Catholic-ometer: 5 of 5
Enjoyability: 5 of 5
I recently gave the movie "the greatest miracle" one face down from a perfect score in enjoyability because of its tendency to feminize the heavenly hosts and treat Jesus and Mary like people without distinct personalities. The same, in a sense, is done by this book, yet I feel no reservations about giving it a perfect score. However, I have two reasons why.
First, this is not a book written for adults. It's a children's book; meant to help kids see Jesus as a parental figure who cares about them. While I'll be the first to say that the mere message of "Jesus loves you" is insufficient to replace the -actual- gospels, I'm not offended by it in something that was intended for children, since you have to start somewhere.
Secondly, the book is not stilted, and is, in fact, very entertaining. The clever rhymes and beautiful pictures will keep the attention of young kids, and make the rather simple reading level more tolerable for adults as well. Perhaps even enjoyable.
I, for example, enjoyed the fact that the book differentiates between "little" good things (like candles, palm branches, vestments, etc...,) and "big" good things (our Lord's real presence in the Eucharist.) Learning to prioritize between different kinds of goods is an important skill for anyone, and learning to recognize and appreciate the greatest gifts given to us by God is also important. In short, it squeezes in some key training in the faith, which is more than I expect from a book on this age level.
It's faithful, it's enjoyable, and it's a stepping stone to bigger things. I have nothing to complain about here.
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