…to place an emergency call to ATP and all the rest of you beautiful Catholics.
Lent is almost upon us. This year, I want to do table reading at dinner – like in the monastery! I need one (1) nonfiction text about some aspect of the faith, and one (1) fiction text. I’m reading to a crowd that ranges from 14 to 3. Suggestions?
Ooh, ambitious – I like it.
Suggestions: Hrm. A-Dubs has Book of Heroes and a Book of Saints, both from Loyola Press. Those are good, plus Friend of Blog and all.
I’ll have to ponder this further.
I like that. Might have to steal it. (Who gets to do the wooden gavel thing to announce the end of the reading?) Tough audience range, though. Fiction: The Silver Chair? Nonfiction: Apocalyptic Marianism for Kids? (or the like)
Fiction: The Bible
Nonfiction: The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True, by Richard Dawkins
Just … awesome.
Thanks, Mr Finnegan. These were actually not my first choices, but I decided that the little ones might not be ready for
Fiction: Alphonse, Issues 1-2 (of 5), by Matthew Lickona
Nonfiction: Swimming with Scapulars, by Matthew Lickona
I guess Noam Chomsky is out. That is tough one.
It just came to me and it can be adjusted for the faith. I think that it covers just about everyone.
Fiction: The Man Who Planted Trees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBNbKWBwANE&feature=related
Non Fiction: You could get away with the Story of a Soul. This is tough.
i have to agree with Angelico. Bible.
Nonfiction: Edith Stein; I haven’t read this yet, but it looks good: http://www.amazon.com/Edith-Stein-Teresa-Benedicta-Cross/dp/0879738324/ref=pd_sim_b_2
Fiction: Watership Down by Richard Adams
“He Leadeth Me”–
–Walter Ciszek
If you want your kids to know what it is to suffer.
Also nonfiction, in a similar vein and from the same century, though a very different context: The Bells of Nagasaki, by Dr Takashi Nagai.
That said, I can’t help but think that (sight unseen) Ms Welborn’s (‘A-Dubs’???) Book of Saints and Book of Heroes would likely offer the most nourishment for the whole family.
This is a tough one because I keep coming up with things you have probably read already…
The Hobbit? Or the Bible too stories from the old testament in particular…
Or I come up with things wildly inappropriate for the younger kids like Death Comes to The Archbishop or Diary of Anne Frank. One of my old standbys is Winni the Pooh. You probably think I’m joking but my 14 year old actually likes it…( probably because it makes my 10 year laugh hysterically which makes us all laugh). What about the Iliad or the Odyssey are those way over the younger kids? I’m trying to think epic adventure that’s not tween lit I guess. Good luck. Happy Lent to all. I’ll probably close down for a bit to focus inward. See you on the other side.
For age-appropriate epic adventure, Chesterton’s Ballad of the White Horse might serve. Project Gutenberg has it here for free. Haven’t read it myself, though — yet.
Thank you kindly, all. The Silver Chair struck a chord, of course, since Puddleglum’s One Word is pretty much my credo. And I realize that several of my younger children have not read the Narnia books, and that it paints such a lovely portrait of the Christian life, and my older children may not have realized that the first time I read it to them. But really, all of this stuff is wonderful, thank you again.