Entertainment November/December 2008

November/December 2008 Issue | Posted by Robyn Lee in Entertainment

Awaken the Thrill

Gifts for everyone in your family.

LittleOnes (ages 0-7)

by Tim Drake

The Family That Plays Together …

This delightful book, written by Anne Fredrickson, tells the story of her father-in-law’s family of 18 children, 12 of whom formed an all-brother baseball team in the 1920s that is recognized in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The team included nine players, a batboy, and two coaches, all from the same family, ages 11 to 36. The book is a celebration of both family and baseball.

The Baseball Brothers

by Anne Fredrickson ($12.95),

from WhiteBarnBooks.com

Celebrate the Pauline Year

Just in time for the Year of St. Paul, PaulineKids has published a COMIColor Saints book on the life of St. Paul. Children can enjoy the story of Paul’s conversion and relive his missionary journeys in this comic-book-style coloring and activity book appropriate for introducing little ones to one of our greatest saints, during the year dedicated to him.

Saint Paul, COMIColor Saints

by Virginia Helen Richards, FSP,

and D. Thomas Halpin, FSP, ($2.95),

from Pauline.org or (800) 836-9723.

What’s a Zucchetto?

If you or anyone else in your family has ever been perplexed by a puzzling Church-related word, here’s just the book for you. Look It Up!provides more than 600 kid-friendly definitions of Catholic words for children, parents, and their teachers. You’ll find everything from ciborium to miter, along with accompanying photos.

Look it Up!

by Janet L. Alampi ($12.95), from

Pauline.org or (800) 836-9723.

Poetry for Young Ones

I didn’t know what to expect when I popped this DVD into the player, but our family was pleasantly surprised by how the 30-minute program brought poetry to life for young children. Timeless poetry by William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning is read by celebrities such as Andy Garcia, John Lithgow, Gwyneth Paltrow, and others. The program combines the poetry with captivating images that make this something the entire family can enjoy.

Classical Baby: I’m Grown Up Now, the Poetry Show

($8.99), from Amazon.com

Virtue-Based Videos

These animated PBS videos, based on William Bennett’s stories from The Book of Virtues, are a great introduction to talking with your children about the virtues of honesty, courage, and faith. The stories are seen through the eyes of young Zach and Annie. “Adven-tures in Faith” includes the stories of “The Good Samaritan,” “Androcles and the Lion,” “Harriet Tubman,” and “Daniel in the Lion’s Den.”

Adventures from the Book

of Virtues: Adventures in Faith,

PorchLight Inspire, ($12.98),

from BarnesAndNoble.com

Tim Drake, author of four books, entered the Church on the feast of St. Joseph. He now lives with his wife and five children in St. Joseph, Minnesota.

Big Kids (ages 8-12)

by Lori Hadacek Chaplin

Lover of the Poor

Mother to the Poor, byJung-wook Ko,is a captivating telling of Mother Teresa’s life story of how she came to love and serve India’s poorest of the poor. The book reveals a story about how her mother once turned off the electricity when Mother Teresa and her siblings were gossiping about other children. Mother Teresa — then called Agnes — pledged to her mother to do more, remembering the poor children she saw on her walk home from school every day.

Mother to the Poor: The Story

of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

by Jung-wook Ko, illustrated

by Seung-bum Park ($14.95), from

Pauline.org or (800) 876-4463.

Hospitality Hints

Tea & Cakes With the Saints will inspire girls to practice the art of hospitality and homemaking. For each season, the book suggests recipes and tips for tea parties that can be celebrated on a saint’s feast day or any special occasion. Tea party tips include suggestions for good manners, invitation writing, how to make envelopes, decorating, and more. The recipes in the book are simple and tasty. We liked the recipe for Sparkling Raspberry Punch.

Tea & Cakes With the Saints:

A Catholic Young Lady’s Introduction to Hospitality

and the Home Arts

by Alice Cantrell

(spiral-bound, $18.95), from

CHCWeb.com or (800) 490-7713.

