#9 Vinegar Boy by Alberta Hawse

This is a story appropriate to read to older children as a family during the Easter season. It is the fiction account of a young orphan boy who is in charge of carrying the pain killing concoction that is offered to men who are being executed on crosses.

Vinegar Boy has heard of the teacher who is able to heal and hopes to see him and ask for the healing of an ugly birthmark covering half of his face. Instead, he finds out that Jesus is one of the three being crucified, and he thinks it is too late for his own healing.

Vinegar Boy, (who has no other name,) interacts with John the fisherman and young John Mark as well as Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jesus. He also has a fictional encounter with Barabas, the thief who was let go in Jesus place.

This book was one that was assigned by my monthly book club and turned out to be a quick and enjoyable read. It transports the reader into the Roman culture and what it must have been like the week that Jesus died and rose again. ( )