Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing Book Review

Recently I was asked to find a picture of the Bambinelli and I had no idea what it was.  So I googled it and learned that it is a sweet tradition in Rome that occurs on the third Sunday of Advent.  On this day in St. Peter's Square, one can find many children with their families waiting for a blessing from the Holy Father.  What do the children have to be blessed?  Their figures of the Christ Child - the Bambinelli - from their presepe at home.  This day is known as "Bambinelli Sunday".  Then shortly after I saw a newly published book Bambinelli Sunday A Christmas Blessing by Amy Welborn on the product reviewer list at the Catholic Company, I took it as God's providence that I should review it.

This fictional story is about one boy, Alessandro, who is temporarily living with his grandparents outside of Rome while his parents are away working in another country.  While missing his parents, Alessandro learns about the Bambinelli custom and decides to make his own to be blessed by the Holy Father, however things don't go as he planned and Alessandro learns about kindness, generosity, and forgiveness.

It's a very sweet story about an even sweeter tradition that happens each year on the third Sunday of Advent.  The illustrations by Ann Kissane Engelhart are wonderfully imaginative.  You can picture the scene in St. Peter's Square and the thousands of children who eagerly await the Holy Father's blessing on their bambino.  I loved this book and I will pass it on as part of a Christmas gift to a young child whose mother chose life.  We do not have Bambinelli Sunday in our church, but during our Christmas Novena, the manger scene it set up one piece a day.  I will tell others of this tradition and perhaps one of them will bring their baby Jesus to church and ask their priest to bless him.  Next week is the third Sunday in Advent!

This reivew was written as part of the Catholic Company Reviewer Program.  Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Bambinelli Sunday A Christmas Blessing.  The Catholic Company is the best resource of finding all of your seasonal needs such as First Communion Gifts and other items to enrich your prayer life.

I was given a complimentary copy of Bambinelli Sunday A Christmas Blessing for my review.  No monetary compensation was given.

Advent Blessings,
Noreen

Bible and Prayers For Teddy and Me Book Review

I was given the opportunity to review another children's book called Bible and Prayers For Teddy and Me as part of the Kregel Blog Tour Program.  This book is geared towards very young children and I would also say, towards boys. There are some pictures with girls but it did seem that the main buyer would be purchasing it for little boys.  The cover has a soft puffiness to it that's fun for children to hold.  As the title indicates, it is a bible with prayers after each section. It's meant to be a first bible to teach children the main stories. The prayers are designed to draw the young child into the story as well as to teach them how to pray to God.  The poetic style didn't flow strongly throughout the book - it was definitely a bit disjointed.  The illustrations are super cute and drawn in a style ideal for children.

If you're looking for an introductory book to teach your very young child about the bible, this book fits the bill.  The added bonus is that while your child is learning about the bible stories, he is also learning how to pray.  I would also note that the bible stories are told in a basic format as to include all Christian denominations.  I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for young boys.  I did bring this book to my CCD class of 6-8 year olds and it didn't draw much interest.  I would say that their younger siblings would be the target group.

I was given a complimentary copy of Bible and Prayers For Teddy and Me by Christina Goodings and illustrated by Janet Samuel for my honest review.  No monetary compensation was given.

Peace & Blessings,
Noreen

A Donkey's Tale Book Review

My most recent book review is called A Donkey's Tale by Stefano Gorla.  I received it from The Catholic Company for my honest review, as part of their book reviewer program. It's a unique perspective of telling the New Testament Stories of the bible from a donkey named Ladan.  The first chapter gives the fictional Ladan's autobiography which is sweet... "I am Ladan, son of Abinar, son of Nad."  Ladan is present to some extent in each story.  Either he is observing the scene or he is actively involved in it and is giving "the inside view" of each story. This is a sweet book with a total of 30 stories with each story on one or two pages plus illustrations.
Younger children will focus on one story at a time but older children can read more than one at each sitting.  For non-readers, this is not a good choice unless someone is reading it to them.  Some of the illustrations give a good hint as to what the story is about and others are too vague.  Overall, I liked the book for young children as a way to teach the bible stories.  It doesn't take the place of the bible, but it helps enrich their understanding of Jesus.

Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on A Donkey's Tale. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Blessings,
Noreen

Bumper Wipe Clean Activities Review

I've had another opportunity to review a children's book from Kregel Publications and it was fun to do so!  The book, Bumper Wipe Clean Activities, is geared for preschool  to kindergarten age children and as the title states, it's a reusable activity book. Each page has a 1-2 sentence explanation of a bible story and then a direction on what to do.  The book includes a dry erase black marker that is used to connect the dots, draw through a maze, trace a word...etc.  And the advantage is, that it can be wiped clean and used over and over again. The pages are sturdy and durable with brightly colored illustrations.  For young learners, it gives a snapshot of a bible story so it's faith forming and good for developing fine motor skills. I like it because they have so many wipe clean activity books out there with commercialized themes (i.e. Hello Kitty, Disney Princess or Thomas).  It's breath of fresh air that there is an option for parents who want their children to learn how to hold their pencils and do so in a faith building method.  Plus It's a small book that can easily be put in mom's purse and brought out during car rides or when trying to keep a young child occupied.  I can also imagine it being used in a preschool setting as busy work.  I would recommend this book for families and schools.

