Genre

Children’s Literature

Audience

Ages 3-8

Author’s Worldview

Catholic

Year Published

2021

Themes

Christmas, Mass, Family, Prayer, Catholic Christmas Traditions, Mary, the Nativity

Reviewed by

A.R.K. Watson

If you’re a parent looking for ways to more fully integrate your Catholic faith into your family’s Christmas traditions, look no further.

 The Light of Christmas Morning is a cozy, hand-painted children’s book that integrates Catholic Christmas traditions into the usual Christmas Eve and morning routine. The book begins with a family going to Christmas Eve Mass together. After visiting grandma and grandpa’s for dinner afterward, the family goes home and says a prayer around the Christmas tree. The advent wreath, its candles low from regular advent prayers, and a statue of Mary waiting for Baby Jesus are particularly noted.

After the children go to bed, the parents sneak in and put Baby Jesus next to one of the children’s beds. The next morning, the first person awake gets to hold Baby Jesus first. The children then wake their parents, who pass out candles to all the children except the one carrying Jesus. Then, singing a carol, they all go together to the Christmas tree where the Baby Jesus is placed next to his waiting mother. The family prays a prayer of thanksgiving together, which is helpfully included in the text, so that your family can say it too. Then at the very end, after these traditions have made it abundantly clear to the children the real purpose of Christmas, they all open presents. Even if your family is not able to replicate all of these traditions in your home, reading them this cozy bedtime story throughout Advent will help reinforce the Catholic traditions you do have and will be a heartwarming story to add to the Christmas atmosphere.

The hand-painted watercolor illustrations match the tone and warmth of classics like The Night Before Christmas and make a perfect Advent gift for children and families. I do not exaggerate when I say that Engelhart has produced my favorite illustrations that I have yet seen on Catholic Reads.

While Catholics are the primary intended audience, this book might also be appropriate for High-Church Anglicans. However, secular readers will not find much here relevant to their traditions, and giving this book as a gift to a secular family may come off as inappropriate. Parents who are converts to Catholicism, however, will especially find this book useful in giving them the tools for integrating Catholic tradition with their family life. Bellavance has once again proven herself a mainstay of Catholic children’s literature, and I highly recommend checking out her other books as well.

Get Catholic Books & eBooks for as little as $1 to FREE

Molly McBride and the Plaid Jumper by Jean Schoonover-Egolf

Molly doesn’t want to take off her purple habit the Children of Mary sisters wear but mom’s says she has to put on the school uniform.

Mary, Mystical Rose By, J.T. Frodin

Why is Mary called the Mystical Rose? An interactive children’s book.

Calling All Booklovers! – Editor Positions Open

Do you love reading books and getting other people to read them? Join our team and make your mark on today’s Catholic literary revival.

Zeal & Zest: Where to Begin with Hillaire Belloc

Belloc was known as a Catholic polemicist with a vicious talent for skewering his opponents. Anyone struggling to persevere as a Christian in the fields of journalism or media should read him. His children’s books have an acerbic humor that will appeal to bored veterans of political correctness, especially teens.

Molly McBride and the Party Invitation by Jean Schoonover-Egolf 

This children’s book teaches compassion for bullies and the courage to act rightly regardless of others.

God Made the Moonlight by Erin Broestl, Illustrated by Jean Schoonover-Egolf

A beautifully illustrated bedtime story that helps your child see the beauty of nature as God’s personal love letter to humanity

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson

Discover the far deeper, more salvific tale that Disney turned into romantic fluff.

Good Morning God by Ginger Swift, Illustrated by Pamela Barbieri

This baby book teaches gratitude for God though it’s interactive pages.

Jesus Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Mark Restaino, Illustrations by J.P. Alcomendas

This delightful picture book lets young readers imagine the daily life of the Christ Child while also teaching simple prayers.

Papa and the Little Queen by Kathleen Vincenz

What will St. Thérèse and Papa discover on their walk through town?

Five Little Angels by Kathleen T. Pelley Illustrated by Dubravka Kolanovic

Children learn how to make angels dance with joy in this dreamy hand-painted bedtime story.

There Once Was a Penny by Mark Restaino, Illustrations by J.P. Alcomendas

This nursery rhyme teaches kids the value of faith and how it can help a person to love themselves according to standards not of this world.

Cinderella by Charles Perrault

The true story of the Catholic saint who inspired the myth of Cinderella

The Monks’ Daily Bread by Sylvia Dorham

A nursery rhyme for toddlers showing them the daily life in a monastery.

Will You Come to Mass by Susan Joy Bellavance, Illustrations by Sara Tang

This book helps your kids get into the right mindset for Mass.

Why Reading Fiction Made Me a Better Catholic

How reading fiction became a crucial step in my conversion to the Catholic Church.

Sister Aloysius Says, “Pray, Pray, Pray.” By Linda Etchison Illustrated by Denise Plumlee-Tadlock

Sister Aloysius teaches children how to be active in their prayer life.

Feel-Good Books For Pandemic Summer

Book Therapy to chase the blues away

My Name is Philomena By Fr. Peregrine Fletcher, O. Praem

Who was St. Philomena, daughter of light?