Saints for Young Readers for Every Day: January - June

by Susan Helen Wallace, Melissa Wright, Jamie H. Aven (Illustrator)

This book of short, interesting biographies includes many newly-beatified and canonized blesseds and Saints. There are also suggestions on how children can apply each saint s story to their own everyday lives, and an alphabetical index of saints. Susan 9-11 368, Pauline Books and 0-8198-7081-1

Genres: Religion

Paperback

First published November 1, 1995

About the author

Sr. Susan Helen Wallace, FSP, holds a B.A. in Catechetics from Notre Dame College in Cleveland, Ohio, an M.A. in Catholic Doctrine from St. John’s University, Queens, N.Y., and an M.S. in journalism from Boston University. She has written several children’s biographies, which are part of the Encounter the Saints Series. She has also written a number of books for adults, including Basic Catechism, which she co-authored with Sr. Mary Lea Hill, FSP. Sr. Susan Helen is also part of the staff at the Pauline Books & Media Center in Dedham, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Sarah Winslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 8yo is reading these aloud to us when we get in the car. They are great little summaries with enough to make the saints real but also inspiring.

[Siobhain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet! This review will be the same for both volumes. For many years, we read from the appropriate edition of these books every morning to be reminded of the saint of the day. I loved doing this then, and I am impressed now at how appropriate the writing is for middle grades students, given that the writer was a writer and not an educator. I have just recently looked up about 20 of the saints, and I am reminded at how appropriate the stories are for children. For example, in most stories of St. Francis of Paola, it is mentioned at age 15 he went to live in a cave to be a hermit. In this edition, it includes that his parents gave him permission to live in a cave, and then Sr. Susan includes an explanation of what it means to be a hermit.

Each book is arranged by feast day so included in the two volumes are over 365 stories saints and feasts of Our Lady as some days are represented by two saints. For each saint, there is the story of his or her life and then a little inspiring comment. For St. Francis of Paola, the comment is:

"Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in loud music, television shows, videos, and computer games that we can find ourselves just living for now. We might not even give any thought or time for our souls that will live on in eternity. What should we add to our schedule that will help us reach eternal happiness with God? Daily Mass? Morning prayer? Evening prayer? Household chores done well and cheerfully? Homework done well? What else?"

There are beautiful black and white illustrations in the book, but I would guess that there is about one per month. What makes the illustrations particularly helpful is that most seem to be for the lesser known saints, such as St. Joseph Moscati, St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, and St. Andrew, St. Paul, and the Korean Martyrs. Each illustration includes an engaging image of the saint, people in his or her life, and other images and symbols representative of the saint's life.

One helpful thing I did with these books over the years is that I would add information about other resources for the saints which we owned on their page, or I would list other saints that had that feast day. For example, for St. Charles Lwanga, I list a book we owned called "African Triumph" next to his name, and then listed that his feast day, June 3, was also the feast day of St. Kevin and St. Clotilde and listed books we had that included their stories. It became a handy resource. Note: the index at the back includes both volumes so if one looked up St. Vincent de Paul in Volume I, covering January - June, he would see that St. Vincent de Paul could be found on September 27 (volume 2). Also included in the index for many saints is their patronage. St. Paul is listed as the "patron of charitable institutions."

One thing I wish I had done differently is that I wish I had let my children take turns reading from the books each morning. With the distance of time, I can see how beautifully these stories were adapted for young readers. However, in my busy, somewhat controlling way, I read through these stories myself, probably in a hurry to get on with the rest of the day. I wouldn't be surprised if my kids tuned me out or if maybe I didn't give them time to really engage their attention. These books are worth the slower pace of having children read them and take the time to discuss the stories and ending comments. Upon reflection, I better understand why sometimes my kids were completely ignorant of a saint that I indignantly would claim, "How could you not know that saint? We read his story every year."

I highly recommend these books. Even if I didn't use them in the best way, I can say that I greatly benefitted from them and still enjoy them now. Published in 1995, they don't include saints recently canonized. However, they contain stories of many beautiful and inspiring saints. Just fantastic!

[Catie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite one of these for sure.