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Saints of the Church

Book cover: 'Saints of the Church'
Author(s): 
Michael G. Allen
Subject(s): 
Saints
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Resource Type: 
General Resource
Copyright: 
2000
Review: 

This book is a companion to the Vision series of saint's biographies (also published by Ignatius Press). It is a wonderful help to extending the biographies into a full-blown unit study, if you wish, or just to help enrich the reading. For each of the 17 books covered in Saints of the Church , the author includes:

  • an overview of the book
  • vocabulary lists broken out by chapter
  • quotations from the books called "Language in Context" that develop comprehension and illustrate various literary devices
  • Time Line information
  • Outline Map information
  • Numerous topics for written reports on various levels
  • Biographical sketches of other famous people in the book
  • "Turning to Scripture and Catechism" which requires looking up various verses or topics in the Bible and the Catechism; this is done to "make connections between the saint's life and the living tradition of the Catholic Church."
  • Discussion questions

This is a wonderful, well-organized, and thorough guide to really getting the most out of the Vision books...likely just the kind of thing we would do on our own if we had the time.

Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Series: 
Vision
Binding: 
Softcover
Perspective: 
Catholic
Number of pages: 
184 pages
Review Date: 
1999
Reviewed by: 
Susan Kalis
TitleSort: 
Saints of the Church

St. Therese and the Roses

Book cover: 'St. Therese and the Roses'
Author(s): 
Helen Walker Homan
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
19th century
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Copyright: 
1955
Review: 

Therese Martin (1873 - 1897) was the youngest of five girls growing up in a devout Catholic family in France in the late nineteenth century. We all know how, in just over one hundred years she has become one of the most beloved Saints in the Church and has recently been named "Doctor of the Church" by Pope John Paul II. This is the delightful and moving story of a little girl who became a great saint; of five sisters who were all called to religious vocations. The story focuses on her family life and the little details that make an interesting story and when added together make sense out of who she was. Although the Vision Series was intended for ages nine to fifteen, this story is one of my six year old daughter's favorites (we've had to read it aloud twice so far). It is an excellent read-aloud book for the whole family, which allows moms (and dads too) to benefit from the story and become more acquainted with Saint Therese's Little Way.

Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Series: 
Vision
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Perspective: 
Catholic
Number of pages: 
149 pages
Review Date: 
11-16-99
Sample Pages
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
TitleSort: 
St. Therese and the Roses

The Cure of Ars

The Priest Who Outtalked the Devil
Book cover: 'The Cure of Ars: The Priest Who Outtalked the Devil'
Author(s): 
Milton Lomask
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
19th century
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 6-8
Elementary
Copyright: 
1958
Review: 

This is a quicker and slightly easier read than the title by Mary Fabyan Windeatt. It lacks the richness of explanations about the priesthood, but I thought that it portrayed St. John Vianney's humility and simplicity a little more clearly. It's also clearly written to be interesting even to those who are not accustomed to reading saint stories, so there is more emphasis on exciting events, such as when John Vianney, as a young boy, helped to hide a hunted priest from the authorities.

Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Series: 
Vision
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Perspective: 
Catholic
Number of pages: 
190 pages
Review Date: 
3-7-01
Sample Pages
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
TitleSort: 
Cure of Ars

Hope's Revolutionary War Diary

Author(s): 
Kristiana Gregory
Subject(s): 
Historical Fiction
Setting: 
American Revolution Era
Grade / Age level: 
Grades K-2
Review: 

For young readers, this is an extremely well written account of the American Revolution. Written as a diary of a young girl, the book opens with Hope's family living with her relatives in Valley Forge. This quickly changes, however, when her family moves back to Philadelphia.

I like this book because it weaves interesting information about this period of time throughout the story, making it an educational read. Gregory not only portrays the drama and suspense of that period, but also accurately depicts the everyday occurrences and unusual habits in daily life. In the beginning, both Hope's father and brother are gone. When they return, she finds out the hardships they have gone through. Even though this is an educational book, it is easy to read and follows more than one interesting story line. In the beginning, for example, her brother has run away to join the army and no one knows how he is. She is also concerned about her father when he is gone. Will he return home? Then to make matters worse, her best friend is not allowed to talk to her, because her friend's family sympathizes with the other side. The family also has the unpleasant task of feeding and boarding some British soldiers. Will she accidentally reveal her sympathies?

