Sometimes the assigned monthly liturgical book is so far out of print I can’t find it. I have about a $15 tolerance level for a “one and done” saint book, and it has to be highly recommended. If it’s a book that will take a week or more, and it’s highly recommended, I might spend more, but many of those are up over $30 now and that makes me itch! (Hello, Catholic Stories for Boys and Girls Vol IV? Yikes….WAIT, it’s coming back out!) Anyway, the following books pop up in the calendar when I don’t have school, so I use them as hole-fillers during the year.
- Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
- More Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
- Children’s Book of Virtues, Faith, America, or Heroes. (Not exclusively liturgical, but still preachy enough to fit that bill for us. Illustrations make these better for us than the syllabus version. Widely available used. Sold as a group as a Treasury, but we find 352 pages too bulky.)
- Brother Bartholomew and the Apple Grove (barely available used, for now)
Often, there is a saint assignment and no really good material for retelling that week/day. In those cases, we generally do a “Summer Saint” that we’ll never get to otherwise, especially if there’s an American one in there. (I can’t bring myself to do school in the summer.)
June Saints
- St. Anthony of Padua, (Selection in Book of Sanctity. Anyone read the Br. Ernest one? Have another option?)
- St. Germaine: St. Germaine and the Sheep by Betz (coming back out!), Selection in Book of Sanctity
July Saints
- Blessed Junípero Serra: (Anyone have another option than the usual books of saints and the Book of Virtues version?)
- Saint Francis Solano: (Anyone have another option than the usual books of saints?)
- Saint Kateri Tekakwitha: selection in More Once Upon a Time Saints
- St. Christopher: Christopher, the Holy Giant by De Paola (widely available used, for now), The Legend of Saint Christopher by Hodges (darker than de Paola, but still fine)
August Saints
- St. John Vianney: A Story of St. John Vianney by Brother Ernest (coming back out!)
- St. Roch: if you are fortunate enough to already own Legends of Saints and Beasts by Jauss (coming back out!)
- St. Tekla: A Saint and His Lion: The Story of Tekla of Ethiopia* by Stone (
- St. Helena: The Queen and the Cats: A Story of St. Helena by Lee
- St. Rose of Lima: selection in More Once Upon a Time Saints
*Titles that are in the mail to me but I haven’t reviewed yet. Wait a day or two, and I will delete anything objectionable. (EDIT: The Queen and the Cats is really cute!)
- St. Audrey: A Necklace of Virtues: A Story of St. Audrey* by Lee: nothing objectionable, but it’s recent FICTION. Fun, but not for retelling IMHO.