Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels' Den by Janet & Geoff Benge {A Book Review}

This post contains affiliate links. In our religious curriculum over the last two weeks, we read aloud Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den by Janet & Geoff Benge. This is easily one of my favorite Christian Heroes: Then and Now books that we have read, especially since ten Boom had no plans to be extraordinary. Instead, World War II shaped her in unbelievable ways.

About Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den

For those who don’t know her story, Corrie ten Boom lived in the Netherlands along with her immediate family and aunts. The ten Boom family home was actually two narrow houses connected together. They lived on the top floors, and the bottom floor was where the family watch shop was. Because their house was two houses connected together, they were easily able to build a hiding spot, which they did, to save the Jews that they could after the Nazi invasion.

I had already read the adult version of ten Boom’s story (The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom), and while it is tragic and heartbreaking, it’s also full of hope. I marveled at ten Boom’s resilience and deep, deep faith. While she lost so many of her family members and had to go through great hardship herself to help strangers, she did so. She and her family chose to fight evil. In the end, she even chose to forgive the Nazis.

This version by YWAM is written for children ages 10+. The story is softened a bit compared to ten Boom’s own telling of the story. However, this small change is necessary to accommodate younger readers. Doing this does not take away from the power of ten Boom’s story at all.

My Thoughts

I think every Christian family teaching their children about the Holocaust should read this book. ten Boom was already nearing 50 when she got involved in the Resistance, which I found fascinating. When you think of Resistance activities, you tend to think of younger people. Yet she had no qualms about what she was doing. She was willing to sacrifice her life so that others who were suffering Nazi persecution could live.

The girls and I enhanced our reading of this book by taking a virtual tour of ten Boom’s home. Doing this midway through the book helped us be able to vividly see the places she talked about in the book.

Having said this, I would definitely not read this to children under 10. Mainly that is because, as is to be expected, there is some graphic violence. Those passages were difficult to read.

I give Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den 5 out of 5 stars.

I’d highly recommend these other quality Christian Heroes: Then and Now books we’ve read:

Rachel Saint: A Star in the Jungle

Nate Saint: On a Wing and a Prayer