Book Review: Simon Godsell’s “Everything”

This review sent me down memory lane to childhood. I read a lot of picture books back then so it felt like I was reconnecting with a part of myself I had forgotten about. Today’s review is of Simon Godsell’s “Everything” which you may have correctly guessed is a children’s picture book. I don’t think we’ve ever reviewed anything quite like this.

This book is a very simple read despite there being quite a few pages for a children’s book (just under 50 pages). That being said, some of the words used are longer, so I would recommend this book for children that have been reading for a while. I think children that have only started learning to read will struggle a bit, so perhaps this is a book best read with an adult at least the first time around. The book conveys the central theme of how everything is a result of God’s work in a way that I think children can grasp, so I think the book is also a good option for people that wish to read aloud to children. In this way this book can also be suitable for children that can understand English but not yet read. There are also mentions of dinosaurs and outer space which are topics that often capture the imagination and interest of children. For this reason, “Everything” a nice way to connect what a child is interested in to something important that they may not otherwise think much of.

This book reads like poetry to me. There is some rhyming, juxtaposition and repetition of both sounds and whole words. The poetic aspect of the way the book was written makes it really satisfying for me to read. This use of literary devices prevents the book from being a dry read, particularly because there really is no plot to this book.

I find the illustrations really cute and appropriate for a children’s book. The art style is very simple without taking away from what is being depicted; I don’t find myself doing any guessing as to what it is I am looking at. I also think the simplicity of the style creates a sense of approachability for children. My inner amateur artist also thinks that this more (for lack of better word) abstract style can help expose children to art that is not classical/realist art. This is important to me – as beautiful classical/realist art is, there is not one “right” kind of art and I think we risk stifling children’s creativity by limiting the kind of art they see.

Overall, I would recommend Godsell’s “Everything” if you saw a sneak peak of it, are curious, and like the message behind the book. If you would like to purchase your own copy you can do so here.

Learn more about Simon Godsell’s work here.

Some words from The Catholic Man (updated May 15, 2022): Thanks, Ivy, for delivering a review that considered a number of unique aspects of this beautiful children’s book by Simon Godsell. Before reading the description of the book, I realized the book was inspired by the hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander, which speaks to the beauty and diversity of God’s creation. I remember being taught the hymn in music class in elementary school. The beauty of God’s creation and appreciation for this gift in this “common home” is what Pope Francis emphasizes in Laudato Si’. Everything by Godsell is a step to introduce children to the message of Laudato Si’, I think. This is an approachable, very child-friendly text and illustration that allows children to be aware of the work of God the Creator. Thank you, Mr. Godsell for allowing my sister and I opportunity to review this beautiful children’s book of yours.

To close, presenting a rendition of All Things Bright and Beautiful:

Disclaimer: The Catholic Man Reviews was provided a review copy of “Everything” to provide an honest review of it on this blog. The Catholic Man Reviews thanks Simon Godsell for the opportunity for us to review this title on our blog and look forward to future reviews. All thoughts and opinions expressed in here are our own and reflect our sincere thoughts about the title.

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Guest Review: The NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Bible

Note from The Catholic Man (Vincent Pham): This is a special review. I have invited my sister to collaborate with me in The Catholic Man Reviews as I have many great materials under review. Ivy is my sister, a year younger than me and she enjoys art (www.ivyphamsart.wordpress.com). Therefore this colouring bible seemed to be a good fit for her to review. 

I am happy to be allowed the opportunity to write a review on this Bible.  The NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Bible is one of the many options offered by Zondervan if you want a more creative take on a Bible.  The dust jacket (the decorated paper wrapped around the cover; also known as book jacket, dust wrapper, or dust cover) is beautifully decorated (figure 1), and there is another page near the beginning that is the same, but without colour.  In figure 2, you can see that I tried to recreate the outer cover on the page inside.  

Once the dust jacket is removed, you can see the actual cover.  Many books with a dust jacket have a cover that looks like the dust jacket, or a plain cover.  The cover of this Bible was beautifully designed, and it was completely different from the dust jacket (figure 3).  If you prefer removing the dust jacket, but don’t like the plain cover that is left behind, you would like this extra touch.  

The end pages are well adhered to the cover.  They are centred well and the design from the dust jacket was also incorporated here.  The end page at the front will be useful if you intend on giving the Bible to someone (figure 4).  

Flipping through the Bible, there aren’t many pages where there is nothing to colour, and most of those with no designs have faint lines.  They allow you to decorate that page however you like.  I enjoy drawing, so that is appreciated.  Personally, I think being able to design a number of pages completely on my own is what really makes this Bible a journaling Bible rather than just a colouring Bible (figure 5).  