I was given a complimentary copy of Bumper Wipe Clean Activities by Kregel Publications for my honest review.

Peace & Blessings,
Noreen

The Candle Classic Bible Review

I am participating in another Kregel Publications Blog Tour by reviewing The Candle Classic Bible.  This is a christian bible that is retold into 365 stories.  Just the right size for one story a day for little ones.  The book cover and many pictures within have a vintage type of style to it.  I like it instead of the big brightly colored ones for young children.  I would think it would capture a child's imagination and bring them into the story. My son is a bit older and he read through a number of the pages and said "it lacked details" but considering it's geared for younger children, that was done intentionally.  It's written in an easy to read format that can be read in many sessions or for older children, they can focus on multiple stories in one sitting.  I do appreciate the titles before each story with the referenced scripture. I can see this story bible being used in homes as well as in an elementary classroom.  This bible is not appropriate for memorizing scripture but definitely for learning the morals, lessons and stories within it.  I believe it's a good place to start for teaching children about God and their faith.

I was given a complimentary copy from Kregel for my honest review.

Peace & Blessings,
Noreen

Noah's Ark Cookie Recipe

Yesterday I reviewed this fun and educational activity book for Kregel Publications.

Inside this book is a recipe to make your own Noah's Ark cookie so I opted to test it out.

Here are the ingredients and steps:

Here is my final result!

Recipe:

Mix together in a bowl:
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

Melt together in a separate bowl:
8 tbl of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbl dark molasses

Pour the melted combination into the dry ingredients bowl and mix.
Stir into a lump and then chill in the fridge.

Roll out the lump on a piece of baking paper.
Cut an ark shape.
Pull away the rest of the dough and lift the ark and paper on to a baking pan.
Bake for about 10 minutes at 325 degrees.
Let cool and then decorate with frosting, icing, candy...etc.

You will have enough dough to make more shapes.

I linked up this post to Lisa's Try a New Recipe Tuesday.

Blessings,
Noreen

Bedtime Stories and Prayers Children's Book Review

I received a complimentary copy of Bedtime Stories and Prayers by Dandi Daley Mackall and Kathleen Long Bostrom from Tyndale House Publishers to review as part of their Tyndale Kids program.  It is part of the Little Blessings book series by Kathleen Long Bostrom.  It has a soft cover that is ideal for little hands and the immediate impact is visual.  Very sweet watercolor style illustrations all throughout the book.  Perfect for little ones.

Bedtime Stories and Prayers is constructed to include four different stories with each one having it's own theme.  They are all relevant to children and they should hear it from a very young age.  It begins with "God Makes Nighttime Too."  Next is "Thank You God!" The third story is "Blessings Everywhere" and ends with "God Loves You Just As You Are".  All are essential themes for faith formation for children everywhere.  The themes are repeated throughout the story to imprint it's message on the children.

The only problem I had was with the rhythmic structure of the text.  At times, it felt awkward when reading aloud and I found myself attempting to repeat it several times for clarification. I read through it a few times and experienced the same choppiness in certain areas of the book.  It was intentionally written in simple sentence format to rhyme which is ideal for young children yet it became choppy in some areas.  Overall, Bedtime Stories and Prayers is a sweet book with wonderful messages about God that children and even adults need to hear!

Blessings,
Noreen

More Lenten Books

I found a few more great books for Lent and Easter that can be found at a local library 

or within the library network.

I've seen so many great books for children on other blogs 

but can only find a portion of them in the library.  

I type up the list and send home with my students so they have faith book choices during Lent.

I don't like to recommend a book and then they'd have to buy it.

So it must be found in the library system.

I also heard of this one below.  I just checked it out so will be previewing it before it makes my parent letter. The cover page would definitely grab the attention of my students!  

Want to check out the content though :)

I posted other good Lenten books HERE.

I've linked up this post at Jennifer's What Are You Doing This Lent Linkup.

Happy Lenten Reading,

Noreen

Bible Adventures & Activities Review

     The Catholic Company had sent me a bible activity book called Bible Adventures & Activities to review.  This faith based book is written by Sally Ann Wright and Moira Maclean for children to learn the main bible stories from both the Old Testament and New Testament.  I had read that the age for this book is between 7-11 years of age and I would disagree. I think it's meant for younger kids and I would rate it for 4-9 year olds.  The illustrations and activities are very cute and geared for little children.  The pictures definitely bring the story to life yet, I could see a child older than 10 thinking it looked "too babyish."
     With that being said, I loved this book as a perfect tool for teaching children who are unfamiliar with the bible.  It starts with Creation and ends with The Lakeside Breakfast. Within each story, the children have opportunities to play games like guessing the animals on Noah's Ark, to a maze the wise men take to find baby Jesus to a Jesus died to save us word search. Some of the activities are more challenging that require basic spelling skills but the majority ask the child to use their visual and imaginative skills.  Each story is one page with a beautiful age appropriate illustration.  On the next page is an activity to help the child learn and memorize the bible story.

