Katie was a happy little girl whose childhood was untarnished by problems of any kind. She had a warm and loving family and all the material goods any child could wish for or imagine. Trough the years her parents taught her by words and example to be kind and sharing to the less fortunate. When the time came for her to make a big decision about her life, she was prepared. Her love of God and her strength of character prevailed. She founded a new congregation of Catholic sisters--the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament--to minister to the needs of Native Americans and African Americans. Katharine Drexel became the first American-born, Cathoic-born saint, canonized on October 1, 2000. Children of any age can relate to Katie, enjoy her story and learn from her a message of love. New edition with illuatrations.

Young Theras, born in Ancient Athens, loves his city. He goes to school where he learns to sing and tell the great Greek stories. He walks proudly through the town with his pedagogue to the athletic field and their exercises led by the gymnasiarch. He marvels at the bustling outdoor market, full of life and color. He is in love with Athens and its freedom, open air, and friendliness-and its goddess Athena.

Trouble comes to Theras, though, when his father's merchant ship is attacked in a battle with Samos, and he is presumed dead. Promising to take care of Theras and leave him an inheritance, a Spartan relative takes him to Sparta. He is forced to live like a Spartan, a brutal life with no pity for those who are not physically perfect and totally obedient to Spartan control. After enduring rigorous training and repeated cruel incidents, he escapes with a Perioikoi boy and heads for his beloved Athens. It's a hard and dangerous journey including an escape from slavers.

Caroline Dale Snedeker, twice a Newbery Honor winner, captures the authentic flavor of ancient Greek culture in a story of adventure and excitement that fully illustrates the differences between the Athenian and Spartan cultures.

This remarkable collection of short stories-vivid, haunting, detailed-is based on life in Egypt more than 3000 years ago, during what we now call the New Kingdom. It was a time when Egyptian life was at its most colorful and varied, when Egypt virtually dominated the entire Mediterranean Sea, and its Pharaohs and merchants had acquired quite unbelievable wealth and power, while the masses of poor people and slaves conquered from other lands had nothing whatever to call their own.

There was nothing dull about life to the Egyptians. These stories, which might have been told or might have happened, give a picture of a people who were intensely alive. It is this quality that makes them exciting to read about, even though their civilization has long gone by.

-Olivia Coolidge

For weeks, Lysis had been counting on going to the play-the new play by Euripides that everyone in Athens is talking about. It was to be performed for the first time at the theater of Dionysius on the Acropolis, and Father had promised to take him to see it.

And then, the day before they were to go, one of Father's ships is wrecked at Samos. And since shipwrecked goods were claimed be whoever found them first, Father has to leave immediately to try to save some of his cargo. Of course I can't take you to the play now, he says to Lysis. But because his sister, Callisto, sympathizes with Lysis and cares so much when she hears of his disappointment, she sacrifices her most precious possession to the goddess Athena, and Lysis sees the play after all. But Lysis finds a way for Callisto to go, too, breaking the norms of Greek society.

This gentle and timeless story, motivated by sibling loyalty, explores the roles of boys and girls, children and adults in pagan Athens. Athenian slaves and citizens come into focus. The pantheon of Greek gods, goddesses and heroes are seen through the eyes of these children.

Olivia Coolidge brings the Roman Empire to life through ten vibrant short stories highlighting the various peoples of that era. You are there in the amphitheater witnessing gladiatorial spectacles; you share with the poverty-stricken poet in the tense moments before a murder in the baths; you cringe before the hatchet-faced gangsters managing the charioteers; you stream out of the city with the Roman populace to pay honor to its dead on the Feast of Roses; and you realize that the time is ripe for Jesus Christ, born in the Roman world of Caesar Augustus.

Under Augustus, there really came to be a golden age. If we really want to study what the people of Rome-in the broader sense-were like, we should look for them there. Olivia Coolidge

The White Isle is Britain-a barbaric land to the patrician Claudian family exiled from Hadrian's Rome, but an island of strange enchantment and stirring adventures to their daughter, Lavinia. The story of Lavinia and her family, of their long, arduous, and constantly exciting trip through Gaul to the farthest province of the empire, begins in Rome and comes to a romantic climax in the new home. It portrays a spirited picture of Roman life in Gaul and Britain.

Because Favonius Claudius, Lavinia's father, had been too much in sympathy with the old Republic, he had incurred the Emperor's disfavor, and was suddenly appointed legatus to faraway Britain. The family hears that Britain is a land cold and unforgiving, and their hearts are filled with trepidation. But, after sad farewells and a suddenly canceled wedding, the whole family and their retinue begin their long journey through the northern provinces and into Gaul along Roman roads still famed today. In Britain at last, Lavinia finds her true home.

Lavinia's new experiences; her moving introduction to Christianity just taking root in Britain; and her romance with a young British-born Rome make for a great story, expertly told by two-time Newbery honor medal winner Caroline Dale Snedeker.

