Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey, specifically Part II, has been my eldest daughter’s favorite book since it first came out. Indeed, after reading Part I over and over again while waiting for Christiana’s book to arrive, she hugged us with tears in her eyes whenever she finally held the book in her hands. Of course, this also led to us having a Little Pilgrim themed birthday party for her. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey series has a special place within our household, and given that Bunyan only wrote two parts to the Pilgrim’s Progress (the first being the journey of Christian and the second of his wife, Christiana), we assumed that Little Pilgrim would be the same.

However, Lithos Kids just released Part III as the formal conclusion to the adapted allegory. While this may make a Bunyan purist squirm, Van Halteren gives a defense of his own Part III briefly in the introduction. He notes that Bunyan concluded Part II by leaving open the possibility of a Part III. Indeed, here are the final two paragraphs of the Pilgrim’s Progress:

As for Christian’s children, the four boys that Christiana brought with her, with their wives and children, I did not stay where I was till they were gone over. Also since I came away, I heard one say, that they were yet alive, and so would be for the increase of the Church in that place where they were, for a time.

Shall it be my lot to go that way again, I may give those that desire it, an account of what I here am silent about; mean time, I bid my Reader Adieu.

Of course, Van Halteren’s adaption has made Christian and Christiana brother and sister rather than husband and wife, and in Part II, Christiana is accompanied by their two other brothers, Jude and Eli, rather than her four children as in the original. Even so, Part III does exactly what Bunyan envisioned the possibility of doing himself: it follows Eli and Jude as they are sent back to the City of Destruction to warn its inhabitants of soon-coming judgment from heaven.

Regarding content, which I deem to be the most important aspect of any book, Part III is excellent. I won’t give any spoilers here, except to say that the subtitle, The End of Days & the Eternal Kingdom, is quite accurate. It wonderfully portraits the heart, beauty, and difficulty of evangelism and fantastically points readers toward our blessed hope. As with the other two volumes and with Bunyan himself, the tale is littered with Scripture, and my daughter was delighted to have recognized some that she has memorized.

Overall, Part III is a pleasant surprise from Van Halteren and Lithos Kids, and I can’t recommend it enough.

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As an addendum, I should also note that Lithos has put together a Legacy Edition of the original Pilgrim’s Progress that is simply gorgeous. It contains two introductory essays. The first is by Michael Haykin on John Bunyan, and the second is by Van Halteren titled “The Legacy of Pilgrim’s Progress.” Van Halteren describes the purpose of this edition as follows:

Many beautiful versions of John Bunyan’s work have been produced over the past three centuries. Often these versions included wood-cut illustrations from some of the finest artists of the day, and yet many of those versions are out of print and few heirloom quality editions exist today. Our desire was to honor the rich legacy of illustrations of The Pilgrim’s Progress by including more than one hundred of the best illustrations from previous editions.

The language in this book has been carefully modernized to adapt idioms and phrases that would confuse most readers today, while remaining faithful to Bunyan’s intent and emphasis. Full Scripture references have been included in the margins, along with large font and clear typesetting. Our hope is that, as this story has impacted generations of Christians, this edition will continue the legacy of this book for many generations to come.

pp. 12-13

Indeed, the abundance of illustrations, modernized language, and overall beauty of the printing have made this the current reading journey of my daughter and me.

My only critique is that it is only Part I. Of course, since many readers have been unaware that there even is a Part II to the Pilgrim’s Progress, I would imagine that there are significantly less illustrations to be found for Christiana’s journey, making such an edition much more challenging to produce. However, I will hang onto hope that Legacy Edition of Part II will be put together and released by Lithos at some point.