Book In Review

        The Legend of the Valentine is an inspirational children’s book written by Katherine Grace Bond.  The story is about young 9 year old Marcus who lives in Alabama during the civil rights movement; as he experiences prejudice, his grandmother teaches him about the power of love.

       Young Marcus is bewildered as his father is jailed along with Dr. Martin Luther King; as far as he can see, he didn’t do anything wrong except stand up for people who were treated differently from the white folks. 

       Marcus’s mother is upset.  Grandmother is a great story teller and since it is close to Valentine’s Day, Grandmother decides to tell Marcus about the real Valentine.  Valentine was a person back in Rome in the early days of Christianity.

       Valentine was also in jail because he worshipped God and not the emperor which was the law at that time.  By loving his jailers and praying for the jailer’s blind daughter; she was healed.  The jailer became a Christian also.

        So Marcus, goes back to school where some of the children treated him poorly because of the color of his skin.  He made Valentine’s with his granny for each of them.  Travis, the young man who truly showed his prejudiced, came to understand that Marcus was more than the color of his skin because of the other children’s acceptance of Marcus. 

         Love and forgiveness heals alot.  Marcus began to form relationships with the other children in his class after giving out Valentines to his classmates. Marcus followed the teachings of Jesus in loving his “enemies”.

         The publisher is ZonderKidz.  Their website is: http://zondervan.com/.  The book is illustrated by Don Tate; copywrighted in 2001.