I've been reading a number of the Vision Books aloud to my five year old daughter and she seems to like each one more than the last. The story of Saint Francis is both uplifting and enjoyable, due to the many humorous events captured in the story. The book is also informative enough to be interesting to older children and even adults (I had never read a full-length book about St. Francis).

The story of the great Italian missionary to the United States is told to two young students in one of the schools she founded. The story especially elaborates on the history of the schools and works founded by Mother Cabrini in New Orleans, Louisiana. A very beautiful story already, this particular rendition has the unique angle of being told by one of the Sisters of Charity who had come to America from Italy with Mother Cabrini. This would make a good read aloud story for the whole family and would be a helpful supplement to your American History curriculum.

It is the late twelfth century and Christendom is threatened from within by the Albigensian heresy - a belief that the world is so evil that it must have been created by the devil. The consequences of this are more serious than one might at first think. Although they believe the man's soul was created by God (and therefore good), the Albigensians (who presumably "started out" as Catholics) reject the doctrine of the Real Presence because they believed the bread and wine were made by the devil, they didn't believe in marriage and having children and even went so far as justifying murder and suicide.

Enter Dominic de Guzman. Dominic decided to be a priest when he was very young. He understood the importance of all of his studies as preparation for his vocation. "A priest, or in fact any well-educated person, must learn all that he possibly can about all subjects He must learn not only those that are especially necessary for his chosen work." The story contains an excellent explanation of a good education and its purpose. "You must perfect yourself in arithmetic, algebra, geometry - the exact sciences, which will teach you to think clearly. You must learn to read with understanding...And, of course, logic. That will teach you to reason in a sound and exact way."

The story follows the life of St. Dominic as becomes a great preacher, continually arguing against the Albigensian heresy. He has limited success, however, until Our Lady appears to him and entrusts him with one of the greatest heavenly gifts - the Rosary.

This is an excellent story, well written and understandable, and filled with many important insights for us today.

This was the book that got our family "hooked" on the Vision Series. I happened to find it at a Used Book store (Ignatius Press books are fairly easy to spot because of the contrasting color around the author's name on the spine of the book). I didn't expect my children to be interested in full-length books at such a young age (my oldest had just turned five). Somehow we got started and they loved it. This is a particularly good Saint story to start with because St. John Bosco is a special patron of children and especially boys. Any child will delight in the stories of how he taught himself juggling and other tricks in order to teach catechism and morals to the troublesome boys in town. We also enjoyed the stories of the dog who followed Don Bosco through the streets of the city late at night and protected him from danger.