This easy-to-read chap­ter book teach­es chil­dren about the his­to­ry of King David, how he rose to pow­er, and some of his many stu­pen­dous achievements.

Young David shep­herd­ed his fam­i­ly’s flock. In order to save them from preda­to­ry lions, he prac­ticed his sling­shot skills until he became pro­fi­cient and could accu­rate­ly aim a stone. When his peo­ple, the Israelites, went to war against the Philistines, their war­riors were afraid of Goliath, an impos­ing Philis­tine giant, who was might­i­er than any of the Israelite sol­diers. No one was will­ing to fight Goliath, intim­i­dat­ed as they were by his size and strength. David told King Saul that he would defend his peo­ple from the giant. With courage and the judi­cious use of his sling­shot, he pre­vailed, slay­ing the giant and sav­ing his peo­ple. He sub­se­quent­ly befriend­ed the king’s son, Jonathan, and lat­er became the king of Israel. He wrote poet­ry and songs in God’s hon­or and designed a mag­nif­i­cent, state­ly Tem­ple in Jerusalem, which was lat­er built by his son, Solomon.

The sto­ry of King David is pre­sent­ed clear­ly and dra­mat­i­cal­ly, with col­or illus­tra­tions that are rem­i­nis­cent of ancient times and his­tor­i­cal events. An after­word reminds chil­dren to prac­tice and pre­serve their skills: if David had­n’t dili­gent­ly prac­ticed his sling­shot, and if he had­n’t per­fect­ed his musi­cal tal­ents, he would not have made his­to­ry and become the role mod­el he is today. Young read­ers will appre­ci­ate and long remem­ber this appeal­ing intro­duc­tion to bib­li­cal stories.