Catholic Children's Treasure Box {Book Review}

Catholic Children's Treasure Box

A lot of Catholic preschool & kindergarten programs reference the Catholic Children’s Treasure Box. None of them, however, tell me WHAT they contain. The Catholic Children’s Treasure Box is a reprint of a children’s magazine by the Mary Knoll sisters in the late 50’s.

Let me start by saying that I really love these. I bought them for my them 3 year old and she would bring me the whole stack at once. Each issue of the Catholic Children’s Treasure Box has the same essential format. The inside front and back covers have information on the contents for the parents to be able to expand upon the topics if necessary.

The beginning has a story about a major Catholic figure that is continued from book to book. It starts with St. Therese and goes to others. I only have 1-10 (there are 20) so I’m not sure who else might be covered. There is a continuing story about an African boy name Sunny & his guardian angel, Wupsy. Many times the book contains a rebus (stories with pictures in place of words), which my daughter loves!

There are games to play & crafts to make with seemingly nothing, that obviously harken from a simpler time. Children, however, don’t change because my daughter wants to do them all. I would say that a 7 or 8 year old would be able to do them though. The rest of the Catholic Children’s Treasure Box contains poems or stories with morals where the child learns a lesson. Finally, the back cover has a poem about a child with a bad habit or character trait.

I love that these aren’t dumbed down. The theology behind these seems advanced compared to what is currently available. They are totally not politically correct, but I’m not the type that cares :). The illustrations are simple but pretty and they way they are broken down, it’s not something that needs to be read all at once.

Overall, I adore these and think that any Catholic home with small children needs to have these books. The best price I’ve ever seen is $39.99 for Vol. 1-10, or vols. 11-20 at Catholic Heritage Curricula, though they are available at many other online Catholic booksellers.