Advent is not over despite what TV and radio says. Advent still has several days to go.

One way for parents to do something simple yet exceptional with their children for the rest of the days of Advent and prepare them to greet Jesus the Christ Child and his Mother Mary and Joseph on Christmas day is to read with them the Bible Characters for Advent.

Get this beautifully written and illustrated book in print form or download it for FREE! That’s right! No catches! More on this feature in a minute, but first a little about the book itself.

This is the kind of book for youngsters that only comes along now and then, like the annual delivery from Santa when he pulls a nice surprise from his bag. But this one is even better than what the jolly old Santa brings. Why?

Because it brings us to what Advent and Christmas is really about, and in such a joyful way. Husband and wife writers-illustrators Theresa & Charles Pobee-Mensah start with God the Father at Creation and pick important characters and prophets from the Old Testament for each day. They tell little highlights about each one of them on the book’s left-side page. And then comes another surprise.

On the facing right-side page, the authors make a connection about how this person or event hinted at the coming birth of Jesus the Messiah somewhere in the future years, or in some way was connected to the birth we celebrate at Christmas.

Children from a wide span of ages — and I also think adults reading the story with them — can learn these fact, see how things fit together and build up to the main event — the birth of Jesus on Christmas.

At the same time, the illustrations are so beautifully done that children will want to linger over them and maybe ask some neat questions about the folks in them. And get to use their imaginations at the same time.

Bible Characters for Advent is a real joy, folks. Mom Theresa and dad Charles initially wrote the book for their son, their little Advent baby, Charlie. What a present it was, and what a gift it is now that they are sharing the book with potentially countless other children and parents.

Both are graduates of Franciscan University in Steubenville. And the book also has an imprimatur from Steubenville’s Bishop Jeffrey Monforton. It’s a rare children book to get an imprimatur.

Speaking of getting something, you can buy the book from the Poebee-Mensah’s at MyJesseTree.com or through Amazon.com linked on the writers’ website too. There you can also meet the authors and their Charlie. We did feature the book in the Register’s Last-Minute Christmas Guide.

Or you can download the book for FREE right now from My Jesse Tree. This way you won’t lose any more Advent days, and you can easily start at the beginning (“It’s a very good place to start,” sang Maria in Sound of Music) and come right up to the current character of the day. Then you can go ahead and buy a print copy and have it ready for next year.