The My America Series is shorter than the Dear Diary series also published by Scholastic.

Publisher: 
Scholastic
Series: 
We Are Patriots - My America
Binding: 
Softcover
Number of pages: 
107 pages
Review Date: 
9-3-02
Reviewed by: 
Elizabeth Yank
TitleSort: 
Hope's Revolutionary War Diary

The Battle of Bunker Hill

Book cover: 'The Battle of Bunker Hill'
Author(s): 
Mary Englar
Copyright: 
2007
Review: 

In lively prose, this book recounts the events leading up to the Battle of Bunker Hill. What makes this book exceptional is its layout. The easy-to-read text is outlined in a border, creating a frame effect. Every two page spread includes colorful pictures or maps. The text is easy-to-read and well-written. The storytelling format holds the reader’s attention to the end.

The book also includes a glossary, interesting facts, important dates, important people, resources for further study, including web cites, library books, and places to visit. There is also a helpful table of contents and index.

This book is part of a series entitled "We the People", covering key events in U.S. history.

Publisher: 
Compass Point Books
Series: 
We the People
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Number of pages: 
48 pages
Review Date: 
7-1-2007
Reviewed by: 
Elizabeth Yank
TitleSort: 
Battle of Bunker Hill

Will Wilder

The Relic of Perilous Falls
Author(s): 
Raymond Arroyo
Grade / Age level: 
All ages
ISBN: 
553 539 590
Copyright: 
2016
Review: 

I am delightfully surprised by this new children's book. The author is talented and the story progresses without you noticing it... Yes, the story grabbed me from the first chapter, and that is a lot to say for this reviewer who is a mother of seven and has read many children's books to her kids. I liked many things about it. Like Frodo and Sam in Lord of The Rings--and all of us ordinary people--Will isn't perfect. He is an ordinary kid called to an important mission. His family and his town are realistic, and the mystery, dangers and mishap well told. The story includes many references to Catholic traditions and theology. I can see myself holding a captive audience when my grandchildren are old enough to enjoy this story!

Publisher: 
Crown Books for Young Readers
Series: 
Will Wilder
Perspective: 
Judeo-Christian
Reviewed by: 
Ana Braga-Henebry
TitleSort: 
Will Wilder

The Tripods Attack!

The Young Chesterton Chronicles Book 1
Author(s): 
John McNichol
Grade / Age level: 
High School
ISBN: 
933 184 265
Copyright: 
2008
Review: 

I don’t much care for science fiction books or movies. One of my brothers loved them, spending every Saturday afternoon watching movies on television, checking out every sci-fi thriller from the library and spending his hard-earned dollars to watch, and re-watch, and re-watch the first Star Wars the summer of 1978. I took a pass on joining him (and to this day, don’t think I’ve ever seen any Star Wars movie all the way through!).

That said, The Tripods Attack by high school English teacher John McNichol, although of the sci-fi genre, was a great read! Set in futuristic late 1800s England, this book is basically a re-telling of H.G. Wells’ classic, War of the Worlds. McNichol recouches this classic from a Catholic view with a young G.K. Chesterton (aged 16) on the brink of embracing the Faith. H.G. Wells (a few years older and worldly-wise) befriends the young Gil and joins in the adventure.

A futuristic London is the opening setting. London is run through the use of “difference engines”, a computer system of sorts. The young Chesterton, an orphan in the story, works in the dead-end position (and not too successfully) as a punch-card maker, ensuring that the punch cards for the difference engines are punched properly. Suddenly, he is called to the Undersecretary of Operations, made a reporter for the company-owned London Times, and off on an adventure to Woking, England (the same town that H.G. Wells later uses in his War of the Worlds book).

