| Author | |
Tina P.
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 28 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1638
|
| Posted: March 11 2007 at 6:35pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Is there such a thing as too many saint books? We have 57 Saints for Girls and Boys, Saints for Young Readers for Every Day (both volumes), LEgends of Saints and Beasts, Once Upon a Time SAints (both volumes), Heavenly Friends A Saint for Each Day, Saints and Heroes Andrew and Linora Lang, and Amy Welborn's Loyola Kids Book of Saint and Book of Heroes. Now, I just purchased a Kingfisher book called Saints and Angels for my 7yo who is receiving his 1st Holy Communion. It has absolutely GORGEOUS masterpieces of art on every page. Also, it highlights about 37 saints lives. This one, when I leaf through it, seems a little light on the lives of the saints and heavy on art. There's also a review on Amazon that derides this book for not mentioning CATHOLIC anywhere perhaps because they're trying to be too politically correct.
I saw another book at B&N called Illustrated Book of Saints which is *very* Catholic (moreso than the first mentioned), has more saints listed, and has prayers for the intercession of each saint listed but ... well ... to be honest, the pictures were lacking. 
What I'm asking is, should I return the first and buy the second? Should I even buy yet another saint book (and yes, we use all those we have because we read about a saint a day and rotate the books)? Each of the other older kids in our family have one saint book that's his or her own. Or should I find someting else that may be more special for his 1st Holy Communion? I want to have this all thought out and done in good time. Help!
Thanks,
__________________
Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
Mary's Muse
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
aussieannie
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 21 2006
Location: Australia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 7251
|
| Posted: March 11 2007 at 9:28pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Firstly Tina, no there is no such thing as too many saints books!! 
I have bought the Saints and Angels as a baptismal gift and would like to buy it for our children one day - what I like about beautiful pictures, is that in Catholic art there is so much hidden meaning in them, we cannot underestimate how much they learn from pictures alone - as I child I remember vividly pictures of the saints from my little Lovaskic saint books, treasured things they were! - the pictures seared into my memory and left a lingering feeling of connection to the saints even though I might not necessarily remembered everything I read about them at the time - I liked beauty and appreciated good artwork, so I think it conveys so much to the children.
Of course we need to have good resources of reading material on the saints aimed at children, does the second book double up too much on what you have already? If so, the picture book might be a lovely edition of images of the saints for your children and you can still refer to other saints books and their stories to read to the children, while showing them the new pictures. If it is not doubling up too much OR you think these particular stories are very well written, then it might be worth the extra expense of hanging onto them both.
I believe books make good presents, they are sure to be passed onto your grandchildren to help in the formation of their souls. We have many books in our cupboard given as special gifts to our children with my use of calligraphy on the front page marking the occasion.
You never forget a good book read in childhood, I recently tracked down on ebay a book I read when little, it took a while to remember the title and finally I remembered - my children are now loving this book as much as I did!
I may not have helped the main question much Tina, but just some of my thoughts.
__________________
Under Her Starry Mantle
Spiritual Motherhood for Priests
Blessed with 3 boys & 3 girls!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: March 12 2007 at 7:02pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Well, Tina. I don't have older ones, but I'm speaking from my experience in my own family when growing up, and also what I do here. I agree with Anne, there can never be too many saint books, unless they are poorly written and only collect dust and never are opened. But I believe in a variety on the shelves for the different ages, interests, needs. The illustrations are wonderful to have, and my latest additions are looking for ones that draw from art masterpieces. My mother provided so many saint books, from illustrated short stories to collections with longer lengths, to biographies in different age levels.
My brief stay in the convent as a pre-postulant the superiors stressed that we try in our spare time to read the lives of the saints, because as we got older and busier, we would have less time to do so. And I've taken that advice to apply to my son's childhood...providing good saint books for my son to find heroes, patrons, someone who has BTDT in life's sorrows and crosses. I want him to see and know our friends.
In short, I'd buy both. To have the art study, illustrations is wonderful, but you can pull from the other book to flesh out the biographies when needed.
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
doris
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1103
|
| Posted: March 13 2007 at 4:46pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I've got the first book you mention and, although the art is beautiful, I was actually thinking of getting rid of it now that my daughter is reading independently. It's fine for reading (and editing) aloud for younger children, but for older ones, I'm unimpressed by sections like "Mary knew about Jesus' ascension into heaven. Many Christians believe that she, too, was taken into heaven." (I'm quoting from the Amazon review, but this is just the sort of thing that bugged me, too.)
__________________
Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
Frabjous Days
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: March 29 2007 at 11:05pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Since we've determined one cannot have too many saints books... add this one to the list!
I just checked out a copy of More Saints Lives and Illuminations - hot off the presses. It is the sequel to Saints Lives and Illuminations by Ruth Sanderson and is equally appealing. Her illustrations are beautiful. It covers saints and blessed from the second millennium. The introduction includes information on the process of canonization. There are many saints books out there, but this has the most amazing illustrations. I've posted a listing of the saints that are covered in this book.
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Cay Gibson
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 16 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5193
|
| Posted: March 29 2007 at 11:07pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
MaryM wrote:
I've posted a listing of the saints that are covered in this book.
|
|
|
This is great! Thanks, Mary. 
