The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X: A Review

THE YELLOW STAR: THE LEGEND OF KING CHRISTIAN X OF DENMARK: by Carmen Agra Deedy, Illustrated by Henri Sorensen

Deedy, C. (2000).  The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark. Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta.

The Yellow Star has as a subtitle The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark because the story of the Danish King's act of defiance against Nazi tyranny is just that: a legend.  It is a story that has been told often but which has no historic basis.  It's an apocryphal story but despite that, The Yellow Star's purpose was not to be historically accurate in that respect.  The overlying message about the importance of personal courage and the truth about the commonality of individuals is what mattered most.

King Christian X is beloved by the Danes.  He rides on his horse through the streets of the capital, Copenhagen, without armed escort.  This astounds foreigners but they are told that all Danes would guard their monarch. 

However, Denmark has fallen under the Nazi reign of terror.  They first decide to install the Nazi flag above the palace.  His Majesty orders it taken down.  When told by the Nazi official that if any soldier the King sends takes it down, that soldier will be shot, His Majesty replies that they better be prepared to execute King Christian X, for HE will be said soldier. 

The Nazi flag never flew above the palace again.

This is a small victory, but a greater battle is coming.  The Nazis have ordered that all Danish Jews wear the yellow star that distinguishes them from their Gentile neighbors.  The King is worried: he does not want the Jewish Danes marked, but there is no way the Danish Army can take a stand.  While walking on the balcony and observing the stars, an idea comes to him.  Summoning the royal tailor, he instructs him to make a small alteration to the royal uniform.

The next day, His Majesty King Christian X of Denmark takes his daily ride...wearing a yellow Star of David upon his uniform.  The defiant Danes, following His Majesty's example, all wear the yellow star, Jew and Gentile alike.  They are all one people. 

Where I think The Yellow Star kind of missed the mark was at the actual climatic moment: when His Majesty took his traditional morning horse ride through Copenhagen after the edict requiring Jews to wear the Yellow Star.  Here is this great moment, in fact THE moment in The Yellow Star, and illustrator Sorensen all but hides the yellow star on His Majesty's uniform.  Yes, you can see it, but it is almost hidden by the horse's ear.  Furthermore, the King is seen almost at a distance, while his people take a gander at their king and his new threads.

I wonder, was that a deliberate decision on both Sorensen and Deedy's part?  The text itself doesn't specifically state that the King wore a yellow star through the streets of Copenhagen.  It just remarks on his "courage and defiance" and how he was dressed in "his finest clothing".  Maybe the point wasn't to draw attention to it.  Maybe we as the reader are suppose to get just enough information without having it put up front. 

However, since the entire point of The Yellow Star is to discuss the legendary (and in all likelihood, false) story of the King who defied the Nazis, I do wonder why the most pivotal moment in the book was given a bit of a short-shrift.

However, the actual book is quite good.  It is targeted towards children, and it is both respectful of the Holocaust without having to go into detail about the true horror of the Shoah.   We see this when in the story, the Danes are reflecting on the "terrible stories" about Jews in other countries.  It is the only section where instead of vibrant colors, we get sepia tones.  This panel also shows other barbarisms, like Kristallnacht, without making comment on it. 

I think children will draw what information is required (the Jews were brutalized during this time), but the writer and illustrator were right in holding back the more gruesome aspects.  First, such information is really too brutal for children.  Second, the story itself doesn't focus on the Holocaust itself, but on the actions of the Danish people and in particular their King, during the war.

The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark, is a well-written story, with simple words that children will understand.  It has some beautiful illustrations and tells its story simply, directly, with just enough detail to trust the reader to understand the wrongness of the Nazi action and the courage of both the Danes and their monarch.   

Carmen Agra Deedy

Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury: A Review

Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury

1.      Biographical Information

Kingsbury, K. (2013).  Fifteen Minutes. Howard Books (division of Simon & Schuster).

