The Forgotten King by Kenneth Padgett and Shay Gregorie

Written in rhyme, this is a parable about a king who lives on a mountain and loves his people below, but because of a spell an evil wizard casts, the people forget about the king. The king sends his son to break the evil spell and banish the wizard. After the spell is broken, the king moves his castle down the mountain to be with his people.

This gorgeously bound, stunningly illustrated book will captivate your children from beginning to end. The author crafts this brief story with great skill. Rhyme can be done so poorly, and this is done so very well. I would have categorized this as an allegory, but the authors call it a parable.

The connections to the redemption story are apparent: God is the king, Satan is the wizard, and Jesus is the king’s son. In either a parable or allegory, we have to allow room for things to not be perfect representations of what they signify. However, I felt there was an absence of something representing sin, rather, it seemed that forgetting God was the issue. I reached out to the author with my thoughts, and here was his reply:

“The parable ultimately communicates the same basic message as our book, The Story of God with Us, namely that God desires to dwell in the midst of his people. Yes, we have an adversary that is defeated by the King’s victorious Son, but we are not attempting to communicate the fullness of the gospel in an allegorical form. This book, like Jesus’ own parables (which rarely present the full gospel), is designed to engage and shape young imaginations toward a vision of a God who wants to be with his people and a Son who will fight on their behalf. There are many layers to the story that can also induce good conversations between children and parents.”

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this lovely book and think it could be a fantastic addition to your home library.

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1. Who were the characters in the story supposed to represent?
2. Why is it so easy to forget about God?
3. What is the only way we can be reconciled to God?