Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Children's Book Review: Light for the World


About the Book:

Written and illustrated for your entire family, this softcover book explains Catholic traditions and feast days that we celebrate throughout the seasons of Advent and Christmas.

My Comments:
As Catholics, we celebrate the liturgical year, which has its own seasons and celebrations.  Light for the World takes us through the seasons of Advent and Christmas, touching on feast days, prayers and traditions.  Feasts discussed include the Annunciation, St. Francis Xavier, St. Nicholas (of course!), the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. John of the Cross, Christmas, St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, The Holy Innocents, The Holy Family, Mary the Mother of God, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Neumann,  Epiphany and the Baptism of Our Lord.  Traditions that are explained include the Advent Wreath, the Advent Calendar, the Nativity Scene, the Jesse Tree, the "O" Antiphons, filling stockings, presents and King Cake.  

The pages about the feast days give short stories about the feast or the celebrated saint and they often include prayers.  The Feast of the Holy Innocents page includes the following prayer;

Prayer for the Dignity of Human Life

Lord and giver of all life, 
help us to value each person
created in love by you.

In your mercy, guide and assist our efforts
to promote the dignity and value of all human life,
born and unborn.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

The book has an Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat from the Bishop of Green  Bay, Wisconsin.  Scripture quotes are from the NRSV.

While marketed as a children's book, I see it as a book for family use.  I think there is too much text and that some of the words are too advanced for young children, such that giving them the book would not be using it to its full potential.  Grade:  B.  

I'd like to thank Catholic Word for sending me a review copy of the book.  Catholic Word describes itself as " a one-stop resource for leading programs and religious titles from over 35 top Catholic publishers. For over 15 years, Catholic Word has built a reputation based on quality, personal relationships and a devotion to excellence in service."  The mission they espouse is "to build up the Church one soul at a time through top quality Catholic materials and resources. Wherever a person is on their faith journey, we offer real help to taking the next step closer to God. Our motto is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reason."  They claim to be "100% faithful to the teachings of the Magisterium".  

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you about it being a family book. I have forgotten much of my Catholic roots. A simple picture book like this one would give me an easy explanation to all the things that were so valuable to the first 11 years of my life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with you about it being a family book. I have forgotten much of my Catholic roots. A simple picture book like this one would give me an easy explanation to all the things that were so valuable to the first 11 years of my life.

    ReplyDelete


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