Press Room

by Kerry Crawford and Patricia A. Crawford, Register Correspondent

The Catholic Children’s Bible 

For the first time, children in second, third and fourth grades have a complete Catholic Bible to call their own. All 73 books of the Bible will inspire children to read the full word of God.

Age-appropriate language, color-coded divisions, larger font size and 125 two-page illustrated story spreads of key passages make this a great choice for home and classroom.

Good News Translation Catholic Edition.  Ages 7 and older.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/back-to-school-time-is-good-reading-time/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+National+Catholic+Register#When:2013-08-24%2010:16:01#ixzz2dBfK2DOe

by Monica McConkey with EquippingCatholicFamilies.com 

Recently released by St Mary’s Press, The Catholic Children’s Bible is a treasure! It’s packed with good-sized print, colorful, kid-friendly illustrations, color-coded sections and tabs and interesting introductions to books of the Bible.

There are 125 specially featured Bible stories, packed with extra illustrations, explanations, ways to “live it!” and an opportunity to re- “tell it!” for deeper understanding.

Extra notes, Bible pictures, Bible Time Line, Maps, Catholic Practices and Catholic Prayers are included in the back, as well as critical Bible references for times when you really need them.

In addition to a healthy explanation of the format of the Bible in books, chapters and verses, The Catholic Children’s Bible sports colorful embedded tabs to articulate the various Books of the Bible, (visible from the side of the book) and a continuous bar of color at the bottom of the page showing the organization of these books into sections.

The imprimatur is included for the text of the articles and introductions, as well as for the text  of the Good News Translation, Catholic Edition.

The Catholic Children’s Bible is another awesome Catholic product that I discovered at the National Catholic Education Association conference last week.  They graciously gave me the new Bible to review on Equipping Catholic Families.

And yes! St Mary’s Press not only shipped my Bible to me up in Canada in record time, they also provided me with an impressive media kit, complete with information about the App and an iTunes card to cover the first couple installations.

I purchased the Catholic Children’s Bible App for $3.99 and my almost 7 year old Bridget has enjoyed using it. She has studied all 10 of the Bible stories in the App…reading them and summarizing them in her own words and she has conquered the little activities for each section.

She eagerly awaits the next installation of the App…what I understand to be the next in a series of collections of Bible stories and related activities for the iPad.

While the iPad app requires an impressive 1.11 GB of space….it was worth the maneuvering of apps and pictures on my iPad to install it…at least for a while! 

The Catholic Children’s Bible will however have a permanent home in our family room…for easy access and maximum usage!

The Catholic Children’s Bible is a beautifully printed, 2000 color page book, designed for children in grade 2, 3 and 4, making it an EXCELLENT First Holy Communion gift for your child, niece or nephew, grandchild or Godchild!

I think The Catholic Children’s Bible will easily become our kids’ favorite Bible to refer to….many years after grade 4! I have no doubt that this Catholic Bible will be a wonderful resource for our whole family, enticing us to read it out loud, not only at Christmas….or our Seder Supper on Holy Thursday….but all year long!

The Catholic Children’s Bible is available at your local bookstore or at Saint Mary’s Press or by calling 1-800-533-8095.

Amazon Customer Review

The Catholic Children's Bible Activity Book is a 100-page, spiral-bound book of activities to enrich your children's understanding of what they just read in The Catholic Children's Bible. When you look through the Bible, you notice that there are "featured stories," which the publisher believes are vital for your children to know their faith. These featured stories serve as the backbone for the Activity Book.

With each featured story, there are two activities - Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 is of course the easier activity, and Level 2 requires a bit more critical thinking. One could easily give the younger kids the Level 1 activity and save the Level 2 activity for the older kids, but in doing so, you miss two opportunities. 1. The younger kids could be challenged to think harder on their faith and might surprise you with the results. 2. The older kids might enjoy the refresher of an easier activity or just simply enjoy the particular activity. You know your children better than I do, so you know what your children will and will not enjoy.

There are many things I love about this book. For starters, the types of activities are a great variety. You will open this book and find word searches and crosswords, but you won't find forty of them. You will find crafts, mazes, encoded messages, etc. Now, the price might scare some of you away, because you are thinking that's an expensive workbook for my child. However, "ALL materials included in the activity booklet are reproducible." This feature and the spiral-bound design give you a book that's easy to Xerox and makes the perfect addition to your religious education or homeschool setting. So grab your Catholic Children's Bible and this 5-star Activity Book and teach your children the beauty of Scripture.