I am always on the lookout, for books with great content to enrich our children’s faith, to fill our bookshelf. If you are also looking to fill your home with wonderful books, here are four great stories for your shelves!
The Virgin Mary: Queen of the Mountain, Queen of Heaven
This comic book style short story is by a Ukrainian Catholic homeschooling dad. You can find his website here.
While this book is very short (38 pages), it is so wonderful. Little Fox and Little Badger enjoy the comic style art retelling of a traditional story regarding the events of Mary’s life after Christ’s ascension. This book covers historical events with language and imagery that is appropriate for young children.
I’d suggest The Virgin Mary: Queen of the Mountain, Queen of Heaven for 4-12 year olds, with it being a read aloud to most 4-7 year olds, and an independent read and collectible for 8-12 year olds.
Best Chapter Book this Year: St. Benedict
While the cover reminds us that St. Benedict is hailed as the father of western monasticism, this early Saint also g
uides many eastern monasteries as well. In fact, in Belgium, there is a Benedictine abbey which houses monks of the western and eastern traditions together. And St. Benedict’s Rule of Life is a model for those living outside of monasteries as well. Indeed, St. Benedict’s mottoes, Work and Prayer, and That God Be Glorified in All Things, are certainly helpful in the running of Christian households.
St. Benedict by Mary Fabyan Windeatt is absolutely brilliant (and indeed, all her books are). I regret not buying the set of 20 to begin with, but I didn’t realize how wonderful these books are.
Anyway, the book St. Benedict covers the life of this saint as a historical fiction book for children. The history aspect is really well done. And the storytelling really draws children and adults alike in. The miraculous events of St. Benedict’s life inspire growth in prayer and virtue, and love of Christ.
As an aside, after St. Benedict book, my other favourites so far from Mary Fabyan Windeatt are the stories of St. Louis De Montfort, and The Little Flower: St. Therese of Child Jesus.
You can find Mary Fabyan Windeatt’s books at Tan Books, as well as from Amazon and many other booksellers.
The Jesus Prayer and Me – On Our Bookshelf
Another great picture book we are reading is The Jesus Prayer and Me. It encourages constant prayer in the Byzantine tradition. The idea of praying always may seem abstract or overwhelming for children, so I appreciate using outside sources such as picture books to help illustrate the idea for my children.
Little Badger especially loves looking through the illustrations of The Jesus Prayer and Me, and even Little Owl will sing/chant along with us doing the Jesus Prayer now.
Graphic Novel: Our Lady of Fatima
Another option on our bookshelf for the children to read is the graphic novel Our Lady of Fatima. After Little Fox read this book, she was determined to ensure everyone in our family was dedicated to saying the rosary.
Our Lady of Fatima’s message is especially important to Eastern Catholics. Our Lady’s call for the conversion of Russia was taken up by Byzantine Catholics as early as 1943-1945 when the Byzantine Redemptorist priest-monk and confessor of the Faith, Servant of God Roman Bakhtalovskyj, C.Ss.R., with the blessing of Blessed Hieromartyr Hrihorij Khomyshyn, Eparch of Stanislaviv (modern day Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine), formed the Byzantine Redemptorist Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who were renamed the Sisters of the Most Holy Theotokos of Fatima in 2015. The good Sisters were given the charism by Fr. Bakhtalovskyj to offer penances and pray especially for the conversion of Russia. For more information you can see the article by TheBadgerDad here.
The Byzantine Life Bookshelf Edition!
Thank you for being here with The Byzantine Life! Do you have any great book recommendations to share? Let me know in the comments!
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