Alicia Van Hecke

Fifteen year old Beany is a practical and competent high school sophomore. She knows just how to make the grocery budget stretch just right. She looks out for ways of making people feel more comfortable. From the moment she heard about her long lost cousin, 18 year old Sheila McBride, she pictured a desolate and helpless soul needing a mother hen to make her feel welcome and give her an easier time of things after the difficult life she's led. But from the moment Sheila arrives, everything seems to go wrong. Sheila isn't very talkative and is fond of her gaudy clothes.

In this second book of the series, 16 year old Beany struggles with the tendency of her family to "stick their necks out" for others at the risk of disappointment, emotional stress and failure. Johnny is busy trying to help an older, forgetful man write a book he's always wanted to write, but may not live to finish. Mary Fred is struggling with the fickle sorority girls in college and Elizabeth anxiously awaits her husband's return from the war.

This is a charming and engaging story of a Catholic family living in Denver during World War II. The Malones - Beany (13), Johnny (15), Mary Fred (16) and Elizabeth (19) lost their mother several years before the story begins. Their father, Martie, is a respected newspaperman whose column is often assigned reading in the local schools. Mr. Malone is a loving father who frankly explains to his children that he's glad he doesn't have the means to spoil them, as he knows it's better for them to take initiative and responsibility for themselves.

Pegeen is the final book in the Bantry Bay Series, which chronicles the O'Sullivan family of Ireland in the 1930s. In this story, Pegeen, an orphan who was befriended by Francie in the previous story, comes to live with the O'Sullivans while waiting to be sent to her uncle in America. A rather wild girl with very little "upbringing", Pegeen gets into all kinds of trouble and adventures. In the midst of all this she manages to win the hearts of the O'Sullivans and does learn to become more responsible for her actions. The conclusion is very sweet and touching.

I often have the hardest time reviewing my very favorite books. The O'Sullivan family, of Ireland in the 1930s, have become very dear to us over the years. The story is simple and charming, but very real...in the best sense. You pick up the book and can't help reading it with an Irish brogue..and getting carried away from the modern noisy, busy world of today to a land of simplicity and beauty (though not an easy life).

This volume contains two books "Emily's Book" and "Mary's Book" - both written for relatives of the author who were interested in learning more about Emily Dickinson. Martha O'Keefe has been studying Emily Dickinson and learning to love her and her works for sixty years. She has also written a 400 page work comparing Emily Dickinson with St. John of the Cross.

A charming book of religious poems for young children - one for each letter of the alphabet. The simple, rhyming poems have been favorites with my little ones and provide a nice introduction to the Saints and Angels, Our Lady, God's love for us, important virtues... Some titles include: C is for Cherubim, F is for Father, G is for Gabriel, L is for Lamb of God, M is for Saint Michael, O is for Obedience, Q is for Queen of the Angels.

Includes copious synopses and notes (pages 175-231)

This modern classic, set in the segregated South of the 1930s, is the story of two young children who learn about life and the great character of their father, Atticus Finch, as he struggles with a difficult case in which he must defend a black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman.

This long-awaited sequel to Shadow of the Bear returns us to the life-like yet fairy tale inspired world of Blanche, Rose, Bear and Fish. Rose and Blanche have both finished high school now and Blanche is spending the summer trying to earn some money for college. Bear, unsure about what he wants to do with his life and having trouble forgiving injuries from his past, is brooding his way around Europe.