I wrote a devotional for children about the Saints between September 2020 and January 2021, mostly while sitting in a coffee shop wearing a mask. I did not realize that my name would be anywhere on the cover of this book (it’s on the back). It took me about six months to even check Amazon to see how the book was doing, not because I didn’t want to know, but because I was really scared of internet meanies.
I finally managed to check.
The devotional has over one hundred reviews on Amazon, most of which are very positive, and for good reasons. The publishing company, Thomas Nelson, is incredible, and the illustrations, (a la Isabel Muñoz — The Bright Agency) are lovely. Fun publishing tidbit: writers don’t get much input on the illustrations. I had exactly zero interactions with Isabel. My devotional content is very workable for the purpose: introducing a middle-grader (anyone in that 8-12 age range) to just a fraction of the thousands of Saints.
I read some of the negative reviews, and I didn’t find my internet meanie. I did find several examples of the traditionally Catholic practice of having a problem with the way that someone wrote about the Saints. Before I respond to a few of these (in a place where the original poster will almost certainly never see it), I want to start by saying that I’m grateful for these comments, which are all thoughtful engagements with things I wrote. As a writer, you can’t ask for more.
3-star review (titled “Not Quite Catholic”): I’m confused about this book and May return it. Many Saints days don’t match up with the Roman Catholic Saints Calendar.
If it seems like this book was written by someone who was confused about the Church calendar – it was. When I started writing, I did not understand how much weight was given to the date of death of any individual Saint. Now I know. Instead of following Alban Butler’s Lives of Saints or some other format that had a very distinct listing of each day, I did more picking and choosing. I wanted to include every Saint who is celebrated at mass, which takes up half(ish) of the days of the year. Some of those celebrated Saints had the audacity to die on the same date, so people got shuffled around. Also, I wanted to include some more contemporary individuals who are on the track to Sainthood, and I found places to fit them in. If I did it again, I’d do it differently, but there it is.
Another 3-star review: This is such a cute book, but I was highly disappointed in the writing quality and the choice of information the author chose to include for each saint. Even aimed at a younger audience, this just wasn't engaging or had the writing tone I was looking for. I bought it as a gift for a friend joining RCIA as an intro to the saints and I returned it.
I must admit that, as someone who was in RCIA myself roughly seven years ago, that stings, but I get it. This book was published by a non-Catholic publishing house, so I engaged in a lot of circumlocution. Saints who promoted Eucharistic adoration “encouraged people to spend time just sitting with Jesus in prayer,” and so on. A Saint A Day is supposed to be accessible to readers that have never been to a Catholic mass and have no previous context for the veneration of the Saints.
1-star Review (I think it’s the only one): I’m so sorry. This looked to be a great book but when I saw the author wrote that Our Lady “wasn’t even married” when she found out she would have a baby...
The Church does not teach that Mary was an unwed mother! Talk to your parish priest or any theologian who can explain “betrothed”.
And finally for the theological party foul, in which I say that Mary was not married when the angel Gabriel stops by… that one is my mistake. I chose the wrong wording. At the time of The Annunciation, Mary and Joseph were betrothed – that is, the legal stuff was said and done, but she didn’t live in his house yet. But what I was trying to draw out in that devotional was Mary’s sense of surprise. Gabriel (who may have looked like a giant on fire) appeared to her when she was totally alone and told her that everything in her life was about to change. She asked him one (just one) question, and she followed it up with, “Whatever God wants is what I want, too.”
Amazing.
Here’s what I learned from reading those reviews: it is an act of humility to champion your own work. I had such a hard time even talking about A Saint A Day while I was writing it, and that was pride. That was 112% pride.
It is an act of humility to say, “Here it is!” whatever “it” might be.
And it takes humility to resist apologizing when someone compliments you on anything that is yours: your music, your art, your cooking, your backyard, your character, your spouse, your children…. More humility than I have at this point, but I’m working on it.
That said, a few weeks ago, I entered a prose piece this writing contest: 2022 Assumption of Mary Writing Contest — Catholic Literary Arts. I spent a couple hundred words comparing Our Lady to my very favorite literary arachnid (Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web). And… I’m a finalist for the contest! The piece will be published on their website next week, and I’ll share a link to it in my next post.
Thanks, as always, for letting me share words with you. It means a lot.
Hey! I admire your humility and courage in sharing your work and the less-than-five-star reviews that came along with it! There is always bound to be criticism when we share our work with the public, but you have chosen to accept it and learn from it. Kudos to you!
We enjoy your book in our house and it’s plenty “Catholic” for us. It’s a great introduction and often leaves us wanting to know more! Those reviewers need to get out of their adult minds and think about how it would impact a child. Beautiful work, Meredith! I look forward to reading your essay! ♥️