Member Reviews
The Loyola Kids Book of Seasons, Feasts, and Celebrations is a good resource for children who are interested in learning more about the Catholic faith. The book is written in a clear and engaging style, and the activities are both fun and educational. The stories are especially helpful in bringing the liturgical year to life for children.
I received a free copy of, Loyola Kids Book of Seasons, Feasts and Celebrations, by Amy Welborn, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a great book for families to learn about Catholic seasons, feats, and celebrations. Everyone thinks about Easter and Christmas as the main celebrations for Catholics but we have much ,ore, and this book explains them, in easy to understand ways. The book explains things children will see, hear, sing, and pray about. I really enjoyed this book.
As a kid, it can be difficult to sit quietly and listen in church if you don’t understand what’s going on and why. <i>Loyola Kids Book of Seasons, Feasts and Celebrations</i> provides insight into the church’s calendar of celebrations, from events in Jesus’ life to the feasts of Mary and the saints. Author Mary Welborn explains how Sunday services revolve around readings, prayers, and songs chosen specifically for each liturgical season. She tells how to use your senses to experience the mass, from checking the vestment and flower colors to expressions conveyed through music. She also includes how other cultures, countries, and the Eastern church may have different ways of celebrating holy days. Welborn also chooses a variety of saints days, from Lily of the Mohawks (July 14) and Joan d’Arc (May 30) to All Saints Day (November 1), All Souls Day (November 2), and Dias de la Muertos (November 1 and 2). The book closes with major Jewish feast days. Loyola Press offers more titles in the Loyola Kids Book series that complements this one.
Prerelease book provided by NetGalley and Loyola Press for review consideration.
A very informative book on the Catholic liturgical seasons, feasts, and celebrations. It's a good book to have for teachers, parents, or catechists who may want to read and get more background knowledge before teaching their students/children. I feel like younger children themselves may get a bit bored with the layout of the book- having some reflection activities or some ways for children to engage with the materials would help.
A great addition to your Catholic library whether you homeschool or not. The explanations of major feasts, celebrations and holy days of obligation are clearly explained for older kids. Would make a great first communion or confirmation gift!
This is great guide for kids to Sunday mass, feast days and other liturgical celebrations. The book is broken down by liturgical seasons and provides details as to what the season means and what can be expected at mass during these seasons. There are also some important feast days listed out. It's a nice, quick and general as to what might be expected from the lived experience.
pros:
breaks things down in an organized easy-to-read format. While the list of feasts in the back of the book is small it did give a wider focus on the different feasts to celebrate during the year. If you are looking for a simple breakdown of how the church organizes its calender this book would be a good place to start.
cons:
While this book had a lot of information, it is lacking action. Today's parent needs simple, practical ways to help develop their child's personal relationship and that is not found in this book. It is also disappointing that a book that focuses on explaining the liturgical year has zero pictures of the liturgical calendar.
Christian Holidays
This is a very good book for parents and various other authoritative people to teach children about the Liturgical year holidays and celebrations. This book explains the meaning of each holiday, along with what they can expect to do, see, the songs to be sung, prayers, and other pertinent activities.
Each holiday season is discussed thoroughly, especially Lent and the Christmas season. The Easter season is another one of my favorite holiday season, mainly because it represents how our Lord and savior died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected on the third day so that we may have eternal salvation, just by having faith in him.
This is an amazing teaching aid for parents.
If you are looking for a book on liturgical seasons, feasts, and celebrations this book is for you! It has a great amount of details and is written for children to understand. Each entry includes what children will do or pray while they celebrate so youth can be prepared and understand what they are doing.
There's so much beauty in the liturgical calendar. I was hoping that this was about the actual calendar but it's more about Catholic masses and how Catholics must celebrate them.
As someone who has done all those ritualistic works, I'm so glad to finally see the freedom of God's grace and what the fullness of scripture says about how we are to worship.
I'm guessing that Catholics would like this book but there's more about the rituals and the faith in them than the actual call of worship.
Jesus' sacrifice isn't made present during mass. The definition of present is "in a particular place; existing or occurring now." Jesus's sacrifice was once. It was sufficient for what it accomplished. There's no need to pretend to resacrifice our savior all over the world all weekend.
A candle to remind people that Jesus is present denies scripture. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. (Mark 16:19). The Holy Spirit dwells in those that are believers. And if Jesus is only present in mass, how is God omnipresent? None of the claims are consistent with what God's word says.
Great for RE lessons this book is well written and informative. Ideal for ks2 children. Has a Catholic bias but it clearly states that from the start.
Even though a person may not be a Roman Catholic (RC), this book delineating the Liturgical Calendar Year of their beliefs, explaining the major Seasons, Feasts and Celebrations of their year, for children, it is of great interest. It appears well thought out with step-by-step spelling out regarding Advent, Christmas, Easter, Ordinary Days, their many saints, and more, in simple, succinct manner.
I believe any child, along with his or her parents, would be able to follow the seasons well, and understand the significance in hands-on style as each section maps out the history and what the congregant will hear, pray, see, sing and do, throughout each of the celebrations and relating rituals. Whoever sincerely follows along will be thoroughly catechized in satisfying solemnity and religious education.
I found this work fascinating and learned a lot despite not being an adherent to the RC beliefs. I believe that those families of the RC faith will definitely love this very helpful handbook.
~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~
October 2022
Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent by NetGalley and the Publisher.
I really loved the layout of this book. The way that the chapters are split up into the things that children will hear, sing, and do is amazing preparation for the feast days that they will experience. I wish it was more of a picture book than a read a loud book, but that’s just my preference will smaller children.
With no description and only the cover to go by, I was expecting this to be a picture book for young kids, with bold colours and illustrations..
It is actually a much longer, more in-depth book for slightly older children, talking about important dates and celebrations in Christianity. The tone is very pleasant and welcoming.