Ordinary Lovely: Catholic literature

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Sunday, November 23, 2014

Picture Books for Advent and Christmastime

It's almost time to get out the Advent boxes! One more week! I'm really looking forward to seeing all of our favorite holiday books again!

Just in case you missed it last year, I'm reposting it again - my list of our Advent and Christmas books - specially notated with stars and double stars so you can easily spot which ones are the absolute best!! One star (*) means it's a great book. Two stars (**) means (in my humble opinion) you should do whatever it takes to get this book from the library or from this here Amazon affiliate (I thank you in advance so very much if you order through here!)

Favorite Picture Books for Advent and Christmas

(from Ordinary Lovely!)

What are some of your family's favorite books for the upcoming season?

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Our Favorite Saint Picture Books (Books. Lists. Love.)

All Saint's Day is a week away! We have a lovely collection of picture books about many different saints, and I thought I'd share some with you. Instead of an exhaustive list I decided it might be nice just to mention our favorites :) We *try* to read our saint books during the month in which the feast days fall, but it doesn't always work out that way. Lately the kids have just been pulling their favorites off the shelf, and of course when that happens, they usually don't get put back in chronological order :(

** Our Favorite Saint Picture Books **

(feast days in parentheses)

Brigid's Cloak; An Ancient Irish Story, Bryce Milligan (Feb 1)

Saint Valentine, Robert Sabuda (Feb 14)

Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, Tomie dePaola (May 17)

Joan of Arc, Demi (May 30)

The Blackbird's Nest: Saint Kevin of Ireland, Jenny Schroedel (June 3)

The Man Who Loved Books, Jean Fritz (St. Columba, June 9)

Christopher, the Holy Giant, Tomie dePaola (no longer considered a canonized saint; July 25)

The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica, Kathleen Noris (July 11, Feb 10)

The Little Friar Who Flew, Patricia Lee Gauch (St. Joseph Cupertino, (Sept 18)

Good King Wenceslas, John Wallner (Sept 28)

St. Jerome and the Lion, Margaret Hodges (Sept 30)

Therese: The Little Flower of Lisieux, Sioux Berger (Oct 1)

Clare and Francis, Guido Visconti (Aug 11, Oct 4)

The Pied Piper of Peru, Ann Tompert (St. Martin de Porres, Nov 3)

The Legend of Saint Nicholas, Demi (Dec 6)

The Lady of Guadalupe, Tomie dePaola (Dec 12) (St. Juan Diego, Dec 9)

(sorry no time to include individual pictures today :( )

What are some of your favorite books about the saints?

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Advent and Christmas Book List (for cozy December days and nights)

I've tried to hold off on doing this, but resistance is futile. I'm jumping on the Catholic mom blog bandwagon and posting our favorite Advent/Christmastide picture books. If you're sick of these lists, feel free to move right along! But if you're like me, and lists of any sort (especially ones that involve books) hold a mysterious sort of power over you, then welcome! I suppose you never know, there may even be one or two items here that haven't already been mentioned on every other holiday book list! I've already seen a few on other lists that I'm looking forward to checking out for next year!

In the past, we've used our Advent calendar as a vehicle for giving the kids clues as to where to search for a hidden book each day of December. But in the spirit of just enjoying time with each other and not worrying about orchestrating elaborate scavenger hunts, this year I'm keeping most of the books in a big basket so that they're close at hand for cozy book time :)

I couldn't resist - the ** stars ** are for my very favorites! One star (*) means it's a great book. Two stars (**) means (in my humble opinion) you should do whatever it takes to get this book from the library or from this Amazon affiliate (I thank you in advance so very much if you order through here!)

Happy Advent and happy reading!

Tomie DePaola Favorites

** The Clown of God
** Joy to the World: Tomie's Christmas Stories (includes The Night of Las Posadas, the Miracle of the Poinsettia, and The Story of the Three Wise Kings)
** An Early American Christmas
Merry Christmas, Strega Nona
Strega Nona's Gift
The Birds of Bethlehem
Jingle the Christmas Clown
Country Angel Christmas
The First Christmas (Pop-Up Book)

Books of Hymns and Carols

(We love to use these to learn new carols each year. The kids call them singing books.)