Saint Ia Rides a Leaf Book Review

 

First of all, I want to share how excited I am to have a board book about a female saint!  I have 6 daughters, so it’s nice to have female examples for them.  I also appreciate that this book is about a saint I have never heard of.  It’s exciting to learn about new Saints and hear more examples of living the Faith.  I decided to test this book out on my youngest daughter, she just turned 5.  I let her know ahead of time that she was going to have to give her review as well.  The pictures are very inviting and beautifully designed.  I really enjoyed how the sentence structure was not too complicated.  I think this would be a good read for much younger children as well.  The pages did not contain too many words, so my 5 year old easily kept her attention to the story.  We were able to talk and ask questions throughout the story, building anticipation and enhancing understanding.  I also enjoyed how this book covered the topic of being a missionary, we were able to talk after reading the book about what being a missionary is and why they are important.  When I asked my daughter what she thought of the book she responded with a solid “Good!” and said she liked the part about the leaf growing.  This is definitely a book that I will be recommending to friends and even giving to my goddaughters as gifts.  This is a great story that all children will enjoy!

A Child's Guide to Prayer Book Review

I have been so surprisingly pleased with this book!  At first glance, my 13 year old thought that the
book was cute, but maybe a bit juvenile.  But it immediately caught the attention of my
7, 8, and 9 year olds. The prayers are really not that much different/shorter than what we
typically pray for evening prayers, yet these girls are eager for their turn to help lead our
family in prayer each night.  Even my teenager is happy to have a turn reading. On top of that,
my elementary aged children are even bringing the book to me in the mornings for a chance
to do morning prayers. We could easily be using this book so many other times during the day,
praying at meals, to other saints, for communion, etc.  I feel like we’ve barely cracked the potential
of prayer this book offers. The small size and the beautiful pictures are appealing to my children.
Even though there are some big words, the prayers are common and my girls are able to figure
them out. It is so nice to start seeing them take some ownership of their own prayer lives and that
of our family.  I am thankful to have this tool to help my children (and myself!) grow in their
relationship with God through prayer.

I was provided with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.