Chats With God's Little Ones is a unique Catholic religion course for the youngest of students from pre-kindergarten up through the second grade. Written to the teacher, the lessons are designed to be used orally with the student in a Charlotte Mason three-step style of asking the child, answering with the child, and the re-telling by the child. The lessons are presented as guided scripts for the teacher, who can personalize them and adapt them to the needs and interest of the child. In the words of the author, "I have written a step by step guide to enable you to arouse the child's interest, apply the Faith to his daily life, and convey to him your love of Jesus and Mary and of the child himself. Our chief aim, after all, is to inflame his heart with love of God and His Holy Mother, and enkindle in him the desire to please God."

Chats With God's Little Ones is a 94 page, spiral-bound book with a laminated over. The binding allows the book to lie flat so that is can be used during the lesson time with the child. At first glance, the book seems very simple; it isn't! There are 63 lessons of new material arranged into 24 chapters, in addition to 24 review lessons, one at the end of each chapter. The lessons begin with the teaching of the basic Catholic prayers and the meaning of these prayers. The lessons continue with instruction in all of the basic catechism lessons, intermixed with an introduction to Bible History. The back of the book includes simple drawings and suggestions for art projects for each of the chapters. This is a full-year religion course for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade. It is designed to also be used in the first semester of Second Grade, with sacramental preparation taking place in the second semester.

I really like this course, and I am using it both in Kindergarten as an introduction to our Faith and in First Grade, with an eye toward mastery and understanding. In our family, we tend toward a Charlotte Mason-based approach in the youngest years, and the style of this course fits in very nicely.

Not just a catchy title, "Did Adam & Eve have Belly Buttons?" is an actual question posed by an eighteen-year-old boy. In fact, the whole book is organized around questions from teenagers about the faith. To make it easier to follow, the author has grouped them into twelve categories: God, Creation and Man, Religion and the Bible, Jesus Christ, Catholic Morality, etc.

Because of the layout of the book, the reader can either work his or her way through the book from front to back, or pick and choose topics of interest to him or her. For quick reference to find a particular question, there is also a topic/question index at the back of the book. With a total of 200 hundred questions, there are plenty to choose from! The revised edition includes over 800 Catechism and 500 Bible references to the same questions as in the original edition. At the end of the book, in addition to the index of questions, there is also a guide to confession, an examination of conscience, a list of resources, and a bibliography.

Some questions might be found in a Catechism, such as "What is hell?" Many, however, because they are posed by modern teenagers, are anything-but-typical... such as "Is it okay for Catholics to listen to non-Christian music?" In a way, the book is written by teenagers, and therefore should appeal to them. Although the answers are written in an easy to understand language, they are not watered down or silly, but serious, solid, and thought provoking.

Because of the nature of some of the questions concerning sex (there are just a small handful) I would not hand this book over to just any teen (remembering that these can range from 13 to 19 year olds). Since circumstances vary from family to family, the parents should take into account the maturity of the child, how they spend their time, and what kind of school or work they attend. Straightforward, honest and Catholic, the answers do not in any way arouse sexual curiosity. For example, in answer to a question about premarital sex, the author lists seventeen reasons to save sex for marriage.

Most of the questions in the book even a pre-teen could benefit from, such as "What is the difference between Catholic and Christian?"

While a young person may not pick up the Catechism of the Catholic Church voluntarily, he or she might be intrigued by the catchy title and want to read more and in the process enrich their faith.

Update from webmaster, March 2024: A revised edition came out in 2013, and the book details here are from that edition.

The world claims to have the answers, but what are they? Please yourself, answer to no one, claim your truth, reject any close-minded or intolerant positions, be tolerant and diverse and accepting of other truths, whatever they are, except if they are intolerant.

If these are the answers, what are the questions?

When young people ask themselves:

• Who am I?
• What do I want out of life?
• Why is everything so complicated?
• Where will I find true happiness? and
• How do I choose right from wrong in a world filled with so many different answers?

they want the truth, even if it is challenging.

Amy Welborn has written here.now. as a guide book for today's young people, Catholic and Christian. Welborn's style is light, breezy, funny and pointed: the truth is found in the Catholic Church, and if you don't understand why, it's simple: Because Jesus told us so.

She continuously rejects answers such as, "because there is a rule that says..." or "because the Church said so." Welborn reminds us that it's not about "have to" (as in "I have to go to Mass today", or "will I have to confess this sin?") She continues to bring us back to the thought that if we want to have a relationship with God, we can do it best by getting to know His Son, Jesus, and we figure out Jesus best by reading the Bible, going to Church, and receiving the sacraments. It's that simple.

I was prepared to find this book too simplistic, too small. It is a very thin book, only 118 pages with short paragraphs and an easy-to-read type face. However, I found myself totally absorbed in it, able to quickly understand it, and even came away from it with some easier ways to talk about the faith with my relatives and friends.

I think this book would be good for older teens ("mature" 14 or 15 and up, due to the chapter on morals) and young adults to read as an overview of our faith.

This would be a great gift for a confirmand, a fallen-away Catholic, a lukewarm relative, or any person who needs to figure out how to be a mature, adult Catholic in this Church. It is perfect for anyone who might not read something more in depth. I think this book serves a great purpose in being a short and brief but thorough description of the good life: life as a Catholic in full communion with Jesus though his church.