On the way to Woking, Gil meets and is befriended by worldly-wise, 20-year-old, Herb Wells, a reporter for a rival paper. The young men are off to investigate strange happenings in Woking: the arrival of pulsing cylinders that are wreaking havoc on this London suburb. In Woking, Chesterton also meets Father Brown, a 60-year-old Catholic priest, and “the Doctor” who seems to know more about what’s going on than anyone else.

Superficially, the book is a sci-fi adventure race to rid England of the strange beings, a group of Martians who are angry! Added to this is the fictional mystery of Chesterton’s parentage and the apparent connection between his parents, the Doctor and the aliens. This plot makes for a rousing good story line for middle-school or high school readers.

However, on a deeper level, this book is young Chesterton's internal-debate between the secular world-view and modern attitudes of Wells and the Catholic world-view and morality of the priest. Wells and the Doctor spout platitudes and arguments trying to convince Chesterton that religion is silly, there is no God, and that the only thing to rely on is self. Further, that truth is what we experience and therefore different for each and every one of us. Father Brown, on the other hand, explains that God is love, that truth is Truth, and that sacrifice and love are the strongest tools for combating evil.

I liked this book on both levels. The sci-fi story-telling level is so improbable as to just be pure fun; well-written and well-plotted add to the pleasure of the reading. The philosophical level, the eternal debate between secular and faith world-views, is clever and a great example of apologetics. The scene where Gilbert and the Doctor are debating the morality of killing babies and the science-is-the-answer versus faith arguments is amazing!

I also liked that the author throws in bits of fact and fiction from literature – for instance there is a comment that a boy named Bartleby has just been made a scribe for the Company (a reference to Dickens’ short story, “Bartleby the Scrivner”). Even the use of a country-parish priest, unassuming in all but his statements and actions, named Father Brown is a great tool; Father Brown is the detective in the real Chesterton’s famous series. The obvious links to Wells’ classic are also interesting – twisting Wells’ anti-religious original into a great book about Catholic apologetics!

Publisher: 
Imagio Catholic Fiction (Sophia Institute Press)
Quibble:
Series: 
Young Chesterton Chronicles

One thing I would have to say – don’t read the back-cover information. It’s misleading and inaccurate and doesn’t do justice to the finely tuned tale that McNichol has crafted!

Binding: 
Paperback
Perspective: 
Catholic
Number of pages: 
357 pages
Review Date: 
6-18-2009
Reviewed by: 
Mary C. Gildersleeve
TitleSort: 
Tripods Attack!

Index of Poets from [em]The Harp and Laurel Wreath[/em] by Laura Berquist

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
Guilielmus Rex, 264

Anonymous
Anima Christi (Soul of Christ), 128
Edward, Edward, 370
Get Up and Bar the Door, 392
I'm Glad, 22
Jesu Dulcis Memoria, 127
Merry Sunshine, 25
Once I Saw a Little Bird, 21
Sweet the Memory ofJesus, 127

Aquinas, Saint Thomas
Hymn, 125

Babcock, Maltbie Davenport
Be Strong!, 122
Barrett, AlfredJ.
Loss of Faith, 309

Belloc, Hilaire
Matilda, 246
The Vulture, 224

Benet, Rosemary Carr
Pocahontas, 86

Benet, Stephen Vincent
Benjamin Franklin, 89
Captain Kidd, 83
Christopher Columbus, 84
George Washington, 87
The Ballad ofWilliam Sycamore, 90

Benet, William Rose
The Falconer of God, 301

Bennett, Henry Holcomb
The Flag Goes By, 59

Betjeman, Sir John
Christmas, 315

Bourdillon, Francis William
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, 118

Brooks, Phillips
ChristInas Everywhere, 76

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
HoW Do I Love Thee? , 425

Browning, Robert
How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, 112
Prospice (Look Ahead!), 309