Compassionate Rescuers

The Silver Donkey is a quiet story of compassion and bravery. When two young French sisters befriend a blind English soldier hiding out in the forest, they enlist their older brother to think of a rescue plan to get him across the English Channel, back to his homeland. Inter-woven throughout the soldier’s story are four tales about the merit of the stalwart donkey — the first being the Christmas story. Both boys and girls will enjoy this book.

The Silver Donkey

(Candlewick) by Sonya Hartnett

and illustrated by Don Powers

($4.99), from Amazon.com

Silly Sisters

One of “Masterpiece Theatre’s” most delightful performances, “Cranford” was adapted from three of Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell’s novellas: Cranford, Mr. Harrison’s Confessions, and My Lady Ludlow. Set in 1840, in a rural English village, the five-hour movie — divided in five segments — is centered on two of Cranford’s upstanding citizens, the elderly spinster sisters Miss Matty (Dame Judi Dench) and Miss Deborah (Dame Eileen Atkins). Appropriate for the whole family.

Cranford

(2 DVDs, $34.98), from

ShopPBS.org or (800) 531-4727.

Cool Creatures

Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters is a knock-your-socks-off pop-up book of amazing ancient sea creatures. Open the first page and a huge pop-up of a sea-scorpion called a pterygotus — who looks like a lobster — jumps out at you. The book’s text says this monster grew to be 7 feet long! Each page of the book includes one main, large pop-up surrounded by little corner fold-out pop-up books, along with facts about the monsters.

Encyclopedia Prehistorica:

Sharks and Other Sea

Monsters (Candlewick)

by Robert Sabuda and Mathew Reinhart

($18.47), from Amazon.com

Lori Hadacek Chaplin is a mother of three and is a children’s art teacher. She lives, works, and writes from her home in pastoral Iowa.

Teens

by Celeste Behe

Link to Faith

I first came across the Catholic Youth Networking website when searching for prayers to fire up my teens. I found just what I was looking for in its “Studying for Christ” section. CYN has plenty to offer teens outside of the classroom, too. Its Vocations homepage gives an overview of the religious life, links to vocation stories from men and women religious, the daily schedules of selected orders, and prayers to know God’s will.

Catholic Youth Networking

Check it out at

CatholicYouth.Freeservers.com

Find Answers

Catholic and Christian for Young Adults provides lucid explanations of commonly misunderstood Catholic beliefs. Using a question-and-answer format and plenty of Scrip-ture references, Alan Schreck addresses questions in 10 subject areas, including salvation, Church leadership, sacraments, and the Blessed Mother. An outstanding section on the work of the Holy Spirit is especially engaging, and makes easy reading of an ephemeral subject. More than a user-friendly guide to essentials of the faith, the book will also provide teens — and older readers — with sound material for reflection.

Catholic and Christian

for Young Adults

by Alan Schreck ($13.99),

from Catalog.AmericanCatholic.org

or (800) 488-0488.

Teaching Tools

My 19-year-old daughter’s favorite item was the pewter ID tag chain, with the words “Fear Not” in cut-out letters. (Sssh! It’s going into her Christmas stocking!) I couldn’t choose between the two “Prayer Dice.” An amusingly thoughtful gift for the college student whose extracurricular activities include on-campus gaming, the sides of one wooden die are stamped with table graces, and the sides of the other die marked with traditional Catholic prayers. Check out the “under $10” section for delightful stocking stuffers like pocket tokens, charm pulls, and lustrous pewter ornaments.

“Fear Not” ID Tag Chain ($6.95),

Table Grace Prayers Die and

Traditional Catholic Prayers Die,

(each $11.95), from SMP.org

or (800) 533-8095.

