One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship

"One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship" by Mary Pope Osborne is the perfect cornerstone to teaching children about the religions of the world. It is almost like a coffee table book written for children. There are beautiful pictures and easy to follow text about the world's major religions including: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.I know what you are thinking! "Mary Pope Osborne? Isn't she the lady who wrote all of those Magic Tree House books?" Yup! It's the same author. Apparently she also has her degree in religion from the University of North Carolina, and has traveled all over the world including the Middle East and Asia. Interestingly, from the cover jacket info at least, it does not appear that she has children of her own.My son and I have been reading from "One World, Many Religions" in pieces, in relation to the other books from our current reading list. For example, after reading kiddie versions of the Bhagavad-Gita and Ramayana, we went back to "One World" and read the chapter on Hinduism. This made the picture of a monk feeding a monkey at a temple in honor of Hanuman, extra meaningful to my son. As soon as we finish "A Child's Garden of Torah", we will read the section on Judaism.

I bought this for my niece who does not attend church because she mentioned she was Christian (after she heard a friend say it). I explained to her that there were many types of practices within Christianity as well as numerous other religions. She was interested and I looked for a book to explain it enough that she could appreciate the similarities and differences, without boring her with long drawn out religious books. Well, not only did she love it, so did I! I knew the basic tenants of most of the religions discussed, but I was happy to find that I learned a few things I did not know within each chapter. It is detailed enough to give factual historic information, but written with a simplicity and is engaging enough to entertain a 10 year old and a 45 year old simultaneously! Thank you Mary Pope Osborne!

Got this for my granddaughter along with another book on world religions. We often have a difficult time explaining religion and faith to children...to adults too for that matter. This book does a very good job of answering questions that children might have and places those answers in the context of people's cultures. It explains how people of different faiths worship and what those people believe and why. The follow-up is pretty much up to the grown-ups and explaining one's own beliefs and culture. An important book and an easy read that might help us to understand one another a little better. Well done.

This has been a very good book to read to my young boys in order to give them an introduction to the world religions. I don't find it biased in any way, and it includes some beautiful photographs. It has enough detail to be interesting for an adult to read, but it's certainly not in depth either.

A book that is simple, easy to read, and understand. Introducing children to religion is tricky. Finding a simple yet accurate description for the most actively practiced religions is tough but this book does a fantastic introduction. I wanted my children to learn about all religions and this one tops them all. The pictures are real life photos and not drawings, they are excellent. I recommend this to any child or family with young children who desire to broaden their horizons and get a taste for religion.

Mary Pope Osborne has been a favorite of my daughter's for two years. She immediately picked up this book and began reading. It is so important for our children to learn about the many faiths to which people in our world cleave. Osborne presents each of the major religions in an illuminating, fair, and systematic manner.If someone is looking for their own faith to be held up among the rest, then they should avoid this book. Christianity is given no better position than Hinduism, which is exactly how a book like this should be. Still, I can imagine angry zealots railing away that their "one true faith" is mistreated and compared unfairly to the "lesser" faiths. There is no reasonable comeback to such criticism - walk away.I am happy to find that there are a few books out there that will serve to educate, not indoctrinate my children about religion and its role in various societies.

While better than most, this is yet another book with a Christian Eurocentric bias. Take a minute to google and you’ll discover this book isn’t covering the biggest religions by followers. It’s covering religions most important to a Eurocentric viewpoint. Christianity is presented first as an assumed baseline, rather than building from Judaism as a timeline base for Abrahamic religion. It is also given a second slot on the timeline as Protestantism and Catholicism are treated separately only there, while no other religion is further broken down into sects. Multiple non-Abrahamic religions are lumped together, treated together and given only as many pages as any one of the Abrahamic religions. The Bible is treated as a factual reference work with text references, though texts of other religions are mentioned only in passing. This bias seems unconscious. Like trying to paint the world while looking out a window, the things close up seem more important to the artist/author.

Mary Pope Osborne, author of The Magic Treehouse series, wrote a fantastic book introducing kids to the world's major religions. The pictures are gorgeous, with real families and people captured worshipping. This book makes no judgments, just presents each religion in photos and lovely descriptions.