Steve's Reviews

Children and Prayer, a Shared Journey, by Betty Shannon Cloyd (Upper Room, 1997)

This is an excellent book for parents and Christian formation teachers. It offers great foundational elements and practical ideas. Betty Shannon Cloyd includes a wide variety of stories and illustrations which makes this short but very effective book a pleasure to read. It offers sections on the importance of children and prayer, ages and stages, guidelines for teaching children to pray, forms of prayer to use with children, and activities to enhance a child’s experience of prayer. The book ends with a number of interviews with children concerning their prayer life which is very enlightening.

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in a Parish Setting, by Tina Lillig (Liturgy Training Publications, 1998)

This book describes the catechesis of the good shepherd, a way of religious formation for children which began in 1954 by Sofia Cavalletti, and Gianna Gobbi. This approach does not use books or take place in a classroom. Instead, there is a room known as the atrium in which every object is a help to knowing God and specifically designed for children. Although the book speaks to a specific model for a child’s Christian formation which has been distinctly Catholic, it includes many excellent ideas and an approach that might well be adapted for incorporation into many Covenant churches.

Reviews by: Debbie Blue | Marti Burger | Steve Burger | Doreen Olson | Wilson Herrera