This biography of St. Therese of Lisieux for children emphasizes the story of her childhood, her simple spirituality as taught to her by her family with an emphasis on the little acts of sacrifice she made and how that helped her to develop control of her will. The story includes many details of Therese's childhood and family life that Catholic homeschool families will relate to. It is told in a way that encourages young children to offer little sacrifices to God in imitation of this saint. I was particularly amused to hear that St. Therese at first did not want to study her lessons and would hide from her mother. I know that this particular behavior is one that has frustrated a number of homeschooling mothers. They may be encouraged to know that Zelie Martin struggled with this too and may wish to ask Blessed Zelie and Saint Therese to gain the cooperation of their children. The book also includes numerous pen and ink illustrations (on almost every page) which highlight the ways in which St. Therese imitated Our Lord even as a small child. A sixteen page segment in the middle of the book provides a timeline and a number of black and white reproductions of photos and paintings depicting her life.

I found this quite accidentally when browsing the art shelves in the non-fiction children books section at our library system's main branch last week.

Mind you, I am always carting around mountains of books in huge, oversize bags, and I am thankful for strong, teen sons, and for downtown ballet and piano classes allowing me the time to browse at the library.

At the library, I try to throw in the bag only what looks promising, and I still end up bringing home volumes that go directly back into the return bag, almost unopened. So what I post here is truly the cream of the crop-- at least the cream of my own random crop!

Back to Wolfe's marvelous book: she is from the UK and has received awards for her art books for children. I would give her an award as well! (I have just requested the two other titles in this series from Inter Library Loan). I like the paintings she chooses to show her artistic points-- in this volume, the effect of light onto works of art-- and I like the language she uses to talk about them. The book is for children and yet it doesn't talk down or use patronizing language. Art should be talked about simply, clearly-- and she does just that, as she discusses the use of light in different aspects using 18 great works of art as examples. In fact, I am taking this book to take to my art students at co-op on Friday, and my teens at home approve!

The only negative thing I would say is that I would have chosen another of the many art works depicted in the book for the cover. Alas, that may be a very insignificant point, but it is one that could mean a lot to a visual person like me, who had to bet on the stunning art wok inside the book when the cover shows a very boring Picasso.

To close, another positive: Wolfe is not afraid to acknowledge that it is impossible to talk about art without discussing sacred art. Indeed her book opens with the gorgeous Conversion of Saint Paul by Caravaggio (so timely for the Year of Saint Paul!), and it closes with a discussion on "Heavenly Light", using Blessed Fra Angelico's version of Paradise from The Last Judgement.

Lord of the World, written in the early part of the 20th century, is an intelligent and Catholic fictional extrapolation on the trend towards Modernism described and condemned by Pope Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis and Lamentabili Sane

The setting is a future society where the Catholic Church is no more than an embattled remnant. In the popular and intellectual view, culture has moved past the "need" for faith in the supernatural. Near the beginning of the book, two young priests discuss with their superior how to regain some Catholic foothold in a culture which has been de-sacramentalized; of the two, one goes over to the enemy's side, while the other will be hunted and scorned for his faith. The latter priest, Father Percy, a sort of focal point of the book, has the odd distinction of being physically almost identical to his counterpart, a mysterious international leader who has a more-than-human influence on the people he gathers around him. This anti-Christ figure is personable, not obviously evil, and seems in all ways more powerful than the fugitive priest - but as Christ's representative, Father Percy is ultimately victorious in the task he is called to carry out. Their physical resemblance seems to be a device to underline the contrast.

The contrast is also demonstrated in their respective influences on a married couple and the husband's mother, who are key characters in the book. The mother is drawn back towards the sacraments as she drifts closer to death while the attractive couple move from kind "tolerance" to active antagonism for the church and all it represents.

Modern humanitarian secularism eases into savage barbarism and the light of truth seems to flicker and die, but though the events are dark, the ending demonstrates that the battle has been won on a supernatural level even while lost by worldly standards.

I would probably save this book for an older high-schooler who is mature enough to distinguish between tenets of the faith and imaginative extrapolation. It might be quite interesting to read this book alongside some secular works in the same genre - Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, or even some of the works of H.G. Wells. Another book written from a Catholic perspective, a science fiction post-apocalyptic classic from the 1950's, is Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. One more book which deals with the effect of modernism on society is C.S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength, the last of his Space Trilogy. I could see these books being read as an introduction to modern worldviews in perhaps 11th or 12th grade.