Stations of the Cross for Kids

by Regina Doman, Chris Lewis (Illustrator)

 
Let us follow our dear Lord Jesus as he travels the Way of the Cross. He is asking us to follow him. 
 
Are you afraid?
 
 Jesus himself was afraid to walk this painful journey, but out of love for us, he did so. So for love of him, we follow .  
 
This fully illustrated version of the traditional Stations of the Cross contains new meditations by children's author Regina Doman (Angel in the Waters) along
  Detailed pictures complement the text and allow the reader to follow Christ and his Mother as they make their way through the streets of Jerusalem on the way to Calvary. 
 

40 pages, Paperback

Published January 12, 2021

About the author

Regina Doman is a Catholic wife, mother, author and editor. Currently she runs her own company, Chesterton Press, which publishes and distributes quality Catholic fiction. When she worked as the editor of Sophia Institute Press' fiction line, she launched the popular John Paul 2 High series for teens, and Rachel's Contrition became a #1 Best Seller in Amazon's Women's Fiction category, and winner of the 2011 Catholic Arts and Letters Award for best adult fiction. As an author, she has written the Fairy Tale Novels, a series of books for teens and adults that places fairy tales in modern settings with Christian themes interwoven. The fifth book in that series, Alex O'Donnell and the 40 CyberThieves, won the 2011 Catholic Arts and Letters Award for best young adult fiction. In 2013, she published her longest and most challenging fairy tale novel yet, Rapunzel Let Down. Her only picture book Angel in the Waters has sold over 120,000 copies. In 2010 she was presented with the "In Defense of Sanity" award from the American Chesterton Society. Regina and her husband Andrew live in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley on a farmstead with their children. To the question, “How do you manage to get it all done?” Regina responds, “What makes you think I get it all done?”

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the eleventh volume from the pen of Regina Doman that I have read. I have actually had it for over a year before I got to reading it. Last year was very busy. And then over the year I stuck with version I know well. I try and pray a Stations each day during Lent, and at least Fridays throughout the year. I enjoyed this one so much I picked up the eBook edition so I could give the physical copy to my son. There was some significant controversy around this volume last year. FB blocked adds for it as too graphic, and repeatedly censored posts by the author, the publisher and reviewers. It is an excellent edition. My only complaint is that in the eBook edition each page is a picture and text to speech adaptive technology does not work with it. I would love if there was an audio download available to pray along with. But even with those two it is a version I can easily recommend for children and to be honest to be read and prayed by people of any age.

The first page is a history of the stations and the next two are guides to using this version of the stations. That second page states:

“Within each station, you will find the following:

Each station has a street scene with many people. Try to follow Christ and his Mother on their way to Golgotha. Notice what the other people are doing. Who is helping Jesus? Who is hurting him? Who is not paying attention? What sorts of things are they doing? How are the things they are doing related to what is happening to Jesus? See the boy and girl in the top corner stealing apples from their neighbor’s tree. How is their story part of Jesus’s story?

Opening Responsorial
This prayer, probably created by St. Francis of Assisi, is prayed after each station is announced. It is also a good prayer to pray whenever you pass a Catholic church where the Eucharist is housed.

Priest (or leader): We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you
Response: Because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.

Prayer of Love to Jesus
This prayer was composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori for his well-loved Stations of the Cross and can be prayed after each meditation.

I love you, O Jesus my love, with all my heart.
I repent for ever having offended you.
Never let me offend you again.
Grant only that I may love you always,
and then do with me as you will.”

At the bottom of each station is the Stabat Mater in both English and Latin. On the second page of each station is a side bar, a way to go deeper, or learn more about the history, or event related to that station. The first page of each station is a full page artwork with the number and name of the station overlaid at the top of the page and the bottom has the ‘We adore you’ prayer. The sidebar on the first station is:

“Gabbatha:
The Stone Pavement

“When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha” (Jn 19:13). Where was Gabbatha, the place where Pilate condemned Jesus? For many years, it was thought that Pontius Pilate, must have questioned Jesus at the Antonian fortress. This was a tower close to the Temple, which was built by Herod the Great in honor of his patron, Marc Antony. But early historians wrote that the governor stayed in Herod’s palace on the western hill whenever he was in Jerusalem and used the pavement outside for judging criminals. Recent archeology has uncovered a pavement outside of Herod’s palace which fits their description of the praetorium used by Pilate.”

This is a wonderful version of the stations. There is so much details in the illustrations. You can go over them again and again. And the illustrations all overlap. A few are the same base image. I would love to print off copies in the same scale and overlay them to see the passion take place. This is an excellent stations of the cross. It is another great resource from Regina Doman and from TAN books. I highly recommend this for church, school, home use and as a library resource for each as well.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan!

[Alexandra Beckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the BEST children's Lenten book available. We pull this book out at the start of every Lent and pray through it on Fridays. I love it for the following reasons:

1. Rich symbolism and details in the artwork.
3. Each station has a Bible verse and a paragraph to explain the meaning.
3. Includes the Stabat Mater (13th-century Latin hymn that describes how the mother of Jesus stood beside the cross and suffered with her son) in English and Latin.
4. Sidebars on each station with informational blurbs.