Apocrypha

Someone in my Sunday school class recently mentioned the Apocrypha. I honestly had no idea these other books existed. I did some searches online and see that some churches reject it, and it doesn't seem to be a part of most Bibles, but it made me curious.... are there any parts of it worth reading? Are there other parts of the Bible that aren't in most versions but have more information on the word of God or how to interpret the word of God?

I know a lot of you are much more scholarly than I am when it comes to the Bible, so I thought this would be the right place to ask! Thanks in advance and happy holidays to everyone!

You are not alone; many Protestants have no idea that these books even exist. I think reading the Apocrypha in general is valuable if you want to learn where the Catholics get many of their core beliefs. Contrary to what many Protestants believe, the Catholics do not get their beliefs out of thin air but actually from books which they consider are part of the Bible. One thing that has always intrigued me is that not only did Martin Luther want to remove the Apocrypha from the Bible, but also books that are currently part of the Protestant Bible (such as Hebrews, Jude, Revelations, etc.). Personally, it makes question his sense of judgement (and whether he was being led by the Holy Spirit) including his removal of the Apocrypha.

I think of extra-biblical writings as history books. Like any book, you read it with discernment. In the past, i mostly ignored anything not part of the scriptures- but it's nice to have historical references too, when something comes up in the bible, but is not elaborated upon in the scripture itself. Paul does warn about not being caught up in "jewish fables", though, so it's advisable not to give extra-biblical writings the same weight as scripture.