This book could be used in a number of ways.  There are 34 bible stories and a parent or teacher could work on one story per week as a bible study for younger children. The activities are not necessarily reproducible but it can be used as enrichment by a teacher.  Perhaps as a quick review to test comprehension.  Each session could be done in 20-30 minutes depending upon the child's attention span.  Or it could be used as enrichment to build on previous knowledge of these stories. Just by looking at the pictures, one could ask the child what they thought was happening.  Or you could even role play the story with the child to increase story comprehension.

If your child is a strong reader, then this book is not for you even if they have little to no knowledge of the bible.  This is an ideal book for a younger child who is learning about God and benefits from the visual cues provided in the illustrations.  It's also better than a children's bible because the added activities help the child process what the lesson is in each bible story.  I think it will hold their attention more than just reading them a story.  Children's bibles are wonderful but I would use them in conjunction with this book.

My review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit the Catholic Company for additional information on Bible Adventures & Activities.  The Catholic Company is a great resource for tools to help you participate in the Year of Faith, including Year of Faith bible studies and exclusive Year of Faith personalized gifts.  The Catholic Company also has all your Advent needs in stock such as Advent wreaths and Advent calendars.  No monetary compensation was given for my honest review.

Blessings,
Noreen

You're Never Too Old To Enjoy A Picture Book

I've seen many great Advent books listed in other blogs here, here and here.   Instead of buying them I've been putting holds on them at the library and going almost daily to pick them up.  They're all picture books and I have them piled up on a table in my house.  I've found my 11 year old, reading through them and either laughing or commenting on learning something new.  I've enjoyed reading them myself and will be bringing them to my Religious Ed class this weekend to share with my first graders.  So thank you to Jessica, Jen and Tiffany!

There is a sweet tradition that I saw on Gardenia's Love My Little Flower blog.  She wraps up her Advent books, one for each night, and then her daughter unwraps one book a night that they read together.  Most are old favorite books but she will buy a new one or two to add in each year.  I thought that was a great way to enjoy reading about the Advent Season.

Here are the books I've already picked up from my local library:

The Baker's Dozen by Aaron Shepard

The Legend of Saint Nicholas by Demi

The Miracle of Saint Nicholas by Gloria Whelan

Saint Nicholas by Ann Tompert

The Nativity: From the Gospels of Matthew and Luke: by Ruth Sanderson

Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Jane Chapman

This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten

The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie DePaola

Las Posadas by Jennifer Blizin Gillis (English version)

Strega Nona's Gift by Tomie DePaola

Mary of Nazareth by Cecil Bodker

I can't wait for the rest to come in!

I've joined Jessica from Shower of Roses today to share my Advent Books with many others!  Come and check it out.

And if you're looking for the St. Andrew Novena you can find a beautiful printable novena card at Joyfilled Family blog.  Thank you Lena!!

Blessings,
Noreen

Author Visit #2

This was a busy week meeting authors but it was well worth it!  The next author we met was Dan Gutman who has been writing books since the 1980's.  He has many great books for kids and he just released the first book of his new series The Genius Files.

The Humor and Comedy Genre does not fit my son's Fantasy preference, however, he opened it on the ride back home, used my phone as a light, and read...and laughed...and read.... and laughed and frequently interspersed with "Mom, you have to hear this!" 

I love it when an author from a different genre can capture my son's interest and Mr. Gutman delivered!

Author Visit

My son currently wants to be a publisher or editor when he grows up.  He is an avid reader of mostly the fantasy and science fiction genre.  Either for school or the nudging of his mother (me) he will read other genres such as realistic fiction, historical fiction but he's most passionate about fantasy books.

We had a couple of authors come to our area this week and I brought him to meet them.  The first is Grace Lin who was awarded The Newberry Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

Inspired by folktales of China, this is the story of a young Chinese girl named Minli. She lives in a poor village underneath a stark mountain and every day her mother expresses her discontent. So Minli sets out to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how to change their fortune. What follows is the story of her journey. Along the way she meets many different characters and hears many different stories. The book reads like a fable, which is fitting because it contains so many beautifully rich stories.

This book is for younger readers and it just won The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award.  It's a sweet story about twin girls who are always told by others, that they are EXACTLY the same and they disagree! 

Grace Lin is the author and illustrator of all of her books.  She shared her journey in the writing and illustrating world with us that night.  Her story brought tears to my eyes because she spoke of how she was first an illustrator and she tried "to fit in" to the American/Caucasian idea of picture drawing but it never felt right.  She felt nudged to draw pictures in a Chinese style that's vibrant with color but her editors told her that even though her pictures were good, they had no stories to fit them.  And that's how she became a writer... she wrote the stories to fit her illustrations.  Even then, she was told there was no market for Asian characters.  It was suggested she redraw the characters as Caucasian. 

Fortunately, she listened to that little voice inside and kept them as is, found another editor, had them published and she's receiving national recognition and awards.  We highly recommend her books!