Grades 6-8

Great Inventors and Inventions

Book cover: Great Inventors and Inventions
Author(s): 
Bruce LaFontaine

Nicely drawn images and fairly detailed text overview important inventions and their inventors from Gutenberg's Movable Type (1438) to the Laser (1960). Arranged in chronological order, the descriptions give some historical background and scientific details about each invention. There is a certain amount of typical problems in the text regarding the medieval era to be full of "darkness and superstition" and a rather incomplete and somewhat erroneous account of Galileo's run-in with the Catholic Church.

Biology for Every Kid

Author(s): 
Janice Van Cleave

In its segment on "Experiments that Teach Us About Ourselves: The Amazing Human Body" this book provides 35 experiments about the body (the other segments of the book are about plant and animal life. While certainly not a comprehensive anatomy course, the book does provide interesting and simple experiments (which can easily performed at home with fairly ordinary materials) that would provide a helpful supplement to the study of anatomy.

Wild Animals Coloring Book

Book cover: Wild Animals Coloring Book
Author(s): 
John Green

A very nice, detailed and academic-oriented coloring book for learning about wild animals. In addition to beautiful line drawings of 47 different animals from around the world, the text provides common and scientific names and details about appearance, location, habits, size, etc. The index includes both common and scientific names as well, for easy look-up. Illustrations are royalty free (within certain conditions) and may be copied for use within your family.

Dover offers a couple of examples of how the finished images might look:

Heroes of Virtue

Book cover: 'Heroes of Virtue: A Timeline-manual of New World Saints and Blessed'
Author(s): 
Sister Elizabeth Ann
We have enjoyed using this manual in our home for almost a year now and have found that it has added a dimension that was lacking from our homeschool before. The author, a member of the congregation Sisters of Saint Joseph the Worker, has done an outstanding job organizing the saints of the Americas by chronology and geographical area. This manual includes saints from both North and South America. Sister Elizabeth Ann begins her book with reasons for studying these saints along with many ideas for incorporating them into ones ongoing historical or geographical studies.

The Outlaws of Ravenhurst

Book cover: 'The Outlaws of Ravenhurst'
Author(s): 
Sr. M. Imelda Wallace, S.L.

This is a lovely and engaging story set in early 17th Century Scotland and Colonial America. A mysterious "gray-cloaked" stranger leaves a toddler to be found by a passing priest. A young boy notices that he looks surprisingly unlike his "twin." It is a story of a boy being suddenly thrust into great challenges to faith and life. Secret passages, mysteriously changing identities and subtleties of who you can trust surround a story that stirs the blood to stand up for the faith – inspired by true stories of long ago.

The Cure of Ars

Book cover: 'The Cure of Ars: The Priest Who Outtalked the Devil'
Author(s): 
Milton Lomask
This is a quicker and slightly easier read than the title by Mary Fabyan Windeatt. It lacks the richness of explanations about the priesthood, but I thought that it portrayed St. John Vianney's humility and simplicity a little more clearly. It's also clearly written to be interesting even to those who are not accustomed to reading saint stories, so there is more emphasis on exciting events, such as when John Vianney, as a young boy, helped to hide a hunted priest from the authorities.

The Cure of Ars

Book cover: 'The Cure of Ars: The Story of Saint John Vianney, Patron Saint of Parish Priests'
Author(s): 
Mary Fabyan Windeatt
Although this is a bit longer than some of the other Saint stories by the same author, my children have been enjoying this story very much as a read-aloud. The story is told in the first person - from the point of view of St. John Vianney himself. (My children have particularly enjoyed this perspective and found it a nice change from the ordinary.) The author also weaves a great deal of thoughtful commentary upon the importance and mystery of priesthood into the story as well as important concepts about the love of God and the need for prayer and penance.

Pyramid

Author(s): 
David Macaulay
Black and white illustrations and readable text take you through the building of a fictional pyramid in Ancient Egypt (but so close to reality that you'll hardly know the difference) from the beginning plans of a Pharaoh for his final resting place, thorugh years of construction, and finally, the Pharaoh's death, mummification and entombment. Fortunately, the emphasis is on the design and construction of the pyramid rather than mummification. The many detailed pictures illustrate tools, techniques, materials used, etc. This is a very nice book and comes highly recommended.

Catholic National Readers

Book cover: 'Catholic National Readers'

The Catholic National Readers were originally published in the 1890s by Benziger Brothers Publishing. They have been reprinted by Savio Books and Neumann Press in 1997 in hardcover editions. They are frequently compared to the McGuffey's Readers and are illustrated with charming pictures of the sort you'd expect to see in "antique" books.

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