Disclaimer: I received all 3 of these books from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
This year I received 3 catholic books for children to review. I love to give books as gifts and Catholic kids books can be hard to find. Since Christmas is fast approaching, I thought I would share these for your shopping pleasure :).
Catholic Book For the Littles
Faith Filled Lullabies With Big Al and Annie. This is a hardcover book with an audio cd of the songs in the book. There are a mixture of new songs by Cathy Pescario and Fr. Joe Kempf and traditional sacred folksongs. If you’ve ever watched The Grinch with Jim Carrey, the songs remind me of the song “Where Are You Christmas?” They are very mellow, but beautiful…truly lullabies, yet they also have reminders of classic hymns in them. My newborn son seemed to enjoy them when I played them. The book has cute illustrations on one page & the other side includes the lyrics to the song.
While it’s a cute book and it was nice to have the lyrics, I can’t see myself reading it at all. If you listened to the CD enough and knew the tunes, you could sing a page & use it to start discussions as the child grew. Faith Filled Lullabies would make a nice baptism or new baby gift.
Catholic Book For the Middles
Forever You. Forever You is the debut book of Nicole Lataif who has been writing poetry since she was a child. My 3 year-old daughter loved this book, in part, I think, due to the repetition. I had mixed feelings about it.
Here is an example of a page of the book:
Your soul shows through in what you like.
Your mind dreams of ice cream.
Your heart hopes for three scoops.
Your hands reach for the cone.
Your mouth smiles–that was yum!
I like the subject, but as a reader, it felt a bit disjointed to me. Some parts had really nice rhythm & even rhymed. But other parts just didn’t read aloud as nicely. I liked the refrain, if you could call it that —
Your soul is in all you are and do–soul and body, forever you.
I would consider this book to be good for maybe ages 3-7, perhaps? My oldest is almost 6 and she’s not a fan, but she can be picky. I imagine it would be a good conversation starter for up to first communion age or so.
Catholic Books For Big Kids
Holy Crocodile!: Stories of Saints and the Animals Who Helped Them. Holy Crocodile is, as the subtitle implies, a books about saints and animals. It’s not quite a picture book, but its not a chapter book either. I’m not sure what the intended age range for this book is, but my 5 and 3 year old daughters really enjoyed this book. I would imagine that it would be enjoyed by all ages.
The stories in Holy Crocodile were drawn from Roman Catholic, Coptic & the Orthodox traditions and so there were a lot of new stories and saints in it. My girls liked the stories about animals and the illustrations. The pictures seemed to have been done in pen & were rich and colorful and a pleasure to look at. I loved that the stories were short (usually 1 page) AND that they were learning about the saints and our faith.
Holy Crocodile! is one of those books that would appeal to Catholics & non-Catholics alike because they feel almost like fables. They never call them saints within the stories and they aren’t overtly Catholic. If you have an animal-lover, this would be a great book to buy them for Christmas, or anytime.
Read about more Catholic children’s books:
- My Favorite Catholic Children’s Books (@CatholicMom)
- Dragon Slayers {Book Review}
- Catholic Children’s Treasure Box {Book Review}
- Simon and the Easter Miracle {Book Review}
What are your kids favorite Catholic picture books?
Nicole Lataif
15 November 2013 at 12:03 PM (10 years ago)Great, thanks for the quick-fix (especially considering you have a 4-month old! wow!)! I hadn’t seen a book like this on the market either and felt it was important to explain the soul to Christian children. My second book will be released next summer on the topic of forgiveness. “I Forgive You: Love You Can Hear, Ask For and Give” is similar in tone to Forever You, but uses more complex concepts and is a bit shorter in length. I am taking a picture book writing course at the moment and we are learning about rhyme! Hopefully, my third book will either be entirely in prose or offer perfect read-aloud rhyme! Thanks again for your feedback and for recommending my book!
Nicole Lataif´s last blog post ..4 Ways to Teach Kindness to “Rough-and-Tumble” Boys!
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jen
15 November 2013 at 11:30 AM (10 years ago)Thanks for visiting! I fixed the quotes…its amazing how much gets messed up when a 4 month old likes to help :). Thank you for writing a book like this for kids; I’ve never seen one on body & soul like this before.
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Nicole Lataif
15 November 2013 at 10:55 AM (10 years ago)Hi Jen!
Thank you for reviewing my book, “Forever You: A Book About Your Soul and Body!” I am glad to hear that your 3 year old loved the book. I also appreciate your feedback about the “read-aloud” factor of the book.
I’d like to correct a few misquotes (not a big deal, but important). The first quote should say, “Your soul shows through in what you like…” The second quote should say, “”Your soul is in all you are and do, soul and body-forever you!”
God bless you and thank you for all you do for families and kids!
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