New favorites: Saints' books

We are thoroughly enjoying our daily read-aloud of saints stories this year. I am making up for last year… what is it that make a year a good year for, let’s say, History and one good for saints’ stories? I don’t know, but like I said above, this is a good one for saints’ stories.

I thought I’d share here some of the books we are using:

Book of Saints by Amy Welborn.

Simple, directed language, applied to everyday life, for younger kids. Written with school kids in mind. I adapt it to homeschooling as I read. She groups them by character traits ("Saints who are people who are Brave", "who come from all over the world") and with 15 groups of 4-6 saints each, there are a lot of saints! A plus is the mentioning of some new saints and blesseds I had not heard about before.

Great Saints in World History, Seton Educational Media.

I purchased this one at the MN Conference this past June because it has the story of a saint about whom not much is written, and a dear saint in our family: Saint Isabel, Queen of Portugal.



Once Upon a Time Saints, Bethlehem Books.

I also bought this long ago because of Saint Isabel! This is an old favorite and it is not the first time I read it-- but for some reason the three youngest girls absolutely love the language! A gem!

And, drum roll, our new favorite: Hugh Ross Williamson's The Young People's Book of Saints. Good luck finding a copy, it's pretty darn old. Great illustrations! A recent gift from my friend Nancy, who had heard about it from Hedgemom.

The British author, a convert to Catholicism, brings delightful biographical sketches of saints I promise you have never heard about! And in chronological order too which makes this volume a wonderful history complement to your history curriculum.