This short animated film (32 minutes) tells the story of Saint Perpetua and her companions, who were martyred in Carthage, in North Africa, in the year 203. The animation is good, the best of any Catholic animated films I've seen, though not reaching the quality of The Prince of Egypt. The storyline, however, is quite rich and historically detailed and skillfully brings to life the sorrows and fears, hopes and joys, present in the life and struggles of these martyrs, and the early Church in general.

This is a brief, engaging and heavily illustrated biography of the world's first historian. Herodotus lived in the Greek city of Halicarnassus in the Persian empire during the 5th century BC. His situation and personality put him an ideal place to tell the fascinating stories of the Persian Wars (think Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis) and to travel extensively and collect stories from all over. His original writings are a fascinating read for upper high school or college. This is unique in that it shares the basic history of his own life, told in first person narrative.

"Spring's Gift of Hope" is the first book by Moniqe Niemaszyk I read. I understand it is the second of a series and I look forward to the upcoming ones. Although you may want your child to read the first one ("Birthday Snow") of the series first, this volume read very independently. A New England Catholic family of five children deals with the care and death of an older aunt, and protagonist 18 yr old Gina gets ready for college and a possible romantic relationship. Lessons are learned, hearts are touched, and an example of healthy family and prayer life is gently portrayed.

There are so many wonderful saints book out there-- our homeschool shelves are filled with them, and we read and re-read them! This one will be an unique addition to our collection as the saints highlighted within all come from the pages of Holy Scripture! So if you want to learn about Saint Onesimus, Saints Aquila and Priscilla, Holy Simeon or Jason, as well as the more well known saintly figures of the apostles and other better-known scriptural holy mean and women, add this small volume to your own collection!