The Trap

Austin rolled his eyes. “You’re not only a hypocrite, you’re a liar, too.” “What’s that word you keep sayin’ all the time?” Narvel asked. “What, hypocrite?” “Yeah.” “Funny, you don’t know what it means, seeing how you are one.” “I’ll decide that,” Narvel said. “What is it?” “It’s a person who says he believes one thing, but he acts some other way.” Narvel’s frown grew deep, as if he were actually thinking that over. His green eyes took on a light. “That pretty much describes you if you ask me,” he said.

Book: The Trap (Christian Heritage Series: The Charleston Years #4) by Nancy Rue, Focus On The Family Publishing, 1998

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Boys 10-14

Subjects: Slavery, Friendship, Trust in God, Underground Railroad

Summary: It all started with a wrestling match. Henry James could have won if Narvel hadn’t cheated. And that does not make Narvel like Henry-James, Austin or Charlotte at all. And it doesn’t make them like Narvel at all. Tension is everywhere anyway. Uncle Dayton and Aunt Oliva are trying to force Kady to marry a man she does not want to marry and so she runs away. The arguments between the north and the south continue to escalate as the election looms closer. Austin’s mom has decided to write a letter asking his dad to come and get them, even though Austin does not want to go. Austin is tired of feeling like no one around him is willing to do what’s right anymore!

Notes: This is the third set of books in the Christian Heritage Series. Each set focuses on a particular time period and tells the story of a young boy growing up in that time. This set is about a young boy who has been raised as an abolitionist but is living with his uncle’s family on a plantation in the south where they don’t believe slavery is wrong. In this book, Austin learns the word hypocrite, and feels it applies to nearly everyone around him. He views himself as better than everyone else, more righteous, and acts that way. It takes an life or death situation to make him realize he has been “throwing stones” as the wise old slave leader explained, and that he needs to drop them and look at the sin in his own life and make that right instead.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Matthew 7:4 – How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.