Summary

A young girl, her brother, and her father tour the Archdiocese of San Franciso. Their tour guide, Sister Barbara, teaches them about Catholic churches while they all sketch out the details.

 

Review

Catholic Churches Big and Small is a fantastic book. Fantastic! The author, Stefan Salinas, toured the Archdiocese of San Fransisco as a part of his conversion to Catholicism.  It is this intimacy that really shines through in every one of his drawings. Take, for example, this image from the author’s book blog, of St. Dominic Catholic Church in San Francisco.

 

A simple storyline only adds to the stunning imagery. Simple words that roll off the tongue – perfect for a read aloud to curious toddlers and preschoolers – walk the reader through Catholicism in all its beauty.  There are sketches of multiple Catholic churches, close ups of common Catholic symbolism, reproductions of statues of saints and angels, and also items found inside our churches.  Toddlers will be mesmerized. Preschoolers will be fascinated. And young children will be genuinely interested.  I think that even the older elementary child would enjoy this book as a sort of dictionary of Catholic terms (homeschoolers I’m looking at you, here!) and, as Salinas suggests on his website “an introduction to the art and architecture of the Catholic Church.” In fact, my own seven year old boy has big plans to trace the church sketches onto Shrinky Dink plastic so that he can “make a collection.”

I’ll leave you with this, another from the author’s book blog.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book nor did it affect the content of my review.

What You Need to Know

• Role Models/Authority Figures – A nun takes children on a city-wide church viewing field trip
• Violence -None
• Sexual Content – None
• Consumerism – None.
• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs – None
  
• Religion – Faithful representation of Catholic churches; Editing quibble: Eucharist isn’t capitalized nor is First Communion.
  
• Other –
• Awards