A Catholic parenting humor book? Yes, it is possible. Tim Bete has the timing, the subtle humor and the Erma Bombeck training to take the early years as a new parent, and tell it like it is: from the 672 rules every parent must have in the average home to the bribing of children into toilet training, Bete, a father of three young children, never misses a beat.

One thing I liked about this book was that although I'm a mom, I had just as much fun reading it as any dad. In fact, there were times I thought, "Yep, I've been there, I'll bet Tim's wife told him about that," whatever that was (after all, how many dads are really directly involved in toilet training? How many get up in the middle of the night to the sound of a crying baby, other than to say, "Honey, I think the baby needs you," I mean?)

Fathers and mothers are going to have a great time laughing at the way Bete teaches his children about food, ("What do you think about chocolate french fries?" he asks his daughter. "Great! Can I have some?" she says. "How do you feel about green ketchup?" he asks. "Yuck," she says, then adds, "but could I try it on the chocolate fries?") or about playing by themselves (the way to get kids interested in their toys, Bete explains, is having more kids. "As soon as a sibling is playing with their toys, the child is suddenly intensely interested in them.")

Bete is pro-life, pro-children, pro-family and positively Catholic. And the fact that Barbie, Thomas the Tank Engine and the shepherds can all play together under the Christmas Nativity set is proof that he has real children.

The chapters are short, the stories are sweet, humorous and even touching. I found this book to be a great reminder of the fun and laughter of childhood, and a good reminder not to take parenting too seriously. The life-lesson reminders are good, as well: take time to talk with your children, hold them, read to them, and give them lots of love. Before you know it, you'll be taking your sixteen-year-old out for driving lessons, and remembering how you once had to put green ketchup on the chocolate french fries. Then suddenly–botta bing, botta boom–you become your grandparents, saying, "How fast they grow!" Excellent gift idea for a young or soon-to-be dad, as well as your own husband (Christmas, or Father's Day).

This film, originally made for British television, is based on the novel In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. It is an admirable portrayal of a woman entering a cloistered Benedictine Abbey relatively late in life and how she learns to love all - the lovable and the "unlovable" for the sake of Christ. While the glimpses of the outside world (of the 1970s) are somewhat dated in appearance - clothing, hairstyles, etc. - this actually enhances the concept of the timelessness of the religious life and of the Church (this is further highlighted by the beautiful Gregorian chant music heard throughout the film). The story is beautiful, but a little complex, and will probably be best appreciated by teens and adults.

This picture book designed for "big kids" gives side-by-side comparisons according to length, height, area, life-span, speed, etc. of all kinds of things – animals, mountains, countries, modes of transportation, man-made structures and much more.

Segments of the book include: "On the Surface" (compares land-size of various countries, islands, different uses of land), "Into the Earth" (canyon depths, cave lengths and depths, etc.), "Going into Space" (compares power and speeds of rockets vs. airplanes, comet tail size comparison with various planets, etc.), "The Solar System" (compares planet sizes and distances, etc.), "Great Lengths" (compares lengths of airplanes, highways, major rivers, telecommunications cables, etc.). Other chapters cover animal speeds, land and water speeds, human population etc.

Does include some environmental and politically correct content. The segment on human population was much better than I expected, though. To give a sampling.... 

A population explosion has seen the number of people in the world more than triple since 1900 – from less than 2,000,000,000 to close to 6,000,000,000. Each day, enough people to fill the largest stadium in the modern world are added to the total. Thankfully, the world is a very big place. All the people in the world today could actually fit, standing shoulder to shoulder, on the small Indonesian island of Bali.

We have been spending hours in the garden where insects abound, and this new friendly title comes to entertain and inform my summer readers. The photos are very interesting and our 10 yr. old enjoyed reading about the reasons behind the dimensions of each of the unusually sized insects. The amount of information is juicy enough but also little enough to make this light and breezy summer reading!

Have fun learning about these insects: the most numerous animals on earth!