Book Review: Jesus With Us

As my seven year old prepares to receive her First Holy Communion in less than two weeks, we have been reading through different books to help further prepare her to receive this sacrament.  One of the books that we have recently started reading through is Jesus with UsThe Gift of the Eucharist.  This book gives a great presentation of what the Eucharist is as well as plenty of background and history to give children a good understanding of the significance and importance of this sacrament.

The book is nicely illustrated with full page pictures for each topic covered in the book.  Children will learn several bible stories as the read though this book as well as some Church history.  Not only will children gain a deeper understanding of the Eucharist, but they'll likely come away being able to understand the Mass a little better, too.  Children should come away from this book knowing that Jesus is their friend and that he wants to come to them in the Eucharist.

My daughter has run off with this book on several occasions and seems to be enjoying it.  She has pointed out different things in the book which she has found to be interesting and related it to things she has been taught in school or seen in other books.  So I'd say this book conveys it's message clearly to it's intended audience.  I do think with the amount of information that is found in this book that it's best to read it a section at a time rather than going from cover to cover.  I'd suggest this simply to keep from overwhelming a child.  An older child (10 and up) could probably read this book cover to cover with no problem, but I think it's a lot of information to process in one shot for a second grader.

While I think this is a great book to help prepare a child for First Holy Communion, it would also make a nice gift for a first communicant to help him or her to understand the importance of the Eucharist, as well.

I was provided with a review copy of Jesus With Us by the publisher, Pauline Books and Media, in exchange for my honest review.  Visit Pauline Media for more information on this title or to purchase a copy.