The Man Who Won Without Fighting (Arch Books)

 The Man Who Won Without Fighting
Arch Books
Written by Yvonne Holloway McCall
Illustrated by Vaccaro Associates
Copyright: 1971
Format: Paperback
Status: Not currently in print, but some pre-owned copies are available on ebay
Conclusion: Keep it



It's difficult to tell from the title of this book, but this is the story of Gideon. He's not very well known, and certainly doesn't get a lot of children's books written about him, but I'm glad I found this one.  Arch Books are good if you want a stories about the lesser known people from the Bible. However, I always feel that I need to add a disclaimer before any Arch Book I review.  Read through it carefully.  About half of the Arch Books are great and accurately portray the Bible.  The others, though, aren't nearly as well done and don't stick around my family's personal Bible story library beyond the first reading.  How does this particular book measure up?

The Good Points:

  • This Arch book does stay very true to the Bible. Most of the discrepancies I found were things that were cut in order to make the book shorter.
  • This version includes lots of great details from the Bible, like the specifics of Gideon's request of the Lord regarding the fleece, or the number of men he took to the battle. 
  • This book does a really great job of pointing all the glory at God.  Gideon did that in Bible too (it took me some time to find it because it was in a later chapter, but it's there all the same). 
  • Until I first read this book to my kids, I never realized that Gideon and Midian rhyme!  It was fun to find that.
  • The entire book is written in rhyme, which a lot of children enjoy.
  • The book ends with a letter to the parents. This letter describes how God has his own plans, often contrary to what people would expect. I love how this story and this letter are so explicit at point the glory back to God.

The Discrepancies:

  • The conversation between Gideon and the angel is abbreviated in the Arch book.
  • The book never mentions Gideon going home to prepare an offering, or the offering bursting into flame when the angel touches it.  Nor does it mention the angel disappearing.
  • The Arch book never mentions Gideon tearing down his father's altars to foreign gods, or building his own Altar to the One True God.
  • The book also does not mention that Gideon and his servant sneaked into the Midianite camp to hear the men talking.
  • The only actual discrepancy I could find (beyond things that were cut for length), is that this book claims that God spoke to Gideon directly and give him the plan for defeating the Midian army. In the Bible, Gideon worships the Lord, then tells his men what to do. It does not mention God specifically giving the plan (though it is possible that it happened during his time of worship).
Yes, this is definitely a keeper.  I really enjoy the fact that there are so many good books available (if you can find them) about the more unknown characters of the Bible.  While this specific book isn't available anymore, other more recent Arch books can be purchased directly from the Publisher .  The website says these books are meant for ages 5-9, though they can certainly be read aloud to younger children. I'd suggest ages 3+.



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