Alicia Van Hecke

This book/kit contains colorful strips of paper printed with the years that can be affixed to a wall-mounted (or board-mounted) timeline. The book provides a chart for how to arrange all the strips of paper so that there is enough room for the hundreds of black and white images of people and events which will comprise the bulk of the timeline. These images are taken from older books and can be "colorized" for a nicer appearance (and a fun project). The images are printed on very heavy cardstock which makes up about half of the very thick spiral bound book.

This interesting, informative and often light-hearted perpetual calendar offers an event from Catholic history that took place on each date of the year. A brief paragraph explains the event (highlighting many great Catholics people and events from American History) with a "For More Information" bar offering the source of the information (and further reading).

This is a charming and very Catholic story of young Richard of 10th century Normandy. His father, the Duke of Normandy and a devout Christian, is cruelly murdered by a rival nobleman forcing Richard, at the tender age of eight, to become the new Duke in a time of political upheaval. Initially he finds his duties terribly boring and desires nothing more than to spend time with some jolly playmates.

"An Illustrated Family Tree of Greek Myth from the First Gods to the Founders of Rome" This unique fold-out book helps readers make connections between various classical stories from sources such as: Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles by organizing them into a "family tree". One side of the chart depicts the "gods" and the other side shows their mortal offspring. The interconnecting red lines between sides help you easily trace the connections and the book can easily be flipped from side to side when a small portion is unfolded.

This young people's version of some of the most famous stories from Herodotus focuses primarily on the Persian Wars - most notably the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. This is a very accessible volume for young people (and makes a great read-aloud) collecting many of the most interesting stories from Herodotus and presenting them in a suitable format for children (some of the content in the unabridged Herodotus have mature themes).

This is a fascinating story, told for children and fully illustrated (beautiful full color pictures with interesting and at times humorous details) of the Greek Scientists, Mathematician and Astronomer - Eratosthenes. (Don't worry - the author does help you to pronounce the name). Eratosthenes was born in the 3rd century B.C. in the country we now call Libya to Greek parents. There he was educated in the classical Greel tradition and developed a keen interest in the world around him. As a young man he was sent to Athens to study where he became known as a scholar and historian.

Archimedes, the reknowned ancient Greek Scientist and Mathematician, had an enormous impact on all science and math since his time. This is his story, simply and even humorously told. The reader is introduced to many important concepts discovered and used by Archimedes including the lever, the pulley and his famous discoveries involving water displacement. (Numerous black and white drawings aid immensely in understanding these concepts). I love books which take concepts that have been made over-complex by modern textbooks and show how they are simple enough to be understood by children.

My ten year old daughter has been enjoying the Dear America series from Scholastic. I believe that they've had a positive effect on her character (particular in the "complaint" department) as the stories focus on girls about her age living in difficult times. As they're written by a number of different authors, please don't take this review as an endorsement of all of the titles.

A series of six historical fiction titles from the time of the Great Depression; page count above is per book.

Blue Willow is the sweet story of ten-year-old Janey Larkin, whose family is struggling to make ends meet in California's Central Valley during the Great Depression. Janey and her family have a few treasured possessions which they've dragged along with them from place to place because of the difficulties in finding work. Janey's beautiful blue willow plate is her greatest treasure, but when tough times get worse, she decides to offer it as payment for her family's rent...