Title: The Christmas Mystery Written by: Jostein Gaarder (author of Sophie’s World) Published by: Orion Children’s Books Useful for: parents of children aged 7–11 years old Best bit: The story is clever and beautiful, mysterious and fascinating, a treat for adults and children alike, with 24 chapters exploring the birth of Jesus, making it perfect … Read more
Wrap up 24 Christmas-y books then unwrap and read one a day during Advent. All you need to do is collect* and wrap up 24 Christmas books and number them 1—24. Open one a day and share together. I found seven Christmas books for £5.80 in three of my local charity/ secondhand book shops, so … Read more
Title: Mother God Author: Teresa Kim Pecinovsky Illustrator: Khoa Le Published by: Beaming Books Price: Available from Blackwells from £8.26 (March 2023) Good for: The pages are majority illustrations with small sections of text, so great for children aged 3 to 7, but I will be reading this with my children who are 9 and … Read more
Faithful Families for Lent, Easter and Resurrection Title: Faithful Families for Lent, Easter and Resurrection Author: Traci Smith Published by: Chalice Press Price: £9.59 Best for: families looking for simple, spiritual ways to mark Lent and Easter together Best bit: by focusing on spiritual practice, Traci gives us a great range of options to try, while … Read more
Title: At home in Lent Written by: Gordon Giles Published by: BRF Price: £8.99 Useful for: young people and adults Best bit: a simple, daily three page read for each day in Lent, each taking a different every-day item as its theme Worst bit: as a big fan of audio books, I’d love an audio version to … Read more
Title: Dave the Donkey Author and Illustrator: Andrew McDonough Published by: Malcolm Down Price: £5.99 Useful for: children age 3-8 Best bit: Fun re-telling of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, death and resurrection from the view point of the Palm Sunday donkey! Worst bit: Very fast re-telling, with few details of the Easter story – for … Read more
We’ve celebrated Passover in our home for a number of years now, and each year it’s different, as we adapt it around who will be there. We tend to have a big feast-like meal interspersed with parts of the service (seder). We include elements which we use each week in our Shabbat meal, for example … Read more
It’s sticker activity book, so it’s got limited uses? Really?! How about these 10 ideas of things you could do with A GodVenture through the life of Jesus: Use it with your family for 12 weeks, using one page each week. Use it with your family during the summer holidays Lent, starting at page 16 (Passover) which gives you … Read more
Updated February 2022 Easter is a harder story to tell than the Christmas story, but such a vital one, as it is central to our faith. There’s so much detail, so many layers of meaning and relevance, it can be hard to know what to leave in and what to leave out. For under 5s, … Read more
I used to think spirituality wasn’t a Christian thing. It seemed a bit of a diversion from or dilution of Christian faith. However, when I read Rebecca Nye’s book Childrens’ Spirituality – what it is and why it matters over, I began to realise that spirituality is at the heart of faith. Without it, all … Read more
Title: How to pray – a guide for young explorers Author: Pete Greig and Gemma Hunt Illustrator: Patrick Laurent Published by: Hodder Price: RRP £10.99 available from Eden for £8.36 Good for: Children, young people and adults age 7+ especially those who like visually interesting books and not big blocks of text Best bit: Brilliant internal design … Read more
I love mini-books! They are so cute and so quick and very satisfying to make. I recently made this rainbow set for a group of 12 children. It only took me about an hour and only used paper, card and staples. I have a lot of mini-books, both ones I’ve bought and ones I’ve made. … Read more