One thing that always interested me growing up as a Catholic was learning about the stories of the Bible, which I learned during my religion classes. I was, more or less, told I had to go to religious education and I didn’t always go nicely, especially early Sunday mornings. However, the one thing that got me through those Sunday mornings was my interest in the stories. Learning about the Bible and reading the Bible itself wasn’t always super fun, but I enjoyed the stories nonetheless. My religion teachers would have us use workbooks that had the stories of the Bible in them and they would also read us stories, particularly when we were small.
Laura Lipari, a woman who’s now 102 years old, wanted to share her faith through stories about a grandmother wanting to share the stories of the bible with her grandchildren. Through the Grandma Shares Her Faith book series, she was able to do this. The way she wrote the stories was something almost similar to how I learned about my faith. Ironically, the stories about creation in the book of Genesis were always my favorite. So reading the first book in the series, Adam and Eve was comfortable. When reading this book, there’s a definite correlation between comprehension and fun for younger children. They can learn just how I did with stories instead of reading right out of the Bible. Sometimes learning through stories makes it a more enjoyable experience.
These stories about Grandma and her grandchildren not only does a good job explaining the Bible but also has an accurate depiction of the playful banter between siblings and cousins, arguing back and forth about who was right and vice versa. It really reminded me of a time as a child when we would have discussions in religion class or even with my own grandparents about the books of the Bible. The story itself is playful with the way the children would ask questions and had their arguments about what they learned in religion class.
Although some of the Bible stories are more than thoroughly explained, I think it would make more sense to children 3rd grade and up because they have somewhat of a background to their religion at that point, but I also think it’s important to discuss the books of the Bible from an even younger age. I would definitely recommend this series to teachers for their classes, or even their own children. Whether it is being read by a religion teacher, parent, or the children themselves, it’s an easy book to read. It makes learning about the Bible not only fun, but easy to understand as well.
