The Warrior’s Challenge

Title: The Warrior’s Challenge
Author: Dave & Neta Jackson
Series: Trailblazer Books
Major Themes: David Zeisberger, Frontier Life, Indians, Moravians, Native Americans, Ohio, Pennsylvania
Synopsis: A young Moravian Indian boy, Joseph, travels with his people and David Zeisberger from Pennsylvania to a new home in Ohio, and must choose, along the way, whether to stay with his people or go with the Mohegan warrior who wants to lure him back to the old Indian way of life.

My children have always enjoyed the Trailblazer series. Though sometimes they can seem formulaic, they are exciting stories with a valuable lesson, as well as an introduction to a historical person. In The Warrior’s Challenge, the historical person is David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary to the Indians.

Young Joseph Shabosh was excited to be moving with his village from Pennsylvania to Ohio. The long journey on foot through the wilderness would be one grand adventure for the healthy teenager, and he hoped his father would allow him to hunt along the way. His best friend David, on the other hand, found the journey hard and painful. A cripple since the day a mob had ripped him from the arms of his Indian mother, he couldn’t move anywhere without help.

Joseph was thrilled when his father allowed him to join a hunt for the first time. He found himself very confused, though, by a Mohegan warrior who followed the band of Moravian Indians. Who was right: Joseph’s father and David Zeisberger, or Opeechee the warrior? Surely the warrior’s life, living in the wilderness and hunting all the time, was much better than farming. David could see a different side of the picture, however, and did his best to keep his friend from making a rash decision.

This is a good story on several levels. We primarily read it for the historical aspect of an introduction to David Zeisberger, but the life lessons are very good for a young person, too. And it’s a good, clean adventure story that any boy will love!

No warnings!

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Hostage on the Nighthawk The Christmas Surprise A Drop of Mercy Abandoned on the Wild Frontier