Homeschool Happenings: Focus on the Family ~ A Review

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Focus on the Family ~ A Review

For 40 years, Focus On The Family has been ministering to individuals, families, and the world through daily broadcasts, books, magazines, online resources, and so much more. Recently my kiddos had the opportunity to read Captain Absolutely a comic book based story about defending truth and justice. This softcover comic book is 105 pages in length.

Who is Captain Absolutely? Metropolatinville librarian Josiah King had never heard of the Bible. A massive explosion exposes a chamber filled with banned books. Josiah stumbles upon a Bible and for the first time reads God's truth! To add a bit of sci-fi into the mix Josiah is exposed to mysterious radioactive fumes that transform him into Captain Absolutely.

When this comic book arrived in the mail my 10 year old daughter snatched it up and ran off to read it. After about 30 minutes she came back and said how much she liked the story and asked if there were more. My daughter was familiar with Captain Absolutely from the Clubhouse magazines that she receives from Focus On The Family.

My daughter said, "Captain Absolutely is about a hero who battles against evil. While battling the villains he gives out God's Word. Along the way he finds new friends and also enemies. His greatest enemy is Dr. Relative. Bibles are banned from Metropolitanville. One of my favorite parts was when Captain Absolutely was in a store. He said, 'Some villain replaced the shirts, skirts and dresses in the is store with immodest duplicates.' Another favorite was when Dr. Relative made flying machines who criticized people using God's Word. I really, really liked this comic book. I really am not a fan of comic books but am definitely a fan of this one."

At the end of the comic book there is a Character highlights section that gives further information into each character. A brief synopsis of each character as well as character stats are listed.

Captain Absolutely is based off of Josiah in the Bible (2 Kings 22-23). Each character has a verse accompanying their character. Dr. Relative's verse is:

"A fool's way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise." Proverbs 12:15

A section at the end entitled, Big Questions, engages kiddos with questions relating to the comic book text. Some question examples are:

What does the Bible say about fear? (Start with Psalm 27:1) p.16

Does holding a grudge ever make things better? p.44

The page number where the answers to the questions are found can be used to help children make sure that they know the right answers.

As a mom I would most definitely recommend this comic book for the child in your life. Not only will your child learn about great Bible truths but they will be entertained too. As a disclaimer, no your child does not need to be entertained to learn the word of God because God's Word is enough on its own. God's Word is living and active and powerful enough to reach even children. Rather, it is nice to have Christian based children's material to encourage children in their faith. Grab a copy and follow Captain Absolutely as he defends truth, justice, and lots more truuuth!