Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Recently I received an invitation from Aquinas & More to review Mother Mary: God’s Gift to You. Mr. Rutherford felt so strongly about this unknown gem that he offered several review copies.
Mother Mary is a Marian catechism that follows the Parable of Willy Wheat. You might be able to do it without reading the Willy Wheat book, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It wouldn’t make much sense. I did purchase the Willy Wheat book after a quick read of Mother Mary and I don’t think the girls would have understood as well without it. You can purchase them individually in hardcover or paperback or as a hardcover set.
The Mother Mary book came with a small pouch of wheat, a small rosary & a scapular to be used in the lessons. The book itself is a large hardcover divided into 4 chapters. We covered a chapter a week, on Sundays. The first chapter told about how Jesus lives within us and in order to be like like him, we need to change & grow. The second was about the Rosary. The last two are about Mary and how she intercedes for us (think Consecreation to Jesus through Mary for Kids). The illustrations were very colorful (think markers with hand-drawn pictures) and chapters were color-coded. The ONLY thing I disliked was the font; I detest comic sans. The typography book I read once was bad news for me :). I now analyze every font I see.
Mother Mary is intended for all ages and it truly was. Obviously my 1 year old doesn’t understand it, but I was amazed at how much my 3 year old got. She talks about Jesus being inside us every. single. day. The chapters were very simple, repetitive (good for young kids) and in easy to understand language. Each chapter had some questions and a place to draw something. Between the physical items, the questions & the pictures, every learning style was hit. Each chapter also included copious quotes from saints with a devotion to Mary.
Overall, Mother Mary was very simple & well done, yet somehow quite profound. It didn’t take long to do and we didn’t do the drawing activities, but my 3 year old really got into it. My 6 year old is a little harder–very cerebral :). You never know how much she is turning things over until she mentions something months later. It was a good resource and we will be purposefully getting it out again in a year or two when The Little Man is old enough to understand it.
