General Resource

This is an exciting and fun art supplement that kids are sure to love (makes a great gift for Christmas or a birthday). There are three main parts to the book. First is an introduction which explains a problem the art museum is having with forgeries. Several gangs of artists have copied original works, but made very slight changes to them. The object of the book is to identify who is responsible for the various forgeries by looking carefully for very specific clues.

The rest of the book is split into two books on top of each other. The upper part is composed of the forgeries - which look like real art until you look very closely (and thus the magnifying glass). A small symbol on the forgery will tell you how many changes the forger made to the original work. By studying the lower book - which is an art catalog with prints of the real paintings, the reader will discover the differences and solve the crime. The catalog includes information about the type of painting; the artist and when he lived; and a brief story about the painting and its subject. There are a total of thirty-four paintings and there is a complete answer key in the back of the book.

What a creative way to get kids interested in art and...fear not! You'll find no twaddle here. I was very pleased to see the practice in attention-to-detail that this book requires and encourages. It's enjoyable enough that my daughter has enjoyed working through it with friends on sleep-overs. There is one picture that jumps out at me as being a little on the shocking side. It's a picture of a very ugly old lady in a very low-cut dress. The book explains that it is a caricature of older women who try to dress younger but really make themselves look ridiculous. I don't really like the picture, but I don't think it really detracts from the book (it also offers the idea of additional purpose in art and an unusual way of making a point).

We've found "Augustus Caesar's World" by Genevieve Foster to be a wonderful resource. The book covers the period from 44 BC to 14 AD with events and ideas for that time, all over the world. I feel the stories really give my son a great sense of life during this period. The illustrations are outstanding line drawing of characters, maps and especially the time lines. Just wanted to share a great resource.

Note from the Webmaster: A number of Catholic homeschool parents have commented that the book has some problematic sections of a secular nature - soft on paganism, etc. It may well be a worthwhile book, but should only be used with a reasonable amount of caution and parental supervision.

Tom was an ordinary boy who loved being outdoors and drawing whatever he saw. Although Tom found school distasteful, his teacher, Sister Aquinas, saw artistic talent in him and encouraged him and lent him books on religious art. He discovered that his favorite artist was Fra Angelico. He attended a high school seminary and discovered that he wanted to be a monk. There he becomes Brother Joseph and finds that his artistic talents are put to good use. "He knows that he is busy about the right things, happy that as an artist he is able to give so much joy and peace to others with his icons."

This is a nice story about art, vocation and using one's talents for God and others. My children especially enjoyed the charming verses that run through the monk's head - "My brush will up and downward go, I'll paint like Fra Angelico!"

My children have always loved picture cards for learning about subjects - animals, art, flags, etc. I love it when the cards are fastened together in some way so that they don't get lost and thus rendered useless. Catholic Cardlinks: Patron Saints is just the sort of resource that makes everyone happy!

Children will love (I speak from experience with my own brood) to befriend the saints with this charming resource that they can so easily hold in their little hands. Each elongated cardstock sheet has a colorful sketch of a saint (48 saints in all) with a short biography. The pages fan out so that you can see all of the faces at once. Or open to one at a time and spend a little time reading about your favorites. When I leave this sort of book laying in reach of my little ones (especially the pre-readers), they will become acquainted with the pictures over time and find their favorites that they ask me to read about over and over. What a nice way to help young children develop a devotion to a favorite saint!

I'm also delighted to see such colorful and creative resources being published for young children.