Love 2 Learn.net

First reviewed:

2/18/06

Billy and Blaze

A Boy and His Pony

Author(s):

C.W. Anderson

Illustrator(s):

C.W. Anderson

Number of pages:

56 pages

1936

ISBN / ID:

9780780782693

Publisher:

Aladdin Paperbacks

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

This book is about a boy and his horse. The boy and his horse like to go riding together. He got his horse for his birthday. And later on he saw a dog in the woods and brought it home. My four year old brother likes the story and so do I. I am six years old and I can read it. The other book that we have in the series is called "Blaze and the Indian Cave".

Additional notes:

Reviewer age six

Reviewed by:

Ria Van Hecke

First reviewed:

1998-99

Blaze and the Forest Fire

Author(s):

C.W. Anderson

Illustrator(s):

C.W. Anderson

Number of pages:

50 pages

1938

ISBN / ID:

9780689716058

Publisher:

Aladdin Paperbacks

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

My children have really enjoyed these simple stories about the adventures of a boy and his horse. Best for first through third graders – especially those who become proficient at reading when very young and not able to deal with more complex or mature themes. My oldest daughter fell in love with these books when she was six. She gobbled them up and they were a great bridge for her between easy readers and chapter books. My son, whose reading proficiency grew much more slowly, enjoyed them much later on. Here is a sample of the language:

In a flash Billy had his feet in the stirrups again; and they were off as fast as the faithful pony could go. Blaze was breathing hard now, but the farmhouse was near.

The length is significantly longer than the "easy reader" type books – with approximately 8-12 lines of text per page (charming black-and white illustrations are on every-other page).

In this story, Billy and Blaze discover a forest fire while taking a ride through the woods. They give it their all to go find help – jumping high walls and wide rivers and courage and determination save the day.

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

5-23-05

Blaze and the Lost Quarry

Author(s):

C.W. Anderson

Illustrator(s):

C.W. Anderson

Number of pages:

48 pages

1966

ISBN / ID:

9780689717758

Publisher:

Aladdin Paperbacks

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Billy visits with a friendly old neighbor who tells him of a quarry he used to visit as a boy the location of which had been lost to the townspeople for many years. With some clues, he and Blaze find the old quarry – a beautiful spot and a great place for swimming. They rescue and befriend a dog.

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

5-23-05

Blaze and the Mountain Lion

Author(s):

C.W. Anderson

Illustrator(s):

C.W. Anderson

Number of pages:

48 pages

1959

ISBN / ID:

9780689717116

Publisher:

Aladdin Paperbacks

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

This book is a bit shorter than others in the series, and so might be a particularly good one for less-confident readers. It seems to average about five lines per page.

In this story, Billy and Blaze search for the lair of a mountain lion that has been troubling ranchers and rescue a baby calf from a ledge on a cliff.

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

5-23-05

Blaze and Thunderbolt

Author(s):

C.W. Anderson

Illustrator(s):

C.W. Anderson

Number of pages:

48 pages

1955

ISBN / ID:

9780689717123

Publisher:

Aladdin Paperbacks

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Billy and Blaze are on a family trip out west where they encounter Thunderbolt – a beautiful wild horse that is the envy of every cowboy. Rather than trying to capture Thunderbolt with fast horses and lassos, Billy makes friends with Thunderbolt slowly and eventually gains his trust.

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

5-23-05

Blaze Shows the Way

Author(s):

C.W. Anderson

Illustrator(s):

C.W. Anderson

Number of pages:

48 pages

1969

ISBN / ID:

9780689717765

Publisher:

Aladdin Paperbacks

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Billy and Blaze befriend another horse and boy-rider team. Tommy and his horse Dusty are just getting used to each other and Dusty is a little nervous about jumping. Nevertheless they decide to try out for a pairs jumping contest.

