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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.

Angus is a little Scottish terrier who is terribly curious about everything - especially a noise coming from the other side of the large green hedge. One day, when "the door between outdoors and indoors was left open by mistake" he goes exploring to discover what makes that noise. His adventures are very cute, my children love hearing the sounds made by Angus and by the ducks. The text is very short and simple, but the real beauty is in the language which has a charming and humorous flow to it - it is perfect for reading aloud to little ones.. When my son was three and tired of me reading so many long books to his older sister, this one really helped him start to enjoy stories.

This is a lovely picture book about, naturally, beginnings. The simple but descriptive storyline, along with vibrant illustrations, take you through signs of new things - like a tomato plant, a tree and a thunderstorm. These capture the beauty of different aspects of God's creation, but only show the simple ways that we see what's coming next.

The story culminates in looking at the questions of where *we* come from and answers it in the simplest and most innocent way, focusing on the love of God who "chose the perfect place for you, inside the safe, warm shelter of your mother's womb..."

The author gives a nice balance in helping the child see himself as one part of God's beautiful creation, but one with a very unique role that exceeds that of the animals and plants around us and that was specially intended by God.

We've always been big fans of the Provensens. Martin and Alice Provensen authored and illustrated so many of our early childhood favorites including The Year at Maple Hill Farm, Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, and A Book of Seasons. The two also illustrated The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown as well as the original Fuzzy Duckling. Their folksy artistic style is rich in character and their humor and insight appeals as much to parents as to children.

I had always known about the Provensen's picture books for older children, but hadn't started reading them until now. It seems my oldest son is the perfect age (9) for beginning an appreciation of The Buck Stops Here, and he's taken to it like a duck to water.

This book defies categorization in more ways than one. It is not for the very young, as many references are lost on children. It is not for the older crowd because of the simplicity of style and whimsy of rhymes. It isn't a History book in the sense that there is not much text or explanation of historical references. And if it is an art book, the subject is strange and the style plain.

So what is it exactly? It is all of these things together and none of them alone. The Buck Stops Here is a collection of artistic renditions and catchy rhymes for young and old about the first 41 presidents of the United States. The large, square watercolor portrait of each president is decorated with the ideas, events, and dilemmas that shaped each presidency, and thus the history of these fifty United States. Rhymes such as, "Reagan, Forty, reached his goal, Acting out his favorite role," and "Thomas Jefferson, Number three, Rigged the sale of the century" have a way of staying with a person. I have since read reviews online of this book and have not been surprised to read about grown men remembering the order of the presidents and key points of American history by turning the pages of this book over in their imaginations.

We've only just begun to enjoy this work, but I see it is has become a fast favorite as I just heard my son repeating, "Teddy Roosevelt, Twenty-six, Whisper softly, wave big sticks."

An interesting, fully illustrated (with pen and ink drawings) story of the construction of a Medieval Cathedral. The cathedral in the book and the details of the story are fictional, but are based on details of what we know about the construction of real-life cathedrals. (Among other reasons, this technique makes sense because there probably aren't enough details known about the construction of any one Cathedral to make a book of this sort). In addition to scientific, artistic and architectural details about how flying buttresses work and other technical information, the author provides a glimpse into this significant aspect of Medieval life - how dedicated the townspeople were to the project, how many of those who started the project did not live to its completion (because it took so many years to build), difficulties that would come up in the midst of the construction, etc.

The title clearly explains what this book is all about: Gibson took the twelve months of the year, wove in the liturgical celebrations and linked these to marvelous picture books – creating a mosaic of Catholic culture and beautiful literature.

But this book is much more than an annotated book list, although that is included too. Gibson gives suggested questions for you to discuss with your children. She gives suggested copywork – that is, quotes that children memorize or use for handwriting practice. She gives ideas for activities that will reinforce the meaning of the particular book. She helps families to truly live and embrace the wondrous Catholic traditions connected to feast days, liturgical celebrations and other things Catholic.

Some of the books described and linked in this book are Catholic illustrated classics – books like Weight of a Mass by Josephine Nobisso, Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi and St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges are extremely popular with many Catholic parents and children. But Gibson goes beyond the “Catholic classics” and mentions books like The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen (illustrated by Rachel Isadora) and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and how you can apply Catholic teachings to these books, giving your children a rich and lasting understanding of our Catholic culture.

In total, Gibson integrates FIFTY-TWO illustrated children’s books with the Catholic calendar and Catholic living. Books that cover the Mass, First Communion, various saints and important liturgical seasons are included. In addition, she suggests other books which may also work (but omits questions and activities linked to these “second-string” books some of which unfortunately are out-of-print or hard-to-find).

All the primary books are easily attainable from booksellers; in addition, books by popular authors like Tomie dePaola are usually available at public libraries so as not to strain your book budget too much. However, after seeing these books, you might want to have good copies for your home library. Gibson has selected books not only for the meaning in their words, but also for the beauty of their illustrations. These books could easily be used as an art study in conjunction with the literature, religion and other subjects covered in these books.

Further resources that Gibson gives the reader are suggestions for creating and maintaining a “Liturgical Notebook” throughout the year – a memory scrapbook of this literature-based journey – as well as incorporating some of the traditional Catholic homeschool resources (for example, CHC’s A Year with God or Seton’s Art 1).

Run, don’t walk, to get a copy of this book. I know I sound effusive, but this book is remarkable in its ambitious objective which is stunningly successful. This is one of those homeschooling volumes that needs to be on every Catholic resource shelf – that is, when it’s not being used!

This is an illustrated, children's adaptation of "The Nun's Priest's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It's a simple moral tale, reminiscent of Aesop's Fables, with a lesson about the dangers of flattery and pride. A prideful rooster faces danger as he is flattered by a cunning fox. Truly a classic.

Another great collection compiled by William Bennett which includes beautifully illustrated tales and poems such as: Father Junipero Serra, the story of the First Thanksgiving, Paul Bunyan, the Story of the Star Spangled Banner, an Indian legend, and patriotic songs and poems. This is one of the books that my children ask for over and over - probably because of the wonderful illustrations, interesting content and great variety of stories. I especially like the story included about Father Junipero Serra which very nicely portrays the faith and fortitude of this humble priest.

This newest edition presents some colorfully illustrated tales of a more religious nature. Passages from the Bible include "the Story of Daniel and the Lion's Den", "the Healing of a Paralytic", "the Call of Samuel", "the Little Lost Lamb", the 23rd Psalm, and "Miriam and the Floating Basket." Other stories involve St. Christopher. St. Martin of Tours and St. Augustine's famous "Walk by the Sea" where a little boy (believed to be Jesus or an Angel) had a conversation with him about the mysteries of God. Classic tales by Leo Tolstoy and Oscar Wilde, beautiful poems and hymns, and the stories of Amazing Grace and of the historical event which was the origin of the celebration of Hannukah are also included. There are thirty-three stories in all.

I like this volume even better than The Children's Book of Virtues. (We checked it out from the library three different times before I finally bought it!) Heroes includes stories of Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Helen Keller, David and Goliath, Father Flanagan and Jackie Robinson. The book is filled with illustrations and stories are generally three to five pages, with a few poems included as well. The biographies are our family's favorites, but there are many other stories including myths and fairy tales which teach some of the same values. You can't miss the Catholic stories included.