Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key by S.D. Smith & J.C. Smith
A half-Appalachian, half-African kid wants something more than what he can find in his tiny 1980s rural West Virginia town. But when he discovers a gateway to a city connecting to twelve different realms, it sets him out on a surprising adventure that shows him where he truly belongs.
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LJR’s Thoughts on Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key
Jack Zulu is the first in a new series by S.D Smith (author of The Green Ember series) and his son, J.C. Smith and the end clearly leaves you wanting more. It’s Narnia-esque with the gateway to a city which leads to other realms. In this case, it isn’t just one new land, but twelve! I love the relationship with Jack and his mom and Jack’s best friend, Benny may be my favorite character.
I rated this 5 out of 5 because it calls good, “good” and it calls bad, “bad.” The story is moving and exciting and everything our fantasy/adventure-loving family enjoys. We’re going to hold off on it a little because some of the battle scenes might be a little much and it does have mention of a crush (although the story doesn’t lead to romance and is handled well).
The one thing I had a hard time with (because sometimes I’m weird this way) is that we have a different realm while obviously also taking place in our reality with our God being in charge. I imagine it’s to represent the spiritual world and if I get to chat with S.D. and J.C. Smith one day, I would certainly love to chat about this some more (as a reader and an author).
If you’re looking for a great new series to introduce to your tweens and teens, Jack Zulu is the one.
Overall Rating: 4.9 out of 5
Morals/Values: 5 out of 5
Story: 4.75 out of 5
Read-Aloud Value: 4.75 out of 5
Discussion Value: 5 out of 5
Considerations for Jack Zulu
In our usual LJR fashion, we try to find anything that Christian families may want to know about ahead of time to address, skip, or dig deeper into. Take a look at what we found below. Our take on Discipleship Opportunities is at the bottom of the review.
- Positive Behavior: Jack and his friends are loyal to each other. The friendship between Jack and another female character doesn’t turn into another story with a teen romance. Jack and his friends all go to church. Jack’s friend always tells his parents what he’s up to and where he’s going saying “We have a relationship of trust and I ain’t breakin’ it”
- Negative Behavior: Jack opens a box that belongs to someone else without permission because his friend bets him $1; characters lie to parents about spending the night out at friend’s house when they’re really somewhere else
- Language: Shut up; “you’re a clown”; insults from heroes and villains from weight to intellect; “stupid”; “creeps”
- Violence/Intense Scenes: a character’s mom is sick with cancer in the hospital and things are not looking good; Monster fights where a monster’s arm is severed and another time where someone is seriously injured during a fight and needs immediate medical attention; mention of past wars and execution of bad guys (morality of it is not agreed upon in movie); a character’s sibling has died (before the start of the story)
- Religion/Spirituality: Jack and his friends go to church; mention of the “witching hour” referencing the time of day; characters pray for another’s sick mother; mention of “Dark spells” being used; mention of a character dabbling in witchcraft but it’s seen as a bad thing by the main characters; characters attend a Halloween party but dressed as book characters and The Karate Kid
- Racism/Discrimination: some different mentions of Jack (and his dad) being African but it’s not a main plot line in the story
- Romance/Sexuality: characters are not quite 13 and mention of a crush that runs throughout the book but doesn’t become a romance; at a school dance, one character mentions they don’t have to pair up, they can just go have fun together
Discipleship Opportunities
- Jack has a constant longing to leave Myrtle, WV. C.S. Lewis describes this in Mere Christianity (in graphic above). But the Bible also talks about this in many places but specifically in Philippians 3:20-21.
- When a character says he would be praying all the time when he was worried, he is told it wouldn’t be the worst thing. The Bible talks about praying without ceasing in many places. A few are Romans 12:12, 1 Thessolonians 5:17; Luke 18:1
- A character says “I know that one thing is true. I’m not the one who controls things, and the one who does knows better than you and me.” Address God’s sovereignty as well as his benevolence. Check out Romans 11:33 but also Isaiah 55:9 regarding the comment about the one who knows better.
- Discrimination is mentioned often enough that it’s definitely worth discussing. Discussions revolving around all humans being image-bearers (Genesis 1:26-27) as well as not showing favoritism/partiality (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, and Ephesians 6:9) are great places to start.
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