There is a lot of diversity in terms of the different designs in the book, and you could tell it was group effort.  All of the artists were also credited on the end page at the back which I love (figure 6).  There are different levels of difficulty, so you can choose which one you want to colour depending on the amount of time and patience you have.  Many of the designs are placed along the margin which are about an 1.5 inches wide,and there is an additional half inch border going all the way around the page.  As you can imagine, that isn’t a very large space to work with, so many have relatively small or thin detailing.  It would be in your best interest to keep a sharpener within arms reach while colouring in this Bible (I prefer a knife;  your pencil crayons won’t shrink so quickly if you sharpen with a knife, and you can control the sharpness).    There are no maps of the Holy Land or other places mentioned throughout the Bible, which are commonly found in Bibles, but there is a conversion table on the last page (figure 7).  If you have ever wondered what a unit of measurement used in the Bible is equal to in modern units, this can be quite handy.  A nice touch if you ask me.  

The NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Bible is the NIV (New International Version) translation.  Unfortunately that is the only translation it comes in.  I would have prefered the Bible to have come in a Catholic translation (NRSV-CE, NABRE, RSV-CE, etc.), but unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.  It is sold at zondervan.com for $39.99.  The Beautiful Word Bible is printed in full colour and it is available in NIV, KJV (King James Version) and NKJV (New King James James Version).  If you don’t like colouring, but also want illustrations in your Bible, you would like this.  There are still lines for you to create your own art in the Beautiful Word Coloring Bible (figure 8).  There is also a note takers version available in NIV, NASB (New American Standard Bible), NKJV, KJV, and AMB (Amplified Bible) and versions for girls.  All versions are hardcovers or leather covers, both faux and genuine.  If you want to check any of those out, they are on the Zondervan website.  I don’t know how your copy will be packaged, but my review copy came in a box- and tonnes of paper.  I didn’t take a picture but the box was quite a bit bigger than the actual Bible, and it was well wrapped in plenty of paper.  It meant you got an unscathed Bible, plus a week’s worth of recycling.  Be prepared, just in case.  

Beware if anyone has gotten frustrated about the incredibly thin paper used in Bibles and dictionaries, because this Bible is no different.  It’s understandable, considering the amount of space that was used for illustrations and lines rather than words.  This also means that you can see many of the drawings on the other side.  The thickness of the paper practically guarantees any marker would bleed through.  If you press too hard, you will “dent” the paper underneath.  Just a few things to keep in mind.  

I am a very different person than my brother, so the way I do my reviews are also different.  I don’t like listing off all the features of a product, nor do I rate things on a scale from 0 to 5.  If you read through everything, looked at the pictures and liked the way it looks and sounds, then this is something you may consider purchasing for someone if not yourself.  I hope you found this review helpful!  

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Review: Oxford’s Catholic Study Bible

After a very long and busy break, I will be back reviewing Catholic products. I have a few I
will review and those will slowly roll out.

I received a parcel from Oxford containing two of its published books, the Oxford Catholic Study Bible (softcover) and the Oxford Bible Atlas. After months of using these two books, I finally have enough information to review them. I think these two books go well hand in hand for Catholics who want to dig deeper into scripture. However, today I want to look at the Catholic Study Bible first and the next post will be of the Oxford Bible Atlas.

This is one of the thickest bibles I have on my shelf right now but perhaps a very useful one. Lately, I have been trying my best to write reflections on a part of the gospels before I go to sleep every night. I often use my NRSV Catholic Edition Bible by CBS. However, sometimes there are some verses that I need a little more understanding of the context. The NRSV by CBS do provide very short footnotes but they are sometimes not what I need. Since the time I got a hold of a copy of The Catholic Study Bible, I have often used it to grasp a better understanding of certain Bible texts. The footnotes are great and most of the time, its language is easy to understand. There are also cross references to other parts of Bible texts. The reader can gain an even better understanding in the 574-paged Reading Guide. There are page references to the Reading Guide throughout the Bible itself. On the back of the Bible, it mentions the newly expanded Reading Guide in this third edition featuring the new guides for The Pentateuch, Chronicles, Maccabees, Lamentations, Baruch, Tobit and Judith, The Gospel of Mark and Acts. The footnotes and Reading Guide aren’t the only great “Bible luxuries”. Short essays charts and drawings are scattered throughout the Bible and help explain certain Bible texts and bring them to life.