Bryant, William Cullen
To a Waterfowl, 396

Burgess, Gelett
The Purple Cow, 251
Cinq Ans Après, 251

Byron, George Gordon
The Destruction of Sennacherib, 105, 322

Carew, Thomas
A Song, 332

Carroll, Lewis
Jabberwocky, 123,254

Carryl, Charles Edward
Robinson Crusoe's Story, 239

Carryl, Guy Wetmore
The Embarrasing Episode of Little Miss Muffet, 252
The Sycophantic Fox and the Gullible Raven, 249

Chesterton, G. K.
A Christmas Carol, 47
Lepanto, 323

Colum, Padraic
An Old Woman of the Roads, 119, 294

Daly, S.J., James J.
In Coventry, 223

Dana, Richard Henry
The Soul, 181

David (King)
Psalm 23, 49
Psalm 100, 50

de la Mare, Walter
Some One, 40

Dickinson, Emily
I Never Saw a Moor, 258

Donne, John
Batter My Heart, 400
Repentance, 399

Dunbar, Paul Laurence
Conscience and Remorse, 201
The Dilettante, 200

Eastman, Max
At the Aquarium, 395

Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Concord Hymn, 93
The Snow-Storm, 299

Farjeon, Harry and Eleanor
Our Brother Is Born, 50

Field, Eugene
Little Boy Blue, 314
The Duel, 45

Fields, James Thomas
The Owl Critic, 391

Fisher, Aileen
Bird Talk, 22

Freneau, Philip
The Wild Honeysuckle, 296

Frost, Robert
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, 48

Fyleman, Rose
Singing Time, 21

Grahame, Kenneth
The Song of Mr. Toad, 46

Gray, Thomas
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 402

Guiney, Louise Imogen
The Kings, 307

Guitterman, Arthur
Strictly Germ-Proof, 248
Why Tigers Can't Climb, 228

Harte, Bret
Dickens in Camp, 194

Henley, William Ernest
Invictus,438

Herbert, George
Love (III), 337
The Pulley, 338

Herrick, Robert
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, 335

Holmes, Oliver Wendell
OId lronsides, 68
The Chambered Nautilus, 298
The Height of the Ridiculous, 225

Hopkins, S.J., Gerard Manley
God's Grandeur, 436
Spring,437

Houseman, A. E.
When I Was in Love, 232
When I Was One and Twenty, 271

Howitt, Mary
The Spider and the Fly, 107

Jaques, Florence Page
There Once Was a Puffin, 26

Johnson, Lionel
Cadgwith, 440

Jonson, Ben
To Celia, 334
To the Memory ofMy Beloved Master, William Shakespeare, 375

Keats, John
Ode on a Grecian Urn, 420
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, 170, 419

Kelly, Blanche Mary
The Housewife's Prayer, 303

Key, Francis Scott
The Star-Spangled Banner, 103

Kilmer, Joyce
Prayer of a Soldier in France, 262
Rouge Bouquet, 304

Leamy, Edmund
The Ticket Agent, 234

Lear, Edward
The Owl and the Pussy-cat, 43

Lindsay, Vachel
The Little Turtle, 23

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
A Psalm of Life, 184
Christmas Bells, 63
Hiawatha's Childhood, 69
Hymn to the Night, 258
Paul Revere's Ride, 94
The Arrow and the Song, 185
The Builders, 121, 186
The Children's Hour, 60
The Day Is Done, 317
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls, 65
The Village Blacksmith, 62
Two Sonnets from the Divina Commedia, 390

Lovelace, Richard To Althea, from Prison, 398
To Lucasta, Going to the Wars, 394

Macaulay, Thomas Babington
Horatius, 159

Magee, Jr., John Gillespie
High Flight, 263

Markham, Edwin
How the Great Guest Came, 311
Preparedness, 266

Marlowe, Christopher
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, 330

Masefield, John
Sea Fever, 75

Melville, Herman
The Maldive Shark, 195

Meynell, Alice
A General Communion, 336
The Young Neophyte, 424

Millay, Edna St. Vincent
Portrait by a Neighbor, 233
Travel, 294

Miller, Joaquin
Columbus, 73

Milne, A. A.
At the Zoo, 42
Furry Bear, 41
The Christening, 40

Milton, John
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity,408

Morley, Christopher
Animal Crackers, 23

Morris, George Pope
Woodman, Spare That Tree!, 182

Newman, John Henry
Lead, Kindly Light, 439

O'Reilly ,John Boyle
The Ride of Collins Graves, 109

Poe, Edgar Allen
The Bells, 78, 340

Raleigh, Sir Walter
The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd, 331