Paper Heart

It seemed like the most natural thing in the world for Francesca Battistelli to make her professional debut in the musical arena. Born in New York City to parents employed by the stages of Broadway, Battistelli knew she wanted to sing by the time she was 6 years old. And now, it seems, everyone is waiting for Francesca’s music. Months before the debut of her first commercial album, “My Paper Heart,” the release of Battistelli’s first EP, “I’m Letting Go,” generated enough buzz to climb Christian radio charts and be featured in iTunes’s coveted “What’s Hot” section. A fusion of fantastic vocals, pop, and even a little country,“My Paper Heart”is sure to go on to win many more accolades.

My Paper Heart

($9.99), from iTunes and

FrancescaMusic.com

— Grace Behe

Celeste Behe is a mother of nine, freelance writer, and dabbler in poetry.

She writes from Pennsylvania.

The Color of Peace

Take a moment for you … and with family.

Adults

by Daria Sockey

Jiminy Cricket

CBS News Vatican Analyst Father Thomas Williams, LC, has done it again with another book that manages to make Catholic theology accessible and acceptable to a general audience. What is conscience? Must I always obey it? Did Jesus have a conscience? How is conscience formed? What about tolerance for diverse viewpoints? What does human freedom really mean? Father takes on all these questions. His often humorous examples make the text both enjoyable and memorable. Father’s explanations are light and clarity to a morally vague and confused society.

Knowing Right From Wrong: A Christian

Guide to Conscience

by Thomas D. Williams, LC, ($19.99),

from AdoremusBooks.com

Relax and Reflect

This is the CD for mom to listen to as she grabs a moment to recover from a day of seasonal activity. “Seasons” is a Catholic sibling act you don’t want to miss. Various guest artists do the vocals. Of the 14 tracks, 12 are traditional Christmas carols and two are original compositions. If you aren’t familiar with the haunting, harp-like beauty of the hammered dulcimer, here is a good place to start.

Eventide Lullaby

($15), from

SeasonsMusic.net

Rev Up and Rejoice

This mixture of sacred and secular favorites is meant to be played with the volume up high while you trim the tree, wrap gifts, or roll out that mound of gingerbread dough. The Boston Pops Orchestra (conductor: Keith Lock-hart) is known for winsome arrangements (who doesn’t love their signature horsey sound effects in the title song?) that appeal to all ages. Sure to energize when your Christmas spirits flag.

Sleigh Ride,

Boston Pops Orchestra

($16.98), from Amazon.com

Daria Sockey is a mother of seven and community theater enthusiast. She writes from her 100-year-old farmhouse in Pennsylvania.

Not by Bread Alone

It was the face of the boy on the cover that first got me — right in my mother’s heart. The face of a very young Andy Bridge — soon after he was taken from his mother, Hope, and placed in foster care. Hope suffered from undiagnosed, untreated paranoia, and Andy was to spend the remainder of his childhood in foster care. Many reviewers have found flaws in this book — that there is some foul language, that Bridge is unfairly harsh towards the family that took him in for a decade. Many more reviewers have fallen in love with the needy child within its pages. Either way, it paints a true portrait of the psychology of a child who is torn from a parent he loves. It’s the compelling story that makes this book a New York Times best-seller. It’s the central message and theme of Bridge’s advocacy work that makes it Catholic reading.

Hope’s Boy

(Hyperion) by Andrew

Bridge ($15.61), from Amazon.com

— Susie Lloyd

Like Little Children

Children are a beautiful blessing on this earth, entrusted to the care of their parents for guidance and moral upbringing. There are times, however, that we encounter a child so remarkable in her complete reflection of the sacrifice and love that Christ asks of us, that the child becomes the beacon for her family and community. This is the story of Audrey Stevenson.

Diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 7, her Gethsemane only serves to inflame her love for Christ, offering her suffering especially for priestly vocations. In the heart of this little girl, we find the purity and beauty God intends, as she eagerly resigns her will to his, living each minute in joyful anticipation of the day that Jesus will finally hold her in his arms. Audrey’s life will challenge you to once again take up Christ’s command to become like little children.

Audrey

by Gloria Conde ($14.95),

from CirclePress.org

— Susan Haggerty

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