The Way of the Cross: Holy Week, the Stations of the Cross, and the Resurrection

I came across this unusual little book, written by an Italian theologian, while looking for Lent/Holy Week reading for my 17-month-old. I knew it was too old for her, but my husband and I wanted it ourselves. So it sat on a high shelf until, two months later, my daughter spotted it, pulled it down, and became engrossed in the vivid pictures. Now it is her favorite Jesus book.What distinguishes this book from other children's books on the same subject is its liturgical attunement. The text carefully integrates this concern into its narrative. For example, framing a heavily Scriptural account of the Last Supper, we read: "For the last time, Jesus gathers with his disciples to commemorate how God liberated the people through the Passover...The Eucharist is the Church's Passover. Every year, on Holy Thursday -- the Thursday of Holy Week -- we commemorate how Jesus gave the Church the Eucharist at the Last Supper." (p. 14-15) The inside covers even contain, for handy reference, the Words of Jesus from the Cross, Words of the Risen Lord, and Regina Caeli, Laetare ("an Easter Prayer to Mary").Integrated into this community-centered structure, the Stations of the Cross encourage readers to relate through interior prayer, to "accompany Jesus on this sorrowful journey and relive his sorrow in our hearts." (p. 24)If the book has a weakness, it is probably language. (I got the feeling that this might have something to do with the problem of translation, but I'm not sure.) Word choice might prove a bit "high" for the taste of younger children or those who aren't especially fond of reading. The language is also occasionally, awkwardly harsh (a trial "based entirely on lies;" Pilate "washed his hands of the matter like a coward"), in a way that might discourage readers from seeing themselves in those who condemned Jesus.The pictures, whose style is influenced by both Eastern and Western medieval art, take up most of every page with brilliant colors and design. They too have a definite edge, with big, haunting eyes and a lot of blood (though very stylized, not graphic, of course). The pictures give the book an almost surreal, very special feeling that could draw a reader of any age into prayerful thought.Whatever reservations I've expressed here are, in my mind, more than made up for by the book's careful workmanship (structural, verbal, and pictoral) and the window it offers into regions of Christianity that are pretty scant in the average child's reading. Like my baby daughter, anyone who opens it will likely catch a flash of color that seems to demand a response ("Jesus!" "Hat!").