ISBN 978-1-4516-4705-1

2. Summary

Zack Dylan is a good Christian young adult (age 23) who has spent his life on a horse farm in Kentucky.  He’s engaged with Reese, a girl who works as an equine therapist (using horses to treat children with developmental issues).  They are completely committed to each other.  Zack lives with his two parents, Grandpa Dan, and two younger siblings, his brother Duke and his sister AJ, who has Down syndrome.  Zack’s family is going through financial difficulties, and this is a motivational factor for him to try out for Fifteen Minutes, an American Idol/Voice-type show.  His genre is country, not gospel or Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), but he will use Fifteen Minutes as a platform to share the Gospel.  Zack also insists Fifteen Minutes will not change him.  Needless to say, his time on the show does change him.  He soon attracts the attention of the judges and of a fellow contestant, Zooey Davis, who while only 18 has fallen hard for the handsome Zack.  He doesn’t encourage Zooey’s attention but doesn’t discourage it strongly either.  Their relationship gets confusing for Zack: sometimes friendship, sometimes romantic.  Reese and Zack’s family can only watch as his appearances on Fifteen Minutes shift him into someone slowly being corrupted by fame.  Also watching is Chandra Olson, one of the judges and a former Fifteen Minutes winner.  She is haunted by what success has done to her.  Chandra believes she is now in the prison of fame and regrets going on Fifteen Minutes, which was responsible for much tragedy in her life.  Another judge, Kelly Morgan, has drifted from her Christian upbringing and become obsessed with staying and looking young, and her marriage has come undone. While Kelly has an open affair with a womanizer ten years younger, her husband and children are waiting, as is her father, a pastor dying of cancer.  Zack’s slow descent affects everyone in his circle, some for good, some not. However, what in the end is the cost of Zack’s Fifteen Minutes, and will he find his way back home (metaphorically and literally)?

3.      Comparison of Characteristics

Fifteen Minutes falls squarely within the boundaries of Christian fiction.  The story centers on how Zach has wandered away from his love of Christ to compromise his beliefs and principles and how, after a ‘dark night of the soul’ where he loses the girl he loves and becomes a stranger to his family, he finds the only really important thing in life is his relationship with Jesus Christ.  Similarly, while Kelly does not end up returning to her Christian roots, she does appear to be drifting in that direction.  Kingsbury also stays strictly within boundaries when it comes to the Zack and Zooey relationship. It is a very tame romance and Kingsbury does have Zack and Zooey come dangerously close to indulging in the pleasures of the flesh but pulls back. There is kissing but it stops before it can go into actual sex.  Some readers may be surprised at how strong the near-seduction of Zack is, but his stopping before it can go deeper reaffirms the Christian view of no sex outside marriage.

4. My Reaction

In a case of ‘he doth protest too much’, every time Zack said a variation of ‘Fame isn’t going to change me’, I smirked.  When that gets repeated a lot, you KNOW fame IS going to change him.  Fifteen Minutes starts a bit heavy-handed in its portrayal of the almost saintly Zack (perfect soul, perfect body, and perfect voice) to where you almost want him to fail.  Reese too starts out as a girl who finds it rational to give up an opportunity to work in London, doing what she loves, to stay with her man (especially since he pleads for her not to go).  However, as the story moves you start to see how Zack could begin to shift so quickly and how fast the show took over his life.  The major characters become real: Zack’s realization that he’s strayed from his core beliefs, Reese’s realization that Zack isn’t who he thought he was, Kelly’s that being ‘perfect’ isn’t as important as being ‘good’.  The minor characters still annoyed me (AJ and Grandpa Dan were one-dimensional and only there for emotional reaction and moralizing), and there are questions about Zack’s intelligence.  Why didn’t he tell Zooey he wasn’t interested in the beginning?  Why didn’t he seek what is called an ‘accountability partner’ (someone he can turn to when facing temptations)?  Fifteen Minutes mentions at least one contestant who wasn’t changed and remained Christian, though he was mentioned at the end.  This both undercuts Kingsbury’s idea (fame corrupts even the strongest and show-business is no place for real Christians) and makes me wonder if the other character was so open and true, why didn’t Zack turn to him?  However, by the end Kingsbury manages to have us genuinely care about the characters because they start becoming real.  We see this especially in Kelly’s journey because her problems (failing marriage, difficulties with disapproving and dying parents, balancing home and work) seem more realistic than Zack trying to be a superstar and forgetting his Lord.  It wasn’t a bad read, apart from a clunky beginning.

5. Comparison to Other Genres

Christian readers I think will enjoy Fifteen Minutes.  It reaffirms the idea that one must stay true to one’s faith, and seeing Zack’s redemption after he slips from his faith is an interesting and optimistic journey. Fifteen Minutes might qualify as a romance since the love story between Zack and Reese is a major part of the plot.