Books with Kids: “The King of the Golden City”

March is here, and it’s time for a new book in our house! In January and February, we read new books. They were great stories of our patron saint, St. Thomas Aquinas, and of the angels. This month, we’ll be rereading “The King of the Golden City”, by Mother Mary Loyola.

“The King of the Golden City” is an allegory, showing the relationship between a young child and Jesus, as a way of sharing with children what it is like to receive Jesus into our hearts and souls in Holy Communion. We read this a few years ago, when Chickadee was preparing for First Holy Communion. This year is Sweet Pea’s turn, and I’m so excited to read this again with her and the whole family. My hope is to excite her about making her First Holy Communion, and open her mind and heart to the beauty and joy of a deepening relationship with Jesus. I hope it will also renew the love for the Eucharist in Chickadee, and encourage the boys to look forward to the day they are old enough for receiving the Eucharist, as well.

When I was buying books to prepare Sweet Pea for First Holy Communion last fall, I learned about a study guide available for parents to use with the story. I thought it might be nice to have some supplementary ideas of discussion to unpack the story with, so I went ahead and bought it. Last night I finally spent some time reviewing it, and I’m looking forward to using it. There is more to the study guide than I think we’ll be using (I am looking to simplify our lives right now, and too many study ideas is just overwhelming), but they are fabulous ideas to enrich the story and deepen even our adult appreciation of the Eucharist. Each chapter has topics to read about in the Catechism (for the kids, we’ll look at the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism, which has concise answers), discussion topics, Scripture verses, suggestions for growing in holiness, and quotes from Carmelite saints. It is so rich! I think by the time we read and study this with our 5th, we will still be learning more.

Tomorrow we will begin with the first chapter, and I’ll check back in soon with some of our family book study activities and discussions.