The Bible text itself is from the NABRE which I do own a copy by a different publisher. I wish they could make a Catholic Study Bible for the NRSV version too. However, I do understand how much work must be put in to create just one version of a Study Bible.

One of the things that I look at when reviewing a Bible is certainly the Appendix. This Bible contains many of the standard parts that appear in most Bibles including a glossary, table of measures and weights and an index. However, the standard features listed seem to be more expanded. The glossary itself seems to go more in depth than most that I’ve looked through. The table of measures and weights contains seem to be expanded. It contains conversions from Greek, the NABRE term, Equivalence, U.S. units and metric units (for Canadians!). One feature that I believe is found in most NABRE Bibles is the Lectionary table. I find this feature quite useful. I do not purchase the Sunday Missal in English every year. I often use an app on my phone or use my Vietnamese Missal to get the readings to prepare for Mass. However, there are some days when I find the Lectionary Readings get confusing on which readings to use. For example, the Palm Sunday procession of Year B contains two choices of either Mark of John (yes, its in the Roman Missal). Yet, hand Missals may omit the choice of John. Therefore, before, when I did not have a copy of the Roman Missal, Study Edition (to be reviewed later), I would often turn to the Lectionary Table. Or, the Christmas Readings (for Dec. 24 alone) for example, contain three: Christmas Vigil, Christmas at Midnight, Christmas at Dawn. Again, many hand missals may omit a set which becomes confusing. The Lectionary table would come to the rescue again!

An index of the reading guide is also provided which makes it very useful in finding a certain topic. It limits the time flipping through 574 to find a topic.

I was also amazed at the Concordance of the New American Bible. I expected it to be short the one of the NRSV Catholic Edition by CBS. But I was wrong! The concordance is almost 100-pages. This may be a feature I may use often when writing Spiritual reflections.

Another feature which I love about his Bible are the last 32-pages of coloured maps. Why did I emphasize coloured you might ask. Well, I have noticed that when a Bible is printed in black and white, they contain either no maps or black and white maps. Oxford’s maps are very detailed and the colour brings it to life. The maps clearly depict the changes of the Holy Land throughout Biblical times. A five-paged index is provided with the maps in the last pages.

Reversing to the beginning… I looked for the Imprimatur, a feature that I always look at in Catholic Books I review on this blog. It took me some time to scroll through the tiny text but all the Imprimatur and permission to print by the Catholic Church was on the fourth page. There are three separate approvals in this Bible. First is one for the New Testament of the NABRE which contains a Nihil Obstat and an Imprimatur. The Old Testament contains a short paragraph indicating the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approval with the approval of Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I who was the president of the USCCB at the time (2010). The general and introductory articles, reading guides, charts, maps, timelines, measures and weights, glossary and index received a separate approval in 2015 by the Very Reverend Ronald Hicks, then Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

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In Summary

Product: The Catholic Study Bible, Third Edition, NABRE

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Format: Print, paperback (also available in a hardcover version and a leather binding version)

Dimensions  (approximate): 9 inches x 6.25 inches x 2 inches

Imprimatur: Yes (for both the NABRE bible and the notes itself)

ISBN: 9780190267230

 

Pros: 

• Reading Guide available in the front
• Includes 32 pages of coloured maps
• Glossary in the back
• Tables of measures and weights
• Index to reading guide
• Concordance to the New American Bible included
• Lectionary Reading reference pages
• Reading Guide (RG) references available throughout the Bible text itself
• Detailed footnotes helps reader to understand the Bible texts better
• Sidebar essays, charts and drawings are provided throughout the Bible texts
• The Bible bears the appropriate Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur and even assures approval by the USCCB

Cons

• Large in size
• Heavy, not the best Bible for travellers
• The softcover version is best to have a book wrap cover to add protection. Frequent use may wear down the softcover Bible quickly

On “The Catholic Man’s” Scale

★★★★★ 5/5

I absolutely love Oxford’s Catholic Study Bible Third Edition. This Bible contains so many features that I have not mentioned all of them in this review. The Bible is good for those who want to dig deeper in the Word of God taking into consideration its spiritual and historical context. It is not the best Bible to travel but one of the best to buy for your Catholic Library.

Thank you Oxford for allowing me to review this Bible!

 

 

 

Review: Lives of the Saints Two-Volume Boxed Set by Catholic Book Publishing Corporation

Promised two posts ago, I would review two products generously sent to me by The Catholic Company. One of the two products were reviewed in the last post, the Revised Standard Version Catholic Bible-Compact Edition by Oxford University Press. Today, I will take the time to review the Lives of the Saints Two-Volume Boxed Set by Catholic Book Publishing Corporation.

