Love 2 Learn.net

Grade / Age level:

Elementary

Review:

Forty-seven stories including "The Star Spangled Banner", "Our Lord and Our Lady" by Hiilaire Belloc, "St Martin of Tours" and "St Brigid". A few black and white pictures. Includes study suggestions for each story. Glossary.

Perspective:

Catholic

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

1998-99

American Cardinal Readers: Book 6

Book cover: American Cardinal Readers: Book Six

Author(s):

Edith M. McLaughlin

Adrian T. Curtis

Number of pages:

390 pages

1930

ISBN:

9780911845419

Publisher:

Neumann Press

Binding:

Sewn Hardcover

Sample Pages

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Fifty-nine stories including "Bethlehem 1918", "Daniel Boone" by Teddy Roosevelt, " St Aloysisus", "O Captain! My Captian" by Walt Whitman","St Isaac Jogues", "The Address of the Roman Catholics to George Washington, Esq. President of the United States". Includes study suggestions for each story and a glossary. A few black and white pictures.

In the story "Bethlehem, 1918" on page 88, there is a troubling sentence: "In Jerusalem, in spite of its overwhelming interest, the Catholic pilgrim is distressed by the discord of jarring creeds, by the crowds of Mohammedans and foreign Jews that infest it..." While we certainly can't judge the author's intentions in referring to people as infesting a place, it certainly seems contradictory to Catholic teaching on the value of each human life, regardless of race or religion. I would be anxious to make clear to my children that it is inappropriate to refer to people as infesting a place. While some may choose to skip the story entirely, I think it can be valuable for children to read such things and discuss them with their parents in order to be better prepared to avoid such errors and evils in the future. (A.V.H.)

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

1998-99

American Cardinal Readers: Book 7

Author(s):

Edith M. McLaughlin

Adrian T. Curtis

Number of pages:

452 pages

1930

ISBN:

9780911845426

Publisher:

Neumann Press

Binding:

Sewn Hardcover

Sample Pages

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Forty-four stories include: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", "The High Tide at Gettysburg", "The Martyr of Molokai", "Holy Ireland", and "Malchus the Monk". Includes study suggestions for each story. A few black and white pictures. Includes a glossary and a home reading list.

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

1998-99

American Cardinal Readers: Book 8

Author(s):

Edith M. McLaughlin

Adrian T. Curtis

Number of pages:

556 pages

1930

ISBN:

9780911845433

Publisher:

Neumann Press

Binding:

Sewn Hardcover

Sample Pages

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Sixty-one stories including "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens, "At High Mass" By Msgr. Benson, "The Names of Our Lady", "The Sign of the Cross" by John Henry Cardinal Newman, and "The New School" by Joyce Kilmer. Includes study suggestions for each story. A few black and white pictures. Includes a glossary and home reading list.

Reviewed by:

First reviewed:

1998-99

A Bright Star Falls

Author(s):

Lenora Mattingly Weber

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Rosellen Kern dies and Andy struggles with it.

First reviewed:

2/18/06

Beany and the Beckoning Road

Author(s):

Lenora Mattingly Weber

1952

Publisher:

Image Cascade

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

After a heart-rending discovery of Norbett spending time with another girl, Beany is delighted to have an opportunity to go away on a road trip to California with her brother Johnny and her little nephew. Tight finances and a favor to a friend cause the trip to become harried with a whole array of fellow-travelers (and a horse). Kindly, motherly Miss Opal doesn't have money, but performs near-miraculous feats of producing food and lodging out of thin air (not to mention her tomato plant in the back seat). Cynthia forces herself upon the group through kind-hearted Johnny. While she's great at helping with the horse, she seems to be hiding something. Well, as Mr. Malone said, "Any trip is wasted unless you come home a little different and a little bigger person from the one you were when you started." A fun and satisfying read.

Reviewed by:

Alicia Van Hecke

First reviewed:

6-5-02

Beany Has a Secret Life

Author(s):

Lenora Mattingly Weber

1955

Publisher:

Image Cascade

Binding:

Softcover

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Beany's been having a pretty rough time of things lately. Norbett, away in college in Ohio, has sent her a letter breaking off their relationship. The Malone's widowed father decides to marry again - a pretty artist named Adair. Unfortunately Adair and Beany get off to a really rough start. Meanwhile, some troubled teens at school invite her to join a secret club - for those who want to shut out family as much as possible. This suits the miserable and stubborn Beany just fine. Misunderstandings abound and Beany starts to feel like her world is falling apart and her situation is hopeless before some light is finally brought to the situation from some surprising places. This is a really nice story. In addition to some thoughtful lessons about family life and misunderstandings, the author is clearly presenting a warning against other sorts of secret clubs that teens of that day might have gotten involved in (especially Communist).

Reviewed by:

Alicia Van Hecke

First reviewed:

6-5-02

Beany Malone

Author(s):

Lenora Mattingly Weber

Number of pages:

186 pages

1948

Publisher:

Image Cascade Publishing

Binding:

Softcover

Sample Pages

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

In this second book of the series, 16 year old Beany struggles with the tendency of her family to "stick their necks out" for others at the risk of disappointment, emotional stress and failure. Johnny is busy trying to help an older, forgetful man write a book he's always wanted to write, but may not live to finish. Mary Fred is struggling with the fickle sorority girls in college and Elizabeth anxiously awaits her husband's return from the war. Beany sees a role model in her friend's mother who never lets herself worry about anything and enjoys a carefree life (which her own daughter detests). Beany begins to close herself to new friendships and other things that might make life "too difficult." Beany thinks this is a great idea until the mother's childish behavior betrays her and Beany learns to see things in a new light with the help of her family's attitudes in the face of difficulty.

Reviewed by:

Alicia Van Hecke

First reviewed:

3-13-02

Come Back Wherever You Are

Author(s):

Lenora Mattingly Weber

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Review:

Beany, now married with two children, struggles to help Kay's young son who is having emotional difficulties.

First reviewed:

2/18/06

Happy Birthday, Dear Beany

Author(s):

Lenora Mattingly Weber

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level: