{"id":2072,"date":"2017-10-02T12:03:56","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2017-10-03T09:47:26","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T13:47:26","slug":"christmas-book-for-children-on-race-ethnicity-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/christmas-book-for-children-on-race-ethnicity-and-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Book for Children on Race, Ethnicity, and Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

After reading this book…”you and your children will never look at a\u00a0cr\u00e8che the same way again. That Baby in the Manger <\/em>is a wonderful starting point for family discussions on race, ethnicity and faith. ” —\u00a0 Paul Canavese and Ann Naffziger, co directors of GrowingUpCatholic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

This week at Paraclete we caught up with Anne E. Neuberger the author of a new children’s book for Christmas that is a powerful conversation starter!\u00a0 This is a timely book as parishes, congregations, and communities become more and more diverse, and national conversation about race and ethnicity increases.
\n\"\"Anne, can you give us a synopsis of the book?<\/p>\n

It is just a few d<\/strong>ays before Christmas and the first graders have gathered around the nativity scene in the front of their church.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The manger, however, is empty, as the Christ Child statue will not be placed in it until Christmas morning.\u00a0 The statue\u2019s absence causes a discussion amongst this multi-cultural group, and it becomes clear that they are bothered by the statue they remember (with blonde curls). Each child wants to identify with Jesus, but he doesn’t look like any of them!\u00a0 An inspired solution comes just in time for Christmas, and shows how Jesus and his love came down for all of us.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u00a0 makes this book unique?<\/p>\n

Christmas stories for children are not uncommon and fall into three basic categories. Some are religious and focus on the events in the nativity story in scripture.\u00a0 Some use this story and add new characters children will appreciate, such as a child shepherd or a \u00a0mouse that is a resident of the stable. Many books are secular, portraying fun holiday preparations and gift giving. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>THAT BABY IN THE MANGER<\/a> is clearly reflecting the scripture story but its theme is very contemporary: how can children of a variety of ethnicities in an urban, 21st<\/sup> century setting, identify with the child-God who came to earth \u00a0into\u00a0a very different a culture, centuries ago?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>We are raising our children in a secular society. It is a tremendous challenge to help them become aware of the spirituality in life. Our world is more commercial than any earlier generation.\u00a0 How can we do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>One way is through the use of stories. This ancient and very reliable method of passing on wisdom and heritage is still available to us.\u00a0 Story has the power to let us slip into someone else\u2019s life and emotions. Through stories we can experience another time and place. Add THAT BABY IN THE MANGER to a reading of a more traditional Christmas books. It can either open up a discussion about who Jesus is and how we experience\u00a0 Him , or help make the time we call Advent about Jesus and not about gift getting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>This book may encourage families to get or create their own nativity scene. Download a discussion and study guide, suitable for ages Pre-K-4th grade.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anne has also created an online activity and discussion guide to assist churches and families to discuss the themes of the book even further.<\/p>\n

Click here to read the book, or to place an order.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After reading this book…”you and your children will never look at a\u00a0cr\u00e8che the same way again. That Baby in the Manger is a wonderful starting point for family discussions on race, ethnicity and faith. ” —\u00a0 Paul Canavese and Ann … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paraclete-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}