The First Christians: The Acts of the Apostles for Children

I bought this book for my 8-year-old daughter; after reading it myself, I decided against giving it to her.

To give it credit, it is a very well-written retelling of the Acts of the Apostles for children (something that is surprisingly difficult to find). But the author seems to be unable to resist throwing in odd little asides, some of which reinterpret the Acts in a completely anachronistic and Roman Catholic way.

We are Episcopalians, leaning towards the Catholic end of that church, and have read with our children many books of saints etc. that are aimed at Catholic children -- we have no problems with the Catholic perspective per se. But, to give a couple of examples: we are told that, during the period that the Acts describes, "Our Lady" was attending the Temple and responsible for the birth of the Contemplative Orders, while the apostles whose activities are described in Acts started the Active Orders, both of which are needed in the Church -- a grafting back onto primitive Christianity of medieval monasticism. Elsewhere, when we are told of martyrs professing that they are Christians, the readers are instructed that where they read "Christian" they can understand "Catholic" (note: this book was first published under the title of "The First Catholics"). Another example of a different sort: after telling the story of Ananias and Sapphira (itself a rather gruesome story for children, but anyway), the author hectors the reader about how much God hates hypocrisy (which is no doubt the case, but it is stated in a way frightening for young children), and then goes on to speculate quite gratuitously about whether the couple struck dead for lying to Peter were then sent to the torments of Hell. Almost every page or two there is a jarring note like this.

In my judgement, it is not an appropriate book for young children. Non-Catholic parents who want their children to read it to get an idea of the early church should, I think, read it with them, so as to address the frequent distortions of Scripture. I imagine that even Catholic parents might have some qualms about their children reading such a "partisan" and unscriptural account of the first decades of the Church.

What a great book. My kids love this book and so do I. When reading aloud, you can answer any questions they have but it brings the acts of the Apostles alive for them. I highly recommend this book.