WHERE THE RED SANDS FLY IS THE SEQUEL TO THE BESTSELLING NOVELS THE TRIPODS ATTACK AND THE EMPEROR OF NORTH AMERICA, AND IS THE THIRD AND FINAL VOLUME IN THE YOUNG CHESTERTON CHRONICLES--AN EXCITING ADVENTURE FICTION SERIES FOR TEENS TO ADULTS WHICH RE-IMAGINES THE FAMOUS CATHOLIC AUTHOR AS A YOUNG MAN IN AN ALTERNATIVE EDWARDIAN AGE OF STEAM-DRIVEN WONDERS.

In the last two years Gilbert Keith Chesterton has seen London burned by Martians, been shot at by steam cowboys, and had his first kiss interrupted by flying assassins with machine guns. He's ridden atop a giant robot shaped like Abraham Lincoln as it stomped through New York City, was kidnapped by an emperor, led a revolution and was dropped into the Potomac by the girl who broke his heart and then his nose.

And right after that, his best friend shot him in the chest to save his life.

Then, things got interesting.

Learning that he has long-lost family in the British colonies on Mars, Gilbert must make a journey he never expected so he can meet siblings he never knew existed. With the help of a young military officer named Hilaire Belloc, he'll make and lose friends, lose and find love, and win victories and defeats as he makes his last, desperate attempt to save two worlds from the clutches of evil men.

Most challenging of all: even if the day is won, the fight won't be over for another twenty years...

This volume includes the 1929 version of The Child in the Church prepared by E.M. Standing and the sequel to that never before printed in English: The Life of Christ in the Liturgical Year translated from Italian. The third section is a taken from a series of talks Montessori gave and was compiled in 1955 by Georgette and Anne-Marie Bernard in a French book called L'Education Religieuse. Montessori reprinted The Life of Christ is the Liturgical Year in 1949, and that is the text which we have translated. This and the talks, completed just a few years before her death, seem to be a culmination of her experiences. The seeds of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd are contained in these pages and Catechists and Montessori teachers alike will find rich food, but not too much to ponder as they continue to follow the child.

This is a story based on the life Metiochos, son of the Ancient Greek general Miltiades; a boy who was raised in Athens and whom fate was to make governor of a province in Persia and a favorite to the Great King Darius. As his story develops, Metiochos's relationship with his father and with Darius come into focus. His conflicting emotions reflect the greater conflict of two superior civilizations when they meet head on. The events of Metiochos's life, from his earliest days when he learned politics at the wily hands of Cleon to his later years when he married the niece of Darius and ruled peacefully over a a foreign land, seemed to lead him directly to the moment when he must make his final choice. Now the two armies, Athenian and Persian, face each other across the plain, the blazing heat of the Mediterranean sun reflecting on their shields and helmets. The horn sounds, the battle begins-and Metiochos rises to meet his fate.

Master storyteller Olivia Coolidge weaves an original tale around ancient figures, crafting an unforgettable story of the Battle of Marathon.

Dickon is down by the waterfront near his grandfather's warehouse when he sees a young fishmonger being chased by three older and bigger mercer apprentices. Coming to the aid of the boy, Dickon fights with the three bullies and drives them away.

For his part, Dickon looks forward to being apprenticed to the Grocer's Company. Grocer apprentices and mercer apprentices are sworn foes. When he finds out that he has been apprenticed instead to his godfather Richard Wittington, master mercer and three-time mayor of London, Dickon momentarily forgets that this is a great honor. His is distraught both that he will not be a grocer like his brother and grandfather and that he will be in the sale guild as the three ruffians who have just become his enemies.

Bur Dickon's fears of meeting them again are overshadowed by far greater worries when he finds himself unwittingly involved with a dangerous secret organization that is plotting against the king. His attempts to protect the innocent only serve to get him into deeper trouble.

Cynthia Harnett has created a vivid picture of life in London in 1415, a turbulent time in which Henry V was battling unrest at home and struggling to secure the French throne.

Grades 5-8

Nicholas's father is a member of England's most important industry, governed by the Fellowship of the Merchants of the Wool Staple during the Tudor period of the late 15th century. So, Nicholas must learn all there is to know about the wool business. But, he'd rather be outside with his friend Hal, tending the sheep and living a life of relative freedom with Hal's father, the shepherd. Once some shifty-looking Italians visit, though, and Nicholas suspects they are up to no good, his interest in the business grows. His father will hear no suggestion that the Italian merchants are nothing but honest businessmen, so Nicholas and his friends must try to discover their secrets on their own. Can they uncover the smuggling ring and outwit the plot to ruin Nicholas's father? A great historical adventure that thrills from start to finish, this book was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 1951 and named one of the 100 best children's books of twentieth century in the Keith Barker Millennium Awards.

This carefully curated collection of Catholic poems and songs is organized under the following topics: Rhymes and Runes; From Convent Cell and Cloister; Young Voices, Olden Times; In Honor of Mary; Liturgical Sequences; and Psalms and Hymns of Praise. The author includes commentary on each poem and includes a wide variety of poets from across the centuries. Great for recitation and enjoyment! Jennings Thompson says: It is not the purpose of this book to present to the child all of the Church's treasures-rather to open here and there a door, let him hear afar the sound of harp and lute and follow, if he will, the lovely music.