The Owlings: A Worldview Novella Paperback – November 22, 2014

In the evenings, after dinner and before bedtime, a few nights a week I read to my family. Last year we read three of the seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Our family, however, needed a break from Lewis. And last fall, when a friend of mine shared on Twitter that one of his friends just released the second book in his series of children’s books—books the author called “worldview novellas”—I was intrigued. So I bought both books, and last week our family finished them.The books are The Owlings, Book I and Book II by D.A. DeWitt. DeWitt is the dean of Boyce College (the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary). At Boyce, he teaches courses on worldview, philosophy, apologetics, and C. S. Lewis. He has written several books, most recently, Christ or Chaos (Crossway, 2016). He also blogs regularly at Theolatte.com. (I’d encourage you to check him out; I enjoy his weekly “Weekend Worldview Reader” email).In Book I, we meet a boy named Josiah who has lost his father. He and his mother live on a farm. My children giggled each time Josiah’s mother calls her son, “Sugar booger,” which she did frequently. Josiah and his friend and neighbor, Addi—with the help of four talking owls—work through the prospect of moving, a significant challenge for a young boy. In Book II, more characters are added, including Matt and Megan, and a bully named Cody. (After all, what would a childhood be like without a bully?!)Each book engages a different aspect of an atheistic worldview. In Book I, the issue is naturalism. Josiah has a substitute teacher named Sam (after notable atheist Sam Harris), who teaches the class that “Nature is all that there was, is, and ever will be”—an allusion to Carl Sagan’s famous quote. Through a family struggle, Josiah meets four talking owls who help him learn that there is more to our world than nature; preeminently, there’s a Creator who cares deeply about his creation.In Book II, the issue is—what might be called—scientism. In this view, science is not so much “helper of man,” but rather a god. This story takes place during a field trip to a local museum. It’s here that the museum’s director, Dr. Russell (who is named after famous atheist Bertrand Russell), repeatedly seeks to teach the students that “What science cannot teach us, we cannot know.” Again, with the help of the owls, Josiah learns the limits of scientism, even as he seeks to solve the case of who stole his lunchbox.DeWitt plans to write five books in the series. I’m sure our family will be reading each as they are released.

This is from my 11 year old daughter:The Owlings is a fabulous book about a boy named Josiah, who is being faced with serious and real questions about life, which many others face today. I'm only 11, but in The Owlings, even I can see the great struggle against the beliefs of secular evolution and the People of God. To sum it up, it's is about young Josiah, when his farm is predicted to be destroyed and replaced by a highway. However, the real problem/question is that his temporary history teacher is teaching a new thing, evolution, to the class. To Josiah, this is a strange thing, but with his old life being taken away, it remains a lesser thing in his mind. It gets bigger, however, when 3 mysterious talking owls arrive to tell him what life is really about. The 4th owl is also very important, but in a different way. Josiah, in every way, will make the decision of his life in The Owlings. I like that in this book you get shown how important these decisions really are. America is not a free country in science, even today.

From my 11 (turning 12 year old son): "The owlings is a great inspirational story about world view that will cause young minds to truly feel the mind of main character, Josiah, as he struggles to understand and decide how he should view the world. With society as it is today, it's becoming more and more important to choose the right view for the world at an early age. A shorter but very enjoyable book, readers will be quite pleased with the quality of the read and the thoughts that it provokes."

I read this to my grandchildren ages 10 and 6. They could hardly wait for me to continue each time we stopped reading. We had good discussion and generally loved the whole book.

Well-written little book. I can't like to wait and see what some kiddos in my life think about it.

By far the best resource I've found to begin introducing young readers to a Christian worldview. Simply written and wonderfully engaging. A must buy for parents and pastors seeking to help the next generation navigate the cultural waters that surround them.

Wonderful book. Help your children deal with the pressures of this world as it tries to teach them there is no God.

My kids LOVED this story and are asking for more by the author. Purchase this for your kids. They will love it!