DECEMBER 2025 – WORLD Magazine has announced their top books for 2025, and The Sword: Magnus and the Mystery of Romans by Marty Machowski (New Growth Press) has been chosen as their Children’s Book of the Year.
The Sword (released September 8, 2025) follows the format of Machowski’s popular storybook studies such as The Ology and WonderFull. He weaves a Bible study with a fictional story, leading young readers on an adventure to unlock the mystery of the swords of Magnus while exploring Paul’s letter to the Romans. The Sword shares the story of Katana and Brant who find a wooden sword and ancient journal belonging to Magnus, a one-time gladiator who became a guard who watched over the apostle Paul while he was under house arrest. Their discovery leads the siblings on a quest to reveal the mystery of the swords by studying Magnus’s journal.
The Bible study portion of The Sword is presented as the study notes of Magnus. It was through his study of the gospel from Paul’s letter to the Romans that Magnus received the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Readers will learn alongside Katana and Brant the bad news of our sin and the good news that rescues us through the cross of Christ.
The text is written for elementary school ages (children 8–12), but the vivid, full-color illustrations by Flavia Sorrentino will help the youngest members of the family to follow along.“The Sword is designed to be read alongside the Bible as a family. A Bible study section follows each chapter of the fictional story. Read the assigned Scripture verses, followed by the short commentary which explains key truths from the Bible passage for the day,” Machowski explains. “While your children may be eager to move through the study quickly to return to the fictional story, give the study sufficient time.”
This study is straightforward in its presentation of the gospel on a level that young readers can understand. The author writes in the introduction, “The main goal of The Sword is to help children understand the sobering bad news of sin so that they better understand the good news of our gospel rescue through the cross of Christ. Like many books in Scripture, Paul’s letter to the Romans carries several more mature themes. These topics, defining and explaining circumcision, for example, are left to parents.”
The Sword closes with a special section titled “The Romans Road” that outlines steps for understanding and accepting salvation through Christ.
Marty Machowski is a Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, where he has served on the pastoral staff for thirty years. Machowski leads Promise Kingdom, the gospel-centered children’s ministry of Covenant Fellowship. He is also the Executive Editor for Children’s Resources at New Growth Press. He is the author of a number of family devotionals, Sunday School curriculums (including the Gospel Story Curriculum), children’s books, and parenting titles. His latest releases include The Sword, The Treasure, Promises Made Promises Kept, and the Redemption Tales series. Machowski and his wife, Lois, have six children and several grandchildren. They reside in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Learn more at www.martymachowski.com. He can also be found on Instagram (@martymachowski) and Twitter (@MartyMachowski).
Flavia Sorrentino lives and works as a freelance illustrator in Rome, where she grew up. She loves her city and the figure of speech, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” which inspires her each day to seek new ways of communication and expression. She has worked hard on her technique which has taken her across the globe, from France to America and beyond! Flavia is the illustrator of The Treasure and The Sword.
For review copy and interview information, contact:
Audra Jennings – audra@newgrowthpress.com
