Books published by publisher Parachute Press

The 80,000 copy bestseller, now in a larger sizeBaptism is one of the most important events in a child’s life, and My Baptism Book is a perfect gift to mark the occasion. Gentle, enchanting illustrations bring to life the simple teachings about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that are appropriate for the youngest of children. Includes brief, meaningful prayers, poems, scriptures, and blessings, a Baptism Gift inscription page, and a ribbon marker. This book for ages 0-8 – which has already sold more than 80,000 copies in its original, smaller edition – is a popular and well-loved gift.

One of the most meaningful stories ever written…“You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they traveled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of the Other Wise Man?” So begins Henry van Dyke’s Christmas classic, told in the manner of the great fairy tales—and like a great fairy tale, it couldn’t be more true! This beautiful edition is designed so that you can read The Other Wise Man as it is intended to be read—slowly.His name was Artaban, and he told his doubting friends why he wanted to travel far away to see the promised king: “It has been shown to me and to my three companions among the Magi—Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. We have searched the ancient tablets of Chaldea and computed the time. We have studied the sky. We saw a new star there, which shone for one night and then vanished. Now again the two great planets are meeting. This night is their conjunction.”Try as he might, Artaban was unable to join the three Magi on that historic night. But as it turns out, he had even more important things to do—and he learned what it really means to know God.

“This urge to draw something beyond spectacular would not leave my side. ‘What should I draw?’ I thought. I sat quietly, listening to my mind and heart. That's when I heard their whisper and I decided to draw God.” Emma tries again and again and again to draw God, but her classmates can’t see God in any of her drawings. Emma finally realizes that she doesn’t need their approval. “I knew I had drawn God. God knew I had drawn God, and maybe Picasso knew, too. That finally felt like enough.” But when Emma returns to school on the following Monday, something beyond spectacular happens. Drawing God is a story for children to discover what inspires their very own faith imagination and to realize the contagious faith that lives powerfully within them. Celebrate World Drawing God Day on November 7th. Visit www.drawing-god.com.

A beautiful, personal, priestly reflection on the importance of Eucharistic adoration in Catholic life. Father Dajczer wants you to discover the joy and profound gift that comes when we truly encounter Jesus in the Eucharist.“This book is an exceptional commentary on Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. It is in the Eucharist that we experience the affinity, communion, and mutual love that can transform us into This One who has first loved us.” —from the Foreword by Archbishop Joseph Michalik, Metropolitan of Praemislia and Chairman of the Polish Conference of Bishops

Every child will enjoy this thoughtful and beautiful gift of prayer. This colorful collection has prayers for each day of the week—morning and evening—plus prayers for use in the home throughout the seasons of the year. This very keepable collection includes both familiar favorites and new writing, including some psalms and prayers taken from other famous Bible passages.With a theme for each day (Choosing the Right Way; God's Blessing; Forgiving and Forgiven; Living Wisely; Love One Another; God's World; A Child of God) the prayers provide a mini-liturgy that can become part of a child’s life.

Written for 7-11 year olds, this playful guide appeals to kids who want to know more about what adults are telling them is a serious time. Without talking down to them, and challenging them to learn and do more, the following topics are explored in detail: What Lent Is, What Lent Definitely Is Not, 40 Days of Survival Tactics, and A Few Prayers and Practices – Only for Kids.From What Lent Definitely Is Not:People easily become confused on this subject. In fact, we’re glad you are reading this book, because we want to set you, at least, straight. You can then please set others straight.Lent is not about “giving up” silly things. It is not about making sad faces to show how difficult life has suddenly become for you. (Need we start explaining how most of the world would think that giving up candy bars or soda for 40 days sounds just plain silly? According to Bread for the World, 925 million people around the world go hungry each day. So please don’t talk about the terrible hardship you are undergoing by giving up M&M’s and Coca-Cola for a few weeks.)So instead of focusing on what you may give up, take time to consider why you may do it. You give stuff up for Lent because you want to become a better Christian. You are testing yourself – and allowing God to test you – to see if, by giving up something that maybe you are too focused on in everyday life, you can concentrate more on him.

Still Pilgrim is a collection of poems that chronicles the journey of life as seen through the eyes of a keenly-observant friend and fellow traveler. The reader accompanies the Still Pilgrim as she maps universal terrain, navigating the experiences that constitute her private history yet also serve to remind the reader of his or her own moments of enlightenment, epiphany, and encounter with mystery. Each of the 58 poems of the collection marks a way station along the pilgrimage where the Pilgrim and reader might pause and ponder before continuing with the inevitable march forward.At the center of this travel book lies a paradox: the Pilgrim's desire for the gift of stillness amid the flux and flow of time, change, and circumstance. "Be still and know that I am God," sings the Psalmist, channeling the voice of the divine. "Teach us to care and not care. Teach us to sit still," prays the poet, T.S. Eliot. Still Pilgrim depicts and embodies this human dilemma--our inevitable movement through time, moment by moment, day by day, and the power of art to stop both time and our forward march, to capture the present moment so we might savor the flavor of life."The Still Pilgrim's history consists of flashes of joy and visitations of sorrow, engagement with saints and with artists (the Pilgrim's personal patron saints), epiphanies sparked by words and songs and stories, revelations triggered by encounters with beauty and terror. The reader who perseveres through these poems is no longer merely a reader--he or she is a partner in pilgrimage and a friend. These poems have become your poems, this story your story, bespeaking our (un)common beginnings and our equally (un)common end." -- Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, from the Afterword

Margaret — The Pope's Cat — is back! Illustrated in full color.Bang! Slam! Boom! Loud sounds in St. Peter's Square had been going on for nearly an hour already. Margaret was annoyed, because as you may know, cats like to sleep. A lot.The apartment where Margaret lives with the Pope, ever since he adopted her off the streets of Rome, looks out onto St. Peter’s Square. And the noises down there kept waking Margaret up.She rolled over, covering her ears with her paws.A few minutes later, the sounds began again, as more trucks arrived to unload even more chairs. Beep, beep, beep, beep went the trucks as they backed up to where men in yellow jackets were waiting to unload them. Then came Bang! Slam! Boom! all over again, as the men arranged the chairs in rows facing the portico of St. Peter’s Basilica.All of this was in preparation for a special event to take place the following day, Christmas.-----In this delightful new story from their lives, the Pope takes Margaret on a tour of St. Peter's. But when he's called away to work, Margaret gets lost in the world's largest church. She meets saints, children, tourists, and the artist Michelangelo's famous statue, The Pieta, before being reunited with the Pope as Midnight Mass is about to begin.

This delightful keepsake may be the gift-of-choice for chidren this Christmas, as a profound but simple way to remind them that faith—and life—are everlasting. My Heaven Book includes prayers that are easy to commit to memory and to say throughout the day, along with very simple expressed statements of Christian belief that are appropriate for the youngest of chidren.The message of My Heaven Book is one of God's eternal love and care. For ages 0-8.