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Sewing with Saint Anne

Book cover: 'Sewing with Saint Anne: A Sewing Book for Catholic Girls'
Author(s): 
Alice M. Cantrell

Today's young women can benefit in many ways from the lessons learned whilst sewing. Among them are the genuine self-esteem gained by completing a challenging task, patience both with oneself and with the project at hand, and quiet perseverance with a task that takes longer than expected. Sewing with Saint Anne is a delightful book that organizes and simplifies the steps needed to learn how to sew. The majority of the projects would appeal to a young lady from about age six onward if she had help, or from about age ten with just a little help.

How Many Animals?/Quot Animalia?

Book cover: How Many Animals?/Quot Animalia?
Author(s): 
Marie Carducci Bolchazy
Illustrator(s): 
Kristie Stock

What a great idea - simple Latin readers to introduce young children to the language. Big pictures are paired with large, clear print, just like an English easy-reader. This first book in the series is a simple picture book with very nicely drawn, realistic pen and ink illustrations. The format allows readers to intuitively figure out what some basic words mean by connecting them with the pictures. The text introduces 13 types of animals, offering each Latin word in the singular and plural.

What Color Is It?/Quo colore est?

Book cover: What Color Is It?/Quo colore est?
Author(s): 
Marie Carducci Bolchazy
Translator(s): 
Mardah B C Weinfield
Illustrator(s): 
Yana Igorevna Myaskovskaya

This title offers charming, child-friendly pen-and-ink illustrations to introduce the colors (in Latin) to young children. The text is quite a bit more complex than How Many Animals? Quot Animalia?, but would provide a good opportunity for young Latin scholars to practice their pronunciation by reading the book aloud to a younger sibling. Since the topic is "colors", I think this book will be best enjoyed if an artist in the family colors in the illustrations first. Translations and glossary are in the back.

What Will I Eat?/Quid Edam?

Book cover: What Will I Eat?/Quid Edam?
Author(s): 
Marie Carducci Bolchazy
Illustrator(s): 
Michelle Kathryn Fraczak

Lots of silly black-and-white pictures (which will likely appeal to certain funny-bones) and simple text introduce readers to the Latin words for many types of food. You'll find a monster eating pizza, a cow suggesting pork instead of beef, a hot dog enjoying a soda and... lots of good Latin content. Not my favorite book in this series, but perhaps not a bad way to introduce young children to some relevant Latin vocabulary.

Who Loves Me? / Quis me amat?

Book cover: Who Loves Me? / Quis me amat?
Author(s): 
Marie Carducci Bolchazy
Illustrator(s): 
Michelle Kathryn Fraczek

This book introduces names of family members - mother, father, sister, brother, grandfather, grandmother, fraternal and paternal aunt and uncle, cousins and God - through the eyes of a baby. I liked how small details on some of the pictures - like the words on a T-shirt - are written in Latin (and the translations are included in the back along with the rest of the text). The text is charming, but these pictures are a bit on the "goofy" side (very cartoon like and some weird proportions).

Latin for Beginners (Passport's Language Guides)

Book cover: Latin for Beginners (Passport's Language Guides
Author(s): 
Angela Wilkes
Illustrator(s): 
John Shackell

In the typical Usborne style, this book offers lots and lots of cartoon-like pictures with Latin dialogue and descriptions and quite a bit of grammar and other tidbits along the way. The pictures are a little goofy (I think they use the same pictures for all the different languages they have out in this series), but the book is packed with content (particularly for the price). This might make an especially nice supplement for grade school students studying Latina Christiana or another early Latin text.

Easy Latin Crossword Puzzles

Book cover: Easy Latin Crossword Puzzles
Author(s): 
Betty Wallace Robinett
Virginia French Allen

This will make a fun supplement to students in upper grade school or high school who have already studied Latin for a year or two. The words are fairly simple (requiring both English to Latin and Latin to English translations). One feature that makes it quite accessible is a list of words from which to choose the correct word. There are 50 crosswords in all, plus a complete answer key, and a brief introduction to Roman numerals, some common Latin abbreviations in use today and a list of the Latin mottoes of 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Friendly Defenders

Book cover: 'Friendly Defenders'
Author(s): 
Matt Pinto
Katherine Andes

Each packet of Friendly Defenders Catholic Flash Cards includes 50 cards covering 12 categories: Tradition, Church, Papacy, Eucharist/Mass, Salvation, Purgatory, Baptism, Mary, Saints, Confession, Statues & Holy Objects, and Holy Orders. The purpose of the cards is to assist children, ages 8 and up, and teenagers to be able to defend their faith with clear and easy explanations against the typical questions about the Catholic faith.

A Mother's Rule of Life

Book cover: 'A Mother's Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul'
Author(s): 
Holly Pierlot
Have you ever considered motherhood to be your vocation? Have you prayerfully considered the various daily duties and burdens of your state in life? Do you think that prayer time will have to wait until your children are older? until the dishes are done? until the entire house is decluttered? Do you long for the peace of the monastery? A nap? A clean house? A day in which all he schoolwork is completed? This is the book that will help you learn how to "do it all" without losing your mind or spending a fortune, while you and your family grow in holiness and peace.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Book cover: Uncle Tom's Cabin
Author(s): 
Harriet Beecher Stowe

There are a plethora of resources for you to find out the plot of this book out on the web and in the bookstores (eg. Cliffs Notes!!). Many contain "spoilers". And this is OK — after all it's a classic. Moreover, the book is good even if you know what is going to happen. I had the enjoyable luxury of reading this book without having run across the spoilers and with no real knowledge of the plot. I was not required to read it in school — oh happy fault.