Upon opening the contents from the package, I admired the fact that the Lives of the Saints boxed was not that large. One volume would easily fit inside a bag, purse or backpack and bring to work. I brought the full boxed set to the Steubenville Conference. Even though free time was very little, I spent sometime late during the night reading some Lives of the Saints from volume two. The set easily fit into my backpack, still leaving a lot of room for other necessities.

Why two volumes? I have taken a look through both volumes. I found the volume one contained the Lives of many saints which I have known like St. Benedict, St. Dominic… However, volume two seemed a little more interesting. According to the product description on The Catholic Company, “It contains a new series of lives of saintly men and women for each day of the year – many of them newly canonized or beatified.” There were saints whom I have not even heard of before and it really interested me. Volume two was an “add on” to volume one and also written by a different author.

Looking at Volume 1: As mentioned above, volume 1 seemed to contain many of the more common saints. In addition, there is also sections for special days in the Catholic Church such as Christmas or the feast of the Presentation of The Lord. Volume 1 was written by Rev. Hugo Hoever, O.O.Cist., Ph.D. This volume contains and Imprimatur by Patrick J. Sheridan D.D., the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of New York the time this volume was published. Each saint contains his/her feast day, patron, approximately one – two page biography and a short prayer. Volume 1 has a blue cover.

Looking at Volume 2: Volume 2 as mentioned before, is like an “add-on” to volume 1. It contains many Saints and Blesseds that I have never known before such as St. Hermenegild, St. Victor Maurus. This volume was written by Rev. Thomas J. Donaghy and bears an Imprimatur by Patrick J. Sheridan D.D., the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of New York the time this volume was published. Special in volume 2, accompanying the prayer and biography of each Saint, there is a reflection which helps think deeper about the Saint’s life. Volume 2 has a maroon cover.

Both volumes contain more than 365 saints (at least one for each day of the year and volume 1 even contains a saint on Feb. 29!) which helps one to live and grow devotions to the saints all year long. Why more than 365 saints? I have found that some days contain more than one saint. In total, there would be more than 730 saints’ biography in this boxed set. If you looked at the images, you must of had noticed the illustrations. These images are a black and white version of the illustrations from Fr. Lovasik’s Picture Book of Saints, also sold on The Catholic Company. I know someone who has copy of the book and I also have the Vietnamese version of the book too. I really enjoy the illustrations as they bring the saints “to life”. Both volumes have a sturdy hardcover. The product description says, “cloth cover” and I am still questioning that as the cover does not feel like cloth at all.  However, no ribbons are attached which would be convenient. The sturdy slipcase is great as it protects the two volumes very well.

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Product: Lives of the Saints Two-Volume, Boxed Set

Publisher: Catholic Book Publishing Corporation

Format: Print, volume 1 has a blue cloth cover, volume 2 has a maroon cloth cover, white paper with red-orange edges.

Dimensions per volume (approximate):  11 cm x 15.5 cm x 3 cm

Dimensions of slipcase (approximate): 12.75 cm x 16.25 cm x 6.5 cm

Imprimatur: Yes, on both volumes

ISBN Volume 1: 978-0-89942-870-3

ISBN Volume 2:  978-0-89942-875-8

ISBN Boxed Set: 978-0-89942-876-5

Pros: 

• Both volumes come in a sturdy slip case
• Two hard cover volumes
• Very clear layout and font
• Red-orange edges (decorative feature?)
• Illustrations in black and white
• Each volume is small enough to slip into your backpack/purse
• A short biography and prayer to each saint during the year
• Volume 2 contains a reflection after each biography
• Each Saint’s biography is 1-2 pages in length
• Very easy to understand
• Affordable

Cons

• No ribbon marker
• Images not in colour (not a big deal to me)

On “The Catholic Man’s” Scale

★★★★★ 5/5

I really love this Lives of the Saint’s Two-Volume boxed set. I have considered purchasing a Lives of Saints book from several places. However, being given an offer of two Catholic books from The Catholic Company, I chose this product as it suited my needs. I would recommend this Lives of the Saint’s. This would make a perfect gift, personally I don’t think for a First Communicant, but certainly for Confirmation. Its presentation and content is amazing.

You may purchase this Lives of the Saint’s Two-Volume boxed set at The Catholic Company, inexpensively priced for only $17.95!

https://www.catholiccompany.com/lives-saints-2-volume-boxed-set-i7035/?sli=1011120  

** Again, I sincerely thank The Catholic Company for offering me two books to review on The Catholic Man Reviews and give my honest reviews!