Convinced that a critical part of education is to foster in our children a love of the beautiful and true, teacher and writer Laura Berquist presents this wide selection of poetry for every age level from grades one to twelve. Poetry is important because it is one of the forms of the beautiful which is accessible to children. For this reason children should be exposed to the best examples of …

Diane Ahern Illustrated by Katherine Larson Riley and Delaney are supposed to stay with their aunt, Sister Philomena, in her convent near Rome for the summer.  Riley expects this to be a horrible summer living with a bunch of nuns with nothing to do but pray and go to church.  That attitude starts to change when the secret nature of their aunt's work begins to unfold. On their first …

T. S. Elliot A dramatization in verse of the murder of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. "The theatre as well as the church is enriched by this poetic play of grave beauty and momentous decision" (New York Times). "Within its limits the play is a masterpiece.... Mr. Eliot has written no better poem than this and none which seems simpler"

Fr. Gerald T. Brennan The day to day diary of an eighth-grade boy. Of all of Fr. Brennan’s great and popular books, this is the one we have had the most requests to reprint. Grade school and Jr. High boys will love, treasure, guard and re-read this favorite many times. Of course, all young Catholics will enjoy this very special book. Any parent who ever attended the old-style Catholic grade …

Jane Austen The romantic clash of two opinionated young people provides the sustaining theme of Austen's 1813 masterwork. Spirited Elizabeth Bennet is one of a family of five daughters. With no male heir, the Bennet estate must someday pass to their priggish cousin Collins. Therefore, the girls must marry well--and the arrogant bachelor Mr. Darcy is Elizabeth's elusive match. An entertaining …

"Two cultures, two faiths, struggle against each other in this exciting story by Madeleine Polland.  You can almost hear the clash of arms and taste the Great Hall feasts in this authentic recreation of 9th century Europe, when Viking raiders ravaged the coasts of Ireland.  Amid the battles and shipwrecks and deeds of bravery and treachery, twelve-year-old Beorn learns Christian …

Hilda van Stockum When Janna is suddenly summoned from Germany to join her actor parents in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, she is shocked by the Dutch hatred for the Germans. Her favorite Nordic tales and Hitler Youth indoctrination have not prepared her for the complexities of living in a house requisitioned by a military friend of her parents; or for the violence she sees on the streets. With her …

Beowulf the Warrior is an outstanding modern version of the oldest epic in the English language. Ian Serraillier has retold the story of the hero Beowulf and his three memorable exploits - first, his rescuing of Hrothgar the Dane from the ravages of monstrous Grendel; next, his victory over Grendel's strange and horrible mother; and finally, in Beowulf's old age, his saving of his own people, …

Dianne Ahern Illustrated by Katherine Larson Luigi, a desperately poor man, breaks into the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, Italy, to steal something of great value.  He hides behind the wooden choir stalls and waits for nightfall.  The howl of the wolf breaks the quiet of the night and a burst of warm air sends chills down his spine.  Thus begins another Adventure with …

Thornton Wilder This beautiful new edition features unpublished notes for the novel and other illuminating documentary material, all of which is included in a new Afterword by Tappan Wilder. "On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipi-tated five travelers into the gulf below." With this celebrated sentence Thornton Wilder begins "The Bridge of San …

It is the year 597 and Pope Gregory is sending a select number of his monks, led by Fr. Augustine, to re-evangelize England.  Young Wolf, born in that land but raised in Rome, accompanies his father, Wolfstan, who goes as a guide and interpreter.  Though the King of Kent's wife is a Christian, the missionaries from Rome do not know whether they will be welcomed, tolerated or …

Mary Ray Palestine in the first century A.D. is as disturbed and divided as it is today. The Jews have revolted against Roman occupation and as they grow more restive, Rome clamps down harder. The ten Greek cities of Palestine-the Decapolis-want only to continue their peaceful trading existence, but they find themselves caught in the middle of the uprisings. Apollodorus, a merchant of …

Meriol Trevor " Au revoir, my niece, and thank you," Con said, bending down to give her a kiss. "You are a brave child. So! Goodbye now, and wish me well." "Oh, I do!" she replied. "Please, please be careful." When he had climbed out of the window at the end of the building, she stood there watching. For all his height and size Con was as agile as an animal; he seemed to know exactly …

Wilson Rawls This classic about a 10-year-old boy growing up in the Ozark mountains with his inseparable pair of coonhounds will warm the hearts of young and old alike. Great Stone Face Award.

Showell Styles 15-year-old Septimus Quinn is not your everyday hero. In this new collection of four complete novels, the reader will follow the small, spectacled, but very determined midshipman on a series of exciting adventures that take him from England to the Mediterranean, from the Battle of Trafalgar to espionage in Republican France. Author Showell Styles based his accounts of sea …

Joanne Williamson A never before published tale carries the reader back to Ancient Egypt and to the biblical Jerusalem. Around 701 B.C. Egypt is being ruled by the Kushite dynasty. Young Prince Taharka, a very minor royal son interested in healing, is content to have no principal part to play in that rule. However, it is he and not the expected Prince Shabataka who succeeds to the throne of …

Daniel Defoe This classic story of a shipwrecked mariner on a deserted island is perhaps the greatest adventure in all of English literature. Fleeing from pirates, Robinson Crusoe is swept ashore in a storm, possessing only a knife, a box of tobacco, a pipe- and the will to survive. His is the saga of a man alone: a man who overcomes self-pity and despair to reconstruct his life; who …

Harry Dee  is one of "Fr. Finn's Famous Three"- Tom Playfair, Percy Wynn and Harry Dee . These were the most popular of Fr. Finn's 27 Catholic novels for young people. Resembling a Catholic version of Charles Dickens' stories, or even The Hardy Boys,  these books were read by hundreds of thousands of young people in the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. Their quaint …