Read, Thomas Buchanan
Sheridan's Ride, 100

Riley, James Whitcomb
A Parting Guest, 296
When the Frost Is on the Punkin, 199

Ryan, Abram J .
A Child's Wish, 106

Sandburg, Carl
Fog, 201

Saxe, John Godfrey
How Cyrus Laid the Cable, 226
My Familiar, 230
The Head and the Heart, 293
Their Neighbor's Fault, 255

Scott, Sir Walter
Lochinvar, 179

Service, Robert W.
The Cremation of Sam McGee, 241

Shakespeare, William
From Hamlet (Act I, iii, 55-81), 148
From Henry V (Act IV, i, 230-84), 151
From Henry V (Act IV, iii, 17-67), 149
From Julius Caesar 146
From Macbeth (Act V, v, 19-27), 153
From The Merchant of Venice (Act IV, i, 183-204), 153
From The Merchant of Venice (Act V, i, 4-88), 154
From The Tempest, 145
Sonnet XVIII< 156, 380
Sonnet XIX, 156, 381
Sonnet XXIX, 386
Sonnet XXX, 157, 385
Sonnet XXXVI, 157, 382
Sonnet LV, 387
Sonnet LXXIII, 388
Sonnet CXVI, 158, 384
Sonnet CXXXVIII, 158, 383

Shelley, Percy Bysshe
Ode to the West Wind, 415
Ozymandias, 418

Sidney, Philip
Sonnet 41, 389

Sill, Edward Rowland
Opportunity, 114, 272
The Fool's Prayer, 76, 269
The Things That Will Not Die, 197

Southey, Robert
Father William, 117

Southwell, S.J., Robert
The Burning Babe, 374

Spenser, Edmund
Sonnet LXI from Amoretti, 379

Stevenson, Robert Louis
At the Seaside, 19
Bed in Summer, 28
Foreign Lands, 30
Happy Thought, 20
My Shadow, 32
Rain, 20
Requiem, 83, 339
Singing, 20
The Cow, 39
The Hayloft, 35
The Lamplighter, 38
The Land of Counterpane, 31
The Land of Story-Books, 36
The Moon, 34
The Swing, 37
The Wind, 33
Time to Rise, 21
Where Go the Boats?, 29
Whole Duty ofChildren, 19
Windy Nights, 28

Stoddard, Richard Henry
There Are Gains for All Our Losses, 196

Suckling, Sir John
Why So Pale and Wan? , 401

Tabb, Father John Banister
Fame, 261
Father Damien, 261
The Light of Bethlehem, 124

Taylor, Jane
The Violet, 120

Teasdale, Sara
Barter, 260

Tennyson, Alfred Lord
Break, Break, Break, 423
Spring, 81
The Charge of the Light Brigade, 115
The Eagle, 124
The Lady of Shalott, 172
From The Princess, 171

Thayer, Ernest Lawrence
Casey at the Bat, 65

Thompson, Francis
The Hound of Heaven, 428
The Kingdom of God, 426

Thoreau, Henry David
Winter Memories, 193

Van Dyke, Henry
America for Me, 74

Walsh, Thomas
The Feast of Padre Chala, 235

Wells, Carolyn
How to Tell the Wild Animals, 257

Whitman, Walt
O Captain! My Captain!, 99,265

Whittier, John Greenleaf
In School-Days, 191
The Barefoot Boy, 187

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
Solitude,104

Wordsworth, William
Daffodils, 267
The Tables Turned, 319
The Virgin, 321

Yeats, William Butler
The Lake Isle of Innisfree, 118, 306

Excerpted from The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist
1999, Ignatius Press, Used with permission from the Publisher