Crazy Jacob

Stephen approached slowly and painfully. His clock was gone. His tunic was half torn from his upper body. The right side of his face was covered with blood that streamed from a gash above his eyebrow. He stumbled to the opening of the cavern and leaned against it.

“Was it a lion?” Andrew asked, afraid of the truth.

“It was your father,” Stephen replied.

Book: Crazy Jacob (Kidwitness Tales #4) by Jim Ware, Focus On The Family with Bethany House Publishers, 2000

 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Boys 10-14

Subjects: Demon Possession, Friendship, Bullying, Family Relationships

Summary:  Life is good for Andrew. Yes, there’s the problems of the bully who is apprenticed to his father, but outside of that, He enjoys spending his days building boats with his father and dreaming of the day he can build his very own. But one night he and his father and the workers are caught on the lake in a terrible storm and by the time they get to shore they have to take refuge in a cave on the way home. Not just any cave though – this is the Haunts of the Dead. And while taking refuge, his father seems to lose his mind. He begins muttering to himself and calling on the gods, appearing to be struggling against them. If only it had stopped there! But soon Andrew’s father is living in the tombs like a wild man, attacking any who come near. The family business is falling apart, kids in town are making fun of him, his mother is considering remarriage to someone else, and the creditors are calling. Andrew realizes that the problems he is facing are beyond human control and makes a determination to seek whatever power he can find to cure his father, no matter what the cost.

Notes: Part of the KidWitness Tales from Heritage Builders, a ministry of Focus on the family, this book tells the story of a real event from the Bible, portraying the true story but writing a fictional story about a kid who might have witnessed the event. Crazy Jacob is the story of Jesus coming on shore at the region of the Gerasenes in Mark 5 and Luke 8 and encountering a demon-possessed man, casting out the demons and sending them into a herd of pigs which rush down the bank and drown. This book portrays a young boy, probably late elementary, early teens, who is the son of the demon possessed man. Living in a culture where many different gods and spirits are worshipped, both Andrew and his dad try calling upon various powers and have to learn that there is only one real God and only He can provide them with the help they need. Only He is powerful enough to cast out demons and make an insane man well again.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Mark 5:15 – When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.