__________________
Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: March 29 2007 at 11:13pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Cay - I am glad you saw this. I was going to make sure to let you know. It is truly a Mosiac type book!
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SuzanneG
Forum Moderator
Joined: June 17 2006
Location: Idaho
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5465
|
| Posted: March 30 2007 at 12:18am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I keep meaning to get this book (the first one) because it is one of the rare saint books that has St. Dorothea, and my dd#3 is name Dorothy.
__________________
Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SuzanneG
Forum Moderator
Joined: June 17 2006
Location: Idaho
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5465
|
| Posted: March 30 2007 at 12:20am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Mary:
Spanish vs. Basque (in your post)!!!
__________________
Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Tina P.
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 28 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1638
|
| Posted: March 30 2007 at 7:26am | IP Logged
|
|
|
SuzanneG wrote:
Mary:
Spanish vs. Basque (in your post)!!! |
|
|
OK. Dumb question #4,567,901. What does Basque mean?
God bless,
__________________
Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
Mary's Muse
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Carole N.
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 28 2006
Location: Wales
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4484
|
| Posted: March 30 2007 at 8:44am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Briefly, it is a region between Spain and France. It has no connection whatever with the French or the Spanish--they have their own culture, language, way of life. It is located on the coastal mountain area and the countryside is beautiful there. I believe that National Geographic did a story on them in the 1980s.
__________________
 Carole ... in Wales
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: March 30 2007 at 9:58am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Tina,
Carole did a fine job explaining. Their culture is really old - predates other Europeans and are not simialr to any other culture in the world. The thing with the Basque culture is that since they don't have their own country (and never have) - the region is half in France and half in Spain, they are often ignored or mistaken for Spanish or French. They have at various times lived autonomously within those areas and at other times been persecuted by the ruling nation. I don't know if you read my blog post that Suzanne was referring too. I took exception to the fact that the saint's book author identified St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier as Spanish when they are actually Basque. That happenes a lot and is frustrating to those of us who are fiercely proud of our unique heritage and history. (Can you tell I'm Basque!  )
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: March 30 2007 at 8:28pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
MaryM wrote:
Tina,
Carole did a fine job explaining. Their culture is really old - predates other Europeans and are not simialr to any other culture in the world. The thing with the Basque culture is that since they don't have their own country (and never have) - the region is half in France and half in Spain, they are often ignored or mistaken for Spanish or French. They have at various times lived autonomously within those areas and at other times been persecuted by the ruling nation. I don't know if you read my blog post that Suzanne was referring too. I took exception to the fact that the saint's book author identified St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier as Spanish when they are actually Basque. That happenes a lot and is frustrating to those of us who are fiercely proud of our unique heritage and history. (Can you tell I'm Basque! ) |
|
|
Well...I can see your point, but I think some of the saint books like to pinpoint geographically or nationally a saint. So it would probably be correct to say Ignatius and Francis were from the country Spain, but of Basque descent?
It's hard today to identify with a culture rather than a country...
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Carole N.
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 28 2006
Location: Wales
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4484
|
| Posted: March 31 2007 at 9:40am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Mary, thanks for the great explanation ... and what better person to give it. I was incredibly interested in the Basque region when I took Spanish in college, and then later on when I took Native American Literature and linguistics (then I was focusing on cultures and languages that existed simultaneously with other cultures, but were completely separate and uninfluenced by the surrounding culture). Most of what I learned has excaped my memory, but I do remember loving the Basque culture and wanting to travel there someday (still yet to come). You have sparked my interest again.
__________________
Carole ... in Wales
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
aussieannie
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 21 2006
Location: Australia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 7251
|
| Posted: April 14 2007 at 7:33am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Yep, I'm definately convinced you can never have enough saints books!
I just received a copy of More Once Upon a Time Saints
Here is a sample page
I really loved this different style of writing about saints for children, I read things that touched me. Also, there are quite alot of less well known saints which I like, it gives greater variety and of course, all saints lives are worth reading.
Another interesting note, for any who buy catholic stationery from Trademark Stationery (really beautiful catholic stationery) Kathy Holbrook the lady who created and owns Trademark stationery, she illustrated the two books when she was trying to finance the start to the stationery business.
I am looking forward to purchasing the other one now, Once Upon a Time Saints. 
__________________
Under Her Starry Mantle
Spiritual Motherhood for Priests
Blessed with 3 boys & 3 girls!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: April 16 2007 at 10:48am | IP Logged
|
|
|
aussieannie wrote:
Yep, I'm definately convinced you can never have enough saints books!
I just received a copy of More Once Upon a Time Saints
Here is a sample page
I really loved this different style of writing about saints for children, I read things that touched me. Also, there are quite alot of less well known saints which I like, it gives greater variety and of course, all saints lives are worth reading. |
|
|
Anne, I really like Ethel's saint books. I wrote a little about her here. Ethel Marbach Pochocki has some great saint books. Her newer ones are "Saints of the Seasons for Children". It took me a while to make a connection that the Ethel Marbach on my bookshelf and Ethel Pochocki were one and the same.
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Too Many Saint Books?
