Pope Benedict XVI has created a wonderful work in "The Apostles." A word for those who have read his pre-Pope works, or even Pope JPII's works, this book is amazingly simple and readable in style, and one can easily take a chapter a day and get through it. He provides meditations, scriptural history and traditions for each of the Apostles and a few others mentioned in the New Testament in a way I have never seen. This book will open your eyes to the profound lives of each of the Apostles and how they experienced Jesus in their own unique ways, their strengths and their weaknesses. I honestly could not put this book down. Incredible, packed with depth yet written for the common lay person!

This would be especially good for confirmation classes as it is brief and would be a good way to start the class.