Alicia Van Hecke

The New Catholic Quiz: Second Grade

Book cover: 'The New Catholic Quiz: Second Grade'

Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. See description above.

Sample questions from this book (page one) God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are called ________. (a. the Communion of Saints, b. the Most Holy Trinity, c. the Beatitudes) The Eucharist helps us to ___________. (a. dream, b. think. c. love) Jesus teaches that forgiving others is better than revenge. True or false? Prayer is more like _________. (a. running away, b. looking for fun, c. thirsting for water)

Catholic Bible Quiz: Elementary Level

Book cover: 'Catholic Bible Quiz: Elementary Level'

This book provides 200 questions and answers - forty each in five different categories - the Law, the Prophets, Wisdom, the Gospel and the Epistles. The book is designed to be used as a quiz game - keeping score (based on the difficulty of the questions - each question is awarded a particular point value) to determine the winner. It could just as easily be used as an informal reinforcement of Bible Study. It is very similar in format to the New Catholic Quiz listed above.

The Holy Bible: Douay Rheims Version

Book cover: 'The Holy Bible: Douay Rheims Version'

The Douay Rheims Bible is supposed to be the most accurate, Catholic, translation of the Bible available in the English language. The Old Testament was translated into English in 1609 and the New Testament in 1582 and revised in its entirety (and "diligently] compared with the Latin Vulgate") by Bishop Richard Challoner from 1749-1752. Although the some of the language would be considered archaic today (lots of "thees" and "thous") but it really is beautiful.

The Ignatius Bible

Book cover: 'The Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version: Catholic Edition (RSVCE)'

This is the best translation available in "modern" English (without the "thees" and "thous" found in the Douay Rheims translation). For many of us today, this language is more familiar and comfortable and is probably easier for small children to understand. We use both translations in our home and find this one a little better for reading aloud to the family. It does not contain the "feminized language" (a.k.a. "inclusive language") found in most of the modern translations of the Holy Bible.

A Place to Hide

Book cover: 'A Place to Hide: True Stories of Holocaust Rescues'
Author(s): 
Jayne Pettit
This book contains true stories of remarkable people (mostly Christians, including many Catholics) who saved the lives of Jews from the Nazis in World War II. According to this book, despite six million Jews killed by the Nazis, it is estimated that two million Jewish children were saved by rescuers such as the sampling presented in these stories. It is estimated that the number of rescuers (those who harbored Jews in their homes, transported them to safety, etc.) is anywhere from fifty-thousand to five hundred thousand.

The stories here include:

Twenty and Ten

Book cover: 'Twenty and Ten'
Author(s): 
Claire Huchet Bishop
A very remarkable true story of twenty Catholic children, living in the country (to escape the war) with their teacher (a Catholic nun) who agree to hide ten Jewish children from the Nazis. The children show great heroism in offering to share even their meager food and bedding with these children and bravely face the Nazis alone while their teacher is detained. The story is a bit suspenseful, but ends beautifully (and a bit poetically) and could be read-aloud to fairly young children (Approximately 4th grade reading level). Highly recommended!

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Book cover: 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit'
Author(s): 
Judith Kerr
A well-written and engaging account, based on the author's experiences of a young (non-religious) Jewish girl and her family who escape from Germany in the 1930s and live for a time in Switzerland and then France before finally moving on to England. We see the escalation of Hitler's Germany from somewhat of a distance and the struggles of a displaced family trying to stay out of Hitler's reach (the father was a well-known writer who eventually has a price put on his head by Hitler).

Thomas A. Edison: Young Inventor

Book cover: Thomas A. Edison: Young Inventor
Author(s): 
Sue Guthridge
Illustrator(s): 
Wallace Wood

This is a fascinating and often humorous story of one of the most renowned inventors of all time. As a boy, Edison was fascinated by the world around him and full of questions about everything. Although he had many mentors as a boy, his first grade teacher reacted so negatively to his natural curiosity that his mother took him out of school and taught him at home. His adventures involving chemistry, trains and printing newspapers make for enjoyable and interesting reading.

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is the story of a band of soldiers in World War II who are assigned to find and send home Private James Ryan who is missing and whose three brothers were all killed in action within a short period of time (at or around the time of the Invasion of Normandy). The men struggle with what they see as a wasteful public relations assignment - particularly hard to deal with after their horrific and bloody experiences on D-Day.

Mental Math: Second Grade

Book cover: Mental Math: Second Grade
Author(s): 
Kathy French

This Math supplement provides 10 questions (which should take approximately 7 to 10 minutes) each day which are read aloud by the parent/teacher and computed mentally by the student who writes only the answer on paper. The questions should be helpful in introducing students to the language and vocabulary used on standardized tests, gaining confidence and practice in mental computation and allows the parent/teacher to quickly (and regularly) evaluate the student's progress (this might be especially useful for students who do much of their Math work independently).

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