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.

Joan Carroll Cruz has clearly spent years researching these very detailed accounts of 36 Eucharistic Miracles dating from the 8th century all the way up to 1970. Each story is carefully related according to the details known today which often include scientific confirmation and papal recognition of the miracles as well as photographs of reliquaries and hosts that remain intact even today. The stories are fascinating and certainly provide aid to people's faith through these very real testaments to the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. While these stories are probably written primarily with adults in mind, I was very surprised and delighted when my first-communion aged daughter brought me this book to read to her and repeatedly asked me to read a little to her each night until we had finished the entire book! Highly recommended.

This book can easily be incorporated into a History study as it is organized by date. I have also included references to the stories in this book on my history reading timeline at this website and at ReadingYourWayThroughHistory.blogspot.com

This book may be purchased from any Catholic booksellers that carry TAN Books.

When you study the Bible, do you find yourself confused by how what you're reading fits in with other parts of the Bible? Wouldn't it be nice to have an easy visual resource that helps you connect the pieces together and start to get a better sense of the whole? This may be just what you're looking for. This colorful six-page laminated fold-out chart (written by Scott Hahn!) is a handy reference guide to have by your side when studying the Bible. It has brief, but helpful overviews on the following topics: What is the Bible? The Shape of the Bible? Who Wrote the Bible? What Belongs in the Bible? The Bible and the Church Interpreting the Bible Your Reading Program The Books of the Bible Where to Find... The last two sections constitute the bulk of this resource and, I believe, will be very helpful to many students of the Bible. The "Books of the Bible" segment provides brief overviews of each book of the Old and New Testaments (including information on the Deuterocanonical books - those that have been left out of Protestant Bibles) and provides a helpful understanding of the major sections in both the Old and New Testament. The "Where to Find..." section provides an easy to follow chart of major events from the Bible and what passage they can be found in. This section is divided into the following segments: Old Testament: Stories of the World's Beginning Stories of the Patriarchs Stories of Moses and the Exodus Stories of the Conquest and the Judges Stories of the United Kingdom Stories of the Divided Kingdoms Stories of the Exile and After Prophecies of Christ New Testament: Jesus' Life - the Mysteries of the Rosary Other Events in Jesus' Life Jesus' Parables The Birth of the Church The Sacraments The Bible in the Mass Some Famous Sayings I think it's particularly nice for busy homeschool moms to be able glance through this reference and find exactly what they're looking for. It also looks to be excellent for independent high school (and upper grade school) studies. You don't have to look very many years back to find a time in which Catholics had to purchase Protestant materials in order to find such helpful, colorful Bible resources. This is happily no longer the case! Here, not only do you find relevant Biblical information, but also explanations of things like basic Catholic teaching on the relationship of Scripture and Tradition and where our Bible came from. This chart also goes nicely with Scott Hahn's little Pocket Guide to the Bible (79 pgs, approximately 4x6 in.) which includes a great deal of the content found on this resource, but with more extensive explanations and less in the way of charts and overviews.

Teen Catechism is a nice entry point into the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In spite of its name, Teen Catechism could be used by an adult convert or any person who wants a solid introduction to or review of our Catholic faith. It follows the topic sequence of the Catechism, covering the Creed, the Sacraments, Morality, and Prayer in its 36 chapters.

Each chapter begins with a passage quoted from another source which is selected as a lead-in to the chapter's topic. The purpose is to raise questions in the reader's mind, or make him aware that there is a question involved. This is followed by a "Some Say" section which is a wrong or incomplete version of the answer. Then there is a "The Catechism Teaches" section which contains quotes from the Catechism on that topic, and "We Catholics Believe" which translates the CCC quotes into everyday language. The "Reflection" is a quote from Scripture or a saint's writings which allows one to meditate further on the topic. Each chapter concludes with "In my Life" a series of open-ended questions which lead the reader to ponder how to apply the stated truths of the chapter to his life. Finally, there is a Prayer and a glossary of theological terms used in the chapter.

The layout is very clear and easy to follow. A variety of fonts are used to distinguish the different parts of the chapter from each other. Brief Scripture verses introduce and conclude the meditations. There is at least one black and white illustration per chapter, either a photograph or a sketch related to the topic. The strategy within the chapters is somewhat similar to St Thomas Aquinas's layout in the Summa Theologicae — a question, some objections, then a reply to the objections. This approach is well suited to the world we live in today, where we often hear a multiplicity of different opinions on a topic, and it is difficult to sort out which is closest to the traditional teachings of the Church.

The book could easily be used in a discussion group, or even as topics for personal devotions. It would be easy to plan "extensions" or further study on a given topic, either by looking into what the Catholic Catechism says in full, or by doing further research on the saints and other people mentioned within the book.

So much of the time, the word "teen" is associated with trendy, lightweight resources, but this book is quite the opposite. It is a solid and thoughtful introduction to the basics of our Catholic faith. One caution for younger readers: in the sections on the 6th and 9th Commandments, the opening stories are of St Maria Goretti, and the story of Susannah and the wicked judges. While the stories are not unnecessarily graphic, they do cover the topic of rape and violence, and may need to be discussed by parents with their younger teenagers.