King Alfred's English - Laurie J. White

Sub title - A history of the language we speak and why we should be glad we do. This book is described as a light course in the four subject areas of history, English literature, linguistics, and the English Bible. It is designed for students in grades 7-12 and curious adults. The author is a homeschooler and maintains a website www.theshorterword.com that contains worksheets, tests and research activities based on the book. Also included are complimentary websites and resources.
This book is well written, well researched, and turns the history of our language and Bible translation into an interesting topic, even for those that are not history buffs. In fact, my wife who everyone calls the "research queen" was impressed by the amount of research that went into this book.  I enjoyed the combination of history and linguistics as it relates to why we use the words we do. I would recommend this book especially for homeschoolers, and for those that want to go beyond what is normally found in most textbooks.This book is available directly from the shorterword.com, and will be on my recommended homeschool books.

The Treasure of God's Word Celebrating 400 Years of the King James Bible

This book is a celebration of the most popular translation of the Bible for the last 400 years, complied by Jack Countryman.  It is in a leather-like cover with gold edges, and could be presented as a gift book with a presentation page in the front. There are articles on origins, apocrypha, the translation process, revisions and influence of the KJV. Most of the book is made up of verses from the version broken down into catagories. I was a little concerned that two of the articles had been adapted from wikipedia. Although the facts seem to be correct, I would have like to have seen a more reliable source for research.

I can remember the King James Version being the one that I grew up with in church, hearing it read and memorizing verses. It was the most popular version, and still is in many circles. I realize now that many people did not have that kind of exposure to it, having so many other versions to choose from now. This book could be a nice gift to many of them. Many others who are familiar with the version, but not familiar with the history behind it would also enjoy it.