Faith

Gr 3–6—This brief overview of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism emphasizes what these religions have in common, with the goal of promoting tolerance and respect. The book begins promisingly with a clear definition of faith. However, the text—organized by themes such as clothing, symbols, and places of worship—is extremely limited and incomplete. Many statements are overly broad, and several sections are repetitious. There are only a few references to holidays and almost nothing on rites of passage (birth, coming of age, marriage, death). Faith initially appears to be beautifully illustrated with color photographs from a number of countries. Unfortunately, there are no captions and many of the photos are unclear or irrelevant, resulting in confusion. The book includes a minimal glossary but lacks a bibliography. Far superior, and more comprehensive, are Mary Pope Osborne's skillfully written One World, Many Religions (Knopf, 1996); David Self's thorough The Lion Encyclopedia of World Religions (Lion, 2009); and Laura Buller's colorful A Faith Like Mine (DK, 2005).—Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY