here can be no better time to teach children about world faiths. A straightforward task? I doubt it. Learning about a faith is not like learning about the internal combustion engine; it can’t be done simply by the naming of parts. Yet, at the primary school stage, this is often the best option available. We describe the outward show and skate over the profound meanings.

That said, Celebrations! does the outward show commendably well. Teaching about a religion by approaching it through its festivals is a well-trodden path, but Heinemann avoids the pitfall of an over-complex approach. Sentences are brief, factual, and direct, and the books are accessible to children right across key stage 2. There is a limp gesture at including art and craft (make an Easter chick with pipe-cleaners, or a rangoli pattern with lentils and glitter), but this is a minor flaw.

How far are children taken along the path to understanding faith itself? Not very far, but then it would be too much to expect otherwise. Nevertheless, they are started on a journey of exploration that we must all make if we are even to begin to understand how blind religious faith can cause people to choose to die in hate, rather than to live in love.