrested and in prison. After being warned by his father not to risk betraying all the other local Christians by visiting her and being followed, the young boy disobeys. He, decides that no one else, including his father, loves his mother as much as he obviously does. Thus, he should risk the visit based on the fact that he is wiser and of greater integrity than anyone else. He seeks no counsel and just goes without telling anyone. Naturally, the prison has him followed in order to locate the other Christians. Thus, in order to protect the believers, and to prevent him from being arrested, arrangements must be made for him to leave the area, and he winds up traveling with Menno Simons. As is usually the case with this type of book, an independent spirit and its foolish actions are delivered from what, in real life, would be a tragedy caused by disobedience. The deliverance being none other than that inevitable miraculous coincidence that follows mindless independence through the corridors of fiction.

In conclusion, these books may be exciting for children, but they teach far too many things that children ought not to learn. The characters have a proud, independent spirit that is no asset to the Christian. My opinion would be: Do not follow this trail. It will lead your children in the wrong direction.