ELIZABETH PRENTISS: MORE LOVE {Book Review}

Over the years, one of my favorite things has been reading out loud to my kids. As they have grown older we have graduated from picture books to biographies. Therefore, we were excited to receive a copy of Elizabeth Prentiss: More Love, written by Claire Williams, from Christian Focus Publications for our next book review.

Christian Focus is a conservative, evangelical, non-denominational publisher based in the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth Prentiss: More Love is a paperback, chapter book of 144 pages and is part of the Trail Blazers series. The publisher’s reading guidelines for the book are (RTM) = Read to me: 8-9 years old; (RM) = Read Myself: 9-14 years old. However, I think some eight and nine year old children may find some of the content challenging.

Details & Dialogue

There are a few details to note. One adjustment American readers will need to make with this book concerns the use of quotation marks.

Whereas Americans use double quotes, the United Kingdom prefers single quotation marks. Occasionally, a double quotation mark tried to jump onto a page.

Expect various spellings in the UK book, such as the substitution of the letter “s” for the letter “z.” Also, remind young readers there may be the use of double m’s and variances in the spelling of some words, such as in the word “programme.”

I wasn’t aware of the omittance of the periods in titles of respect, as in Mr and Mrs Prentiss. This was a different kind of reading experience for us.

The book is listed as a biography but there is a note on the inside cover stating:

“This book is based mostly on true episodes in the character’s life. However sometimes the author has created incidents that are not directly biographical, but that would have happened in families at the time period.

Dialogue is on the whole fictionalized unless it is made clear that it is a direct quote. Sometimes what was a conversation in real life has been changed to a letter for ease of narrative.”

A Short Introduction of Elizabeth Prentiss

Elizabeth Payson was born in Maine in 1818. She was the daughter of a Congregationalist pastor who died of tuberculosis when she was a young child.

Elizabeth grew up and married a Presbyterian minister, George Prentiss. They had six children together. However, two died in infancy.

She faced many difficult challenges in her life but she kept relying on God for strength. She prayed for wisdom on how to move past her pain and how she might one day use it to help others. 

Elizabeth also wrote two books, Little Susy’s Six Birthdays (1853) and Stepping Heavenward (1869). After almost losing another child, she wrote the hymn, “More Love to Thee.”

I am giving you this short introduction because I think a little introduction might have been helpful for my son before we began reading this book.

The first chapter jumped through Elizabeth’s childhood rather quickly. The story began by describing Elizabeth’s first wail as a baby. By the third paragraph, Elizabeth is suddenly age six. A sweet story follows about Elizabeth’s father making her paper snowflakes. Then, her father says he’s dying and the chapter ends with his death as well as the phrase, “… he would never read her another bedtime story again.”

A Great Deal of Death

There is a great deal of serious illness and death discussed in this book. I’m guessing at least seventy percent of the book. If you have a child that is sensitive about the issue, you may want to read the book yourself first. A parent dies. Babies and toddlers die. There are grieving parents and funerals. There’s a passage where Elizabeth tells her toddler he is going to die. Elizabeth herself repeatedly gets extremely sick and almost dies. Other children almost die. I’ll be honest, it’s depressing.

But it happened to Elizabeth Prentiss. Out of that darkness and out of that pain, Elizabeth continued to seek the Lord for strength, for comfort, and for purpose.

She chose to draw closer to her Lord during her suffering. Her great sorrow did not ultimately result in emptiness and despair, but rather in fulfillment and joy.

The book progresses through the life of Elizabeth, highlighting major events from her life until the time of her death in 1878.

Thinking Further Topics Section

There’s a “Thinking Further Topics Section” set up in the back of the book. It offers an area for discussion and a devotion that ties in with each chapter.

We did not notice this section until we were about halfway done reading the book. In all fairness, it was mentioned in the contents section. We just didn’t catch it as it was listed in the same font and spacing as the titles.

I wish this book had a brief foreword introducing Elizabeth Prentiss and had mentioned this “Thinking Further Topics” section there as well. Or perhaps, even inserted the discussion and devotion at the end of each corresponding chapter.

Nonetheless, we liked this section because it recapped the chapter, and made a point relevant to the reader’s life today. A Biblical truth is tied in with the chapter using scripture references from the English Standard Version Bible.

The reader is offered a challenge such as “How can you make time to pray? Is there something that you might need to give up to make time?”

I did notice that one of the devotions includes a catechism because in one of the chapters, Elizabeth talks about catechisms.

The particular catechism mentioned in the “Thinking Further” section, is a small portion of the Heidelberg Catechism.

It talks about God, the creator of heaven and earth, and that because of Jesus Christ the Son, we can trust God to provide everything we need for our body and soul.

Overall, we liked the “Thinking Further” section. It was easy to understand and we found the content Christ-honoring.

Elizabeth Prentiss Timeline

There is also a timeline of significant events from Elizabeth Prentiss’ life included at the back of the book.

It begins with her birth, includes her marriage, her children’s births and deaths, and the family’s travels. The only national event listed on the timeline is the Civil War.

Also included are the dates when Elizabeth’s books were published. Ironically, the hymn, “More Love to Thee” is not on the timeline.  

However, I did a little research and found some interesting information about the hymn.

“Prentiss completed the four stanzas of her hymn in a single evening, but never showed it to anyone for 13 years. Finally, in 1869 the poem appeared in leaflet form and in 1870 was published for the first time in a hymnal, Songs of Devotion for Christian Associations. William Doane (1832-1915), composer of over 2,000 gospel songs including many for Fanny Crosby, provided the music associated with this text.”

Hawn, D., 2019.

Our Overall Opinion

My son said he thinks girls will like the book better than guys. I tend to agree. We also think it will appeal more to middle school through high school students than to the younger students. Not only because of the content, but also because of the style of writing.

I would recommend for students to research and read about Elizabeth Prentiss prior to reading this book in order to understand it better. Quite often, transitions were not used to let the reader know when the setting or time frame had changed. There were a few places where one paragraph talked about a certain time and place, and the next paragraph jumped to a different time and place, without letting the reader know. This caused confusion, especially when using the book as a read-aloud. It may be best if the book were read silently, so the reader could reread the confusing passages, and mentally make the adjustments.  

While expanding the readers’ knowledge of various religious terms and practices, the book stays true to the publisher’s mission of publishing “books by authors who believe in the uniqueness of Christ and the inerrancy of Scripture.”

This book has inspired me to read the book Elizabeth Prentiss wrote, Stepping Heavenward. Even though my son had difficulty relating to her story, I connected with her on several levels. I especially enjoyed reading of her frustrations as a writer and of her desire to encourage others.

Hawn, D. (2019). History of Hymns: “More Love to Thee, O Christ” – umcdiscipleship.org. [online] Umcdiscipleship.org. Available at: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-more-love-to-thee-o-christ [Accessed 17 May 2019].

To see what others on the Homeschool Review Crew have to say about this book, click on the link below:

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Christian Focus Reviews- Elizabeth Prentiss