ONE WORLD, MANY RELIGIONS
By Mary Pope Osborne
Knopf, 1996
Category: Middle-grade Nonfiction
I suggested this book as our next read aloud and the boys were, well, skeptical. I am using skeptical here, of course, as a euphemism for “convinced I was a nutball”. They rolled their eyes, they humphed (they literally say the word “Humph!” with their arms crossed and their chins jutted; its adorable), they moaned and groaned. I waited patiently for them to finish; then I started the book.
The questions began on the Table of Contents page:
Them: “What is Judaism?”
Me: “It’s the title of the first chapter. And it’s the religion practiced by Jewish people.”
Them: “Really?”
Me: “Truly.”
Them: “Humph!”
And on page 1:
Them: “The story of Judaism begins in Iraq? Iraq? The country where the war is?”
Me: “Yes.”
Them: “Humph!”
And so on and so on for seventy-eight pages. The boys had questions about familiar religions and ones they have no experience with, they had questions about worship, about differences and about myths and sacred stories. It was great for me to check in with them on these topics. And, to be honest, I was sorely in need of a primer on the world’s major religions myself. ONE WORLD, MANY RELIGIONS is broad in scope, useful, informative, well-written, and well-researched. I recommend it highly … humphs and all.
