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This book is a chapter story about a family that goes to visit the grandparents on the farm. The parents tell stories of Jesus and Mary. Some of the chapters are "Baby's Angel", "The First Christmas", "A Ride to the Farm". There are twenty chapters total. So each chapter is about 5-10 pages. There are black and white pictures with the stories that are lovely. The type is easy to read.

Additional Comments: Unlike the Catholic National Readers, the primer and early grades are not phonetically based. The child will need quite a bit of basic phonics work before starting the primer as they will encounter somewhat advanced words such as "grandmother" and "grandfather" in the first lesson. Apparently, these were designed to be learned as "sight words". (Alicia Van Hecke, 3-24-01)

There is no shortage of reprinted United States for elementary Catholic students, but this one designed for fifth grade offers a unique perspective. The student's text is an overview of American history from the discovery period through to 1963, with the final chapters on the history of machines and transportation and the Constitution.

The seven units and twenty-eight chapters are fairly brief at an average of ten pages, and the reading level is appropriate for fifth and sixth grade students. In the chapters are loads of black and white illustrations, maps and timelines. The end-of-chapter questions are all discussion and short answer or essay type, with a list of persons, places, and terms that might be useful for a timeline book assignment. In addition, there are some "Interesting Things to Do" that are more research and hands-on oriented. The end-of-unit questions are also discussion or essay type, critical thinking questions. Also included are a section called "Linking Geography to History", more "Interesting Things to Do", and a list of additional books to read. Many of the titles on the book list are familiar to me as they are what is presently being discarded from the library. Many of them are are out-of-print, but others are currently being reprinted in inexpensive paperback editions. If essay questions are more than your student is able to tackle, the corresponding test booklet includes tests in the typical multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank format.

The Teacher's Manual contains the unique part of this course, and I would recommend its purchase as essential to getting the best out of this course. The reprinted edition is 95 pages long and is comb-bound. Its focus is on Christian social principles, which are outlined as an introduction to the Teacher's Manual and the course. Each unit has introductory information for the teacher, as well as an introduction to each chapter's material. These background notes are keyed to the list of Christian social principles and historical perspectives detailed in the introduction. Without this teacher's guide, I'm positive that I would have missed all of this. There is also a suggested test for the unit. For each chapter, the teacher's manual also includes a list of important terms and concepts, a useless-to-me list of related educational films and filmstrips, the answers to all of the student's questions, "Ideas to be Developed", and "Teaching Procedures". Because of the chronological arrangement of information, I think that the background information in the teacher's manual would be useful no matter which text you use.

Also available are a test booklet mentioned above and the answer key to the tests.

Our family is crazy about picture books, saints books *and* alphabet books: this fantastic new publication fits all of the above. In fact, it was some time after my order arrived before I could get my hands on it: a Catholic homeschool mother who was over visiting opened the package and enjoyed reading it with a large sample size of our children before I could even see it!

Each page has a whole-page illustration of the saint and the letter of the alphabet where it belongs: St. Martin de Porres uses the legs of the capital M to hang his laundry and St. Zita uses the bottom leg of the Z to store her jars of food. The illustrations are at the same childish and realistic with enough details to entertain the adult reader. The four-line verses are delightful and contain an important aspect of the saints’ life. Blessed Kateri’s reads:

As the Lily of the Mohawk,

Kateri was sweet and pure.

She kept her faith with patience,

all the way to heaven’s door.

Below the verses the authors added a few lines about the life of each saint, and I think this was a very clever idea. For one thing it allowed them to be able to focus at times on very minor aspects of their lives in their verses without leaving aside what was essential about each of them.

Truly a "living book" in the fullest sense, An Egg is Quiet is a visual delight, full of soft, gentle colors and beautiful pages that manages to incorporate a great deal of scientific information without looking like a science book at all. This is a field guide to eggs for the youngest scientists, perhaps through the early elementary grades, that also feels like a story book with a surprise, but not wholly unexpected, ending. It will be nearly impossible to resist drawing and sketching and painting from the numerous illustrations in the text; a young or young-at-heart nature artist will be busy for days and days. Featuring eggs from birds, reptiles, and insects, the primary text on each page appears in a large, calligraphic cursive font so that Mother may not need her reading glasses. Supplementary notes about specific illustrations are included in an easier-to-read, smaller printed font. An Egg is Quiet is a perfect addition to your Lenten reading basket or any springtime nature study. Be sure to bring home a new sketch pad and color pencils when you bring home this book!

Non-fiction, early elementary

Note Bene: This was just announced as the winner of the Cybil Award for Non-Fiction Picture Books.