First Communion Gift Ideas

Looking for some First Holy Communion or other spring gifts for young people? Here are a couple of well-produced newer offerings:

The Joyful Mysteries: Illuminated by Sixty Works of Sacred Art (The Illuminated Rosary)
by Peanut Butter & Grace, a newer Catholic publisher specializing in books for children and families.

The Joyful Mysteries is the first in a planned series of all the mysteries of the rosary; The Sorrowful Mysteries: Illuminated by Sixty Works of Sacred Art is also published currently, with Luminous and Glorious set to appear later this year.

This book has a well-designed, larger size great for little hands, and children can follow along on each page as each bead is added on to a decade. The artwork is particularly varied and inspiring for all ages, with works from many centuries ago, to very recent modern depictions. All are beautiful and point one towards the beauty of each rosary mystery.

Your First Communion: Meeting Jesus, Your True Joy by Pope Francis is a series of short, but impressive, quotes of by the Holy Father, divided into sections such as “Holy Confession: Meeting Christ Who Loves Us Dearly.” and “Messages for Life.” The book is illustrated with charming full-color images of Jesus in ancient times, and with children and families today. I love when First Communion books have pages for memories, and this book offers several pages for writing a prayer and inserting other memories.

*This post is actually a small part of my April column that appears in this weekend’s print edition of The Catholic Post, but I feature it as a separate post since these books are unrelated to the main books I review.

*Peanut Butter & Grace has an Indiegogo campaign running right now to fund future books and reach more people.  It’s a worthy cause as the books are really well-produced–do check it out.

*I’ve written about some of our favorite first Communion and other sacramental books before here and here, and a few other places, but there’s a start.