Saints. They are great gifts to us to show us how to grow closer to God. I love trying to share with my son about the saints and I recently received two books that were helpful. They are aptly named Saints For Girls: A First Book For Little Catholic Girls and Saints For Boys: A First Book For Little Catholic Boys.
My son was naturally inclined to read the book for boys first. The cover art looked like something from the 1950s. I thought that was sweet, but the actual book was obviously new. As I opened the book and started reading to my son, I had to do a double-take. The artwork and the language is from an era gone by. My son giggled when I read "Holy Ghost" instead of "Holy Spirit." The stories were perfect for my four-year old. They were short and succinct and focused on the saints as children and focused on simple virtues.
My son didn't want to read about just one saint at a time and after two nights, we were through with Saints For Boys and he didn't blink an eye and asked to read Saints For Girls. He also enjoyed reading about those saints. I think with the simple cover art and the simple language, he felt like he could relate to these simple stories about saints. From my adult perspective, how anyone is able to sum up St. Dominic or St. Francis in a couple pages would be a daunting task. The saints' lives contain such rich material! The author was able to succinctly cover saints and make the reader want to learn more.
At the end of each book are several prayers, and a background on the prayers. I actually learned a little in this section, some new classic prayers and a different way to look at familiar prayers.
I think there's a certain attractiveness in separating Saints For Boys and Saints For Girls, not in trying to make our children gender-identify or anything in the political terms today, but for how children look at each other: my son "grouped" his friends into "boys" and "girls" when he was less than 3. Children notice differences and they identify there are differences. While these books were originally written a while ago, they are still valid today and still have something good to offer. I would recommend, whether your family has boys or girls, getting both books as they both have something to offer little boys and little girls in their journey to learning more about their faith.
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Copyright 2018 Meg Herriot This article contains Amazon affiliate links; your purchases through these links benefit the author.
Copyright 2018 Meg Herriot This article contains Amazon affiliate links; your purchases through these links benefit the author.
About the Author
Meg Herriot
Meg Herriot is a veterinarian and Third Order Dominican. She enjoys spending time with family, friends, and pets and blogging at All Creatures Great and Crazy about being a veterinarian, mother, wife and most of all a Catholic trying to grow closer to God in a chaotic world.
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