Young Mary of Nazareth

A life of the Blessed Virgin Mary for children illustrated with masterpieces of art. Unfortunately it contains inaccuracies about the Virgin Birth of Christ, mentioning Mary suffering pain associated with childbirth.

Young Jesus of Nazareth by Marianna Mayer. Epiphany library section 9 A: Juvenile (gr. K-5), Religion and Values. This volume is signed by the author. Information for this story comes from the books of Matthew and Luke as well as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Legends of Jesus’ youth developed in the early centuries of Christianity and were continually expanded through the Dark Ages and Middle Ages. The story begins, of course, with the journey to Bethlehem, and ends with Christ’s baptism and the Beatitudes printed in gold capital letters from The Sermon on the Mount.
Illustrations are by famous artists such as Edward Burne-Jones (a favorite of mine, one of the founders, along with William Morris, of the arts and crafts movement), show more Caravaggio and Murillo as well as James Tissot, who is not the greatest colorist that ever lived. Did he really use the drab, muddy colors as shown or did his paint colors severely break down over the years due to some malfunctioning paint recipe? His paintings do, however, fit the story text and move the story along. Mayer has also written a book called Young Mary of Nazareth, also in our library in the same section, with a format that matches this book. They make a very nice set. Read this with your child and then discuss what life might have been like for a little boy way back in Jesus’ time. If your child has a hard time imagining this, we have a very large coffee table book about Israel, with gorgeous photographs, which you can look at together to try to better imagine life 2000 years ago in Judea. We also have some videos about Christ’s birth and life that might be helpful, as well as numerous books about the life of Jesus and events in his ministry. show less