faith

faith is written by Maya Ajmere, Nagda Nakassia and Cynthia Pon. It's photographs are submitted many photographers around the world.  It was published  by Charlesbridge in 2009.

What a beautifully constructed, enjoyable book.

 faith is a nonfiction book that looks at religions around the world through beautiful photographs. This book is part of the Global Fund for Children Books, (www.globalfundforchildren.org) which is a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. It's purpose is to "advance the dignity of children and youth around the world" and "teach young people to value diversity and help them become productive and caring citizens of the world." (back endpaper)

I am not much of a religious person.  I have my beliefs and raise my children in a way that any questions that they have are answered. If I cannot answer them because of my lack of religious background, I find someone who can.

Because of my personal background and beliefs about religion, it gave me great happiness to see this book focusing on the similarities between us all, and not the differences.  I thought they way that the text explained how all religions were similar -- "We show our faiths through what we wear...We celebrate with festivals...We visit holy places" -- was smart.  First bringing the attention to how our religions make us similar, and then going to the pictures to explain the differences allows the reader to relate to the text, no matter the beliefs.  My favorite picture is where the Buddhist monk is sitting with a class of young Christian children at Sunday School in Sri Lanka.  This draws me in because it is the first photograph of people of different religions enjoying each other's company.  The accompanying text says, "We listen to and learn from others."  I feel as though this should be the basis in life, no matter what we are talking about.  Everyone has a difference of opinion on practically every topic out there, but if we could listen and learn from others, it would make the world a much more peaceful place.

Each page had photographs that were on a background of bright color.  The photographs show people happy in their religion, enjoying the traditions that are sacred within their beliefs.  This allows for the reader to have positive feelings towards what they see in the photographs, whether they also follow that religion or not.

I think this would be a good book to share with students in the classroom.  Students want to bring up religion often, and talk to you about what they believe.  Although teaching a specific religion in public school is not acceptable, this book would be a fantastic catalyst to broaden students' knowledge about all of the religions available.