The Fourth Wise Man (based on the story by Henry Van Dyke) retold by Susan Summers

The Fourth Wise Man-based on the story by Henry Van Dyke
retold by Susan Summers and illustrated by Jackie Morris

I chose this as a controversial book because of it not only its religious theme, but also the idea of there being a fourth wise man instead of only three. This was the first time I have heard of this account of there being another wiseman, but regardless of religious belief I think this is a great story. The 'other wiseman', Artaban, was supposed to meet up with the other 3 men to take gifts to the one they believed was the King of Kings. But when he was on his way to meet them he gets stopped by different events where he had to help people. The other men continue on without him. In the traditional account of the 3 wise man, the men encounter Jesus as a baby and offer their precious gifts. But with Artaban, he continues to seek where Jesus would be and doesn't discover him until he is about to be crucified. What I really enjoy about this story is when Artaban is stopped along the way in his journey, he helps people regardless of their race, family, or economic status. I thought it was a great story about humility as well. I thought the illustrations were very culturally relevant to that time period and I also like the way the pages and text were set up. The pictures and illustrations took up most of the room and the text is set off to the side of the page so more can be visualized about the story.