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

5-23-05

Catholic Heritage Handwriting

Author(s):

Nancy Nicholson

Publisher:

AMDG For Little Folks

Binding:

Spiralbound

Subject(s):

Handwriting

Grade / Age level:

Second Grade

Resource Type:

Workbook

Review:

It’s often the little things that make a resource stand out from the myriad of great products out there. Maybe it’s color pictures instead of black and white; or maybe it’s the typeface used; or maybe it’s the weight of the paper. There are many reasons why I like the Catholic Heritage Handwriting series more than the many other options available for practicing writing, spelling, even grammar and punctuation. For this review, I’ll be referring to Level 2 (about a 6 or 7 year old level – basically 2nd grade). With the revised handwriting series written by Nancy Nicholson, a big plus is the spiral at the top. I’m left-handed, my husband is left-handed and two of my children are left-handed. The one who will be using the Catholic Heritage Handwriting Series – Level 2: Finding the Way is one of my lefties. Being a boy, he already has to work so hard on his manual dexterity without also having the encumbrance of the spiral always in his way! Believe me, it makes for stress that can be easily avoided by placing the spiral at the top. THANK you, Nancy Nicholson! The organization of this handwriting series is great for a multi-aged home learning family. Each lesson is titled with the week and the lesson number – making it extremely easy to schedule the handwriting practice into a four-times-a-week time slot. Additionally, the lessons are short – maybe taking a total of 15-20 minutes (which is about the concentration span of a very active 6 or 7 year old). I like too that Nicholson has woven in Catholicism in the practice sentences and phrases. If this book was used during First Sacraments preparation, the words could be incorporated into spelling practice while the phrases could be memorized for recitation practice. Another cool thing is the subtle shrinking of the lines as the student progresses, from 3/4-inch uppercase to 1/2-inch uppercase! The lessons build bit by bit until, by the end of the year, the student will be copying out full prayers, poems and thoughts. These are all geared toward receiving the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion; however, even if your student is not yet ready to receive (or has already started receiving), these sentiments are still worthwhile for learning. The one down side is that for these longer copywork exercises, the author turned the page to allow more writing space. I’m sure though, that by the time my son gets to those longer lessons, he’ll be confident enough and his manual dexterity will have improved enough to avoid the despair the spiral unnecessarily engenders.

Reviewed by:

Mary C. Gildersleeve

First reviewed:

6-22-2009

Catholic National Readers

Subject(s):

Catholic Readers

Grade / Age level:

Grades 6-8

Elementary

Review:

The Catholic National Readers were originally published in the 1890s by Benziger Brothers Publishing. They have been reprinted by Savio Books and Neumann Press in 1997 in hardcover editions. They are frequently compared to the McGuffey's Readers and are illustrated with charming pictures of the sort you'd expect to see in "antique" books. Because of the sometimes archaic language and vocabulary, some homeschoolers (particularly those with more reluctant readers who want stories that are a little easier and a little more fun) prefer the American Cardinal Readers or the Faith and Freedom Readers. The Catholic National Readers are used by Kolbe Academy, Our Lady of Victory School and St. Thomas Aquinas Academy. Kolbe Academy sells some study guides that accompany the books.

First reviewed:

Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: New Primer and Book One

Number of pages:

130 pages

1890

Publisher:

Lepanto Press

Binding:

Sewn Hardcover

Subject(s):

Catholic Readers

Grade / Age level:

Elementary

Review:

I found this volume very useful for early reading practice with my first-grade daughter. We were able to move into this after she finished the Bob Books. The advantage I saw to this particular primer in contrast with the later series (Cardinal or Faith and Freedom) was that it was much harder for her to guess the words because of either the pictures or the heavy repetition so common in other early readers. The passages are very short, although not particularly story like. Some of the phraseology was rather archaic, such as "Has a boy the jug? A boy has not the jug." (p. 15) We didn't find this to be a big problem. There were also some stories where the perspective is so different that it's almost shocking to our modern ears. For example, a story about seals on pg. 60 indicates that children of that time might have been more familiar with seals from their skin used as clothing than being "acquainted" with the animals themselves.

Since we used this volume just for reading practice, we skipped the segments on vocabulary, word recognition and introductory cursive.

Additional review: This is actually two books in one binding - the Primer and Book One. My daughter dove into the Primer right away and is working her way through it. Each lesson begins with the new words listed with phonetic notations. Most of the lessons have some of the text reproduced in cursive writing. The pictures are beautiful and the stories are wonderful and steeped in Catholic culture. The stories in these two are very short and not really full stories. (N.H., 1999)

Perspective:

Catholic

Additional notes:

Primer: 32 pages + Book One: 98 pages

Reviewed by: