Roman Holiday Books

This is the last in the series of three volumes brought out by Fr Herbert Smith in the direction of short, practical and relevant homilies reflecting upon the three year lectionary cycle of the Catholic Church. This book contains seventyone homilies in order of the Liturgical year of the Church intended for the Sundays and holy days of the year. I found these very captivating and every homily provided some fruit for thought and reflection. These are fruits of deep reflection and prayer and some of them provide unique insights into the readings. His use of illustrative stories throughout the book makes it artistically valuable and some of these stories are humorous and worth remembering. It is indeed a valuable book for those who want to reflect on the Sunday readings regularly.

It's basically about when a town mouse and a country mouse go to each others house and they find uniqe designs that make each mouse made to fit there house. The town mouse lives in a city with cars driving by all of the time. The country mouse lives on a ranch. I think that it was a funny book and the ending was great.

This is a study of the liturgical and devotional practices of the Church during Holy Week - across space and time. It is liberally sprinkled with quotations from the liturgies - in a sense similar to some of the resource books for seasons put out by various presses. In addition it describes the practices of various liturgical families, of various ethnic groups and of Catholic and Orthodox rites.

It was here that I first learned that Tre Ore on Good Friday was not an ancient tradition but rather grew out of Jesuit practice in Peru in the 17th century. On the same page we read of Egeria's experiences in Jerusalem in the 5th century ... of the readings in the Armenian lectionary ... etc.

This is an absolutely delightful book that assists anyone in deepening their understanding of the liturgies of Holy Week/Triduum.

Every year when the season of Lent rolls around there are numerous stark changes in Catholic Churches all over the world. The Holy Water in the Church fonts disappears; there are no flowers in the Church and even the liturgy changes. Seasoned Catholics who regularly attend Mass never miss a beat and hardly seem to notice the changes but new Catholics or those who are infrequent attendees of Mass can find all of the changes disconcerting. This little booklet will go a long way toward helping clear up much of the resultant confusion.

This is an easy to read booklet that will become for many a solid reference tool as it explains many Lent, Triduum, and Easter practices. The reader will find many traditions and scriptural mandates covered, from the scrutinies to hot Cross buns. There is even a recipe for pretzels near the end of the book. Unfortunately several things are not covered and some others are not dealt with in the detail they deserve. Basically, this book is far too short and could have easily been three or four times this size. Still, it is well written and will help answer many questions that may come up.

I would highly recommend this book for catechumens and candidates along with anyone else who may have an interest in becoming a Catholic. It would also be helpful for people who are not Catholic but who have Catholic family members or close friends as it will help explain why the Catholics in their lives are doing some of the things they do during this season. I might even buy this book for some of my non-Catholic friends and family so that they will not be offended when I refuse certain food or drinks during Lent because this is a book that would be easy for anyone to read and understand.

This book was very helpful to us in the early days of our immigration preparation, before we had even chosen which province we were going to live in. We came from the UK, and I imagine that the book has specifically been written with European immigrants in mind. One of the authors, Benjamin Kranc, also writes for the Canada News, a monthly British publication intended for people preparing to immigrate to Canada. His articles are well written, but are intended for those who are just setting out on the long immigration process. This book seems to fall under the same category, and I would recommend it for anyone from Europe who is in the beginning stages of thinking about coming to Canada to live. But for those further down the line, with visas in hand, I don't think there is anything much in the book which would be new information. After all, if you are about to move to another country, you have probably already done a great deal of research on the Internet etc - right?

If you REALLY want to know about life in Canada, and have those precious visas or are newly-landed in Canada, I would recommend the slightly more tongue-in-cheek 'How to be a Canadian' by Ian and Will Ferguson instead. But hats off to Kranc and Roman for providing some useful information in a very easy-to-read book.

This book was not very helpful if you are moving from the US, probably more helpful for someone moving from, say Europe. There wasn't anything in this book that I hadn't already found by quick searches on the internet. I was hoping for more specific and detailed info.

Have you ever thought ancient culture was boring? I'm sure we all have. Do you want to learn something without the threat off falling asleep? If so pick up The Olympians: Great Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece, By Leonard Everett Fisher. You can learn about the 12 most important gods and goddesses of ancient Greece in an interesting way.
The book had so much information on each god or goddess. There was a paragraph about each god or goddess with any background information or important things to know. Their Roman name, parents and symbols followed that. The first page also gave a little information on the Greeks themselves and gods' and goddesses' home, Mount Olympus. The last page was a family tree that showed whom the gods' and goddesses' parents were and who their own children were.
The book was also written in a way where everyone could understand what was being said. Almost no big or confusing words were used and it was written clearly and plainly. For example, "Cronus's son, Hades, was the god of wealth and of the dead---the lower world."
The Olympians: Great Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece is an excellent book. It has lots of facts about the 12 most important gods and goddesses. It also is written in a way that everyone can understand. It was a very interesting book and I would recommend it to anyone.

Judging from the title and the description, I was expecting a book that looked at physics and theology. I thought there would be science in there somewhere, and deep discussions of Life, The Universe, and Everything.
Nope. This is a pleasant enough Lenten study, but there isn't any physics in it.
That is not an intrinsic flaw in the book; I just felt that you should be warned.

Crafty Catholic Kids is the title of my book. I bought this a few days ago mainly because Ann Ball had suddenly died the past few weeks (see annball.com), and I knew it was her last book. I have all her Catholic Traditions series . This is an oversized paperback (8 1/2 x 11) with glossy pages and color pictures. The color photographs is such an improvement from the other b/w images from all her previous books, so that's why I say "Finally!" because the book is inviting and colorful.

And it's written for children. It's written to inspire a child to open it and want to do a craft, and the crafts range from very simple to more skilled.

Unlike the previous reviewer, I don't have trouble finding divisions in this book. Each chapter is marked with a colored title and a star, and each craft is divided by a dotted line. There are themes to each craft:

Let the Little Children
Joy and Praise
Christian Symbols Speak to Us
Our Blessed Mother
The Saints Our Friends
Loving and Giving
A World of Diversity
Respect for Creation
Our Beloved Dead
Just for Fun
Fast Fun with Food

Yes, some are very, very simple. But there are different needs for a child and a family. First of all, and Mrs. Ball points this out, for a young child, it's the process, not the product. I need to look at these crafts with a child's eyes. My 4 1/2 yo son was enthralled with the pictures and excited to try and make some of the items, even those that look "kitschy" to adult eyes.

And sometimes families need simple and short crafts, and even some that are completely child-led, because the parents have to be occupied elsewhere. There are also times when a child wants to create a homemade gift that this book gives some great ideas.

The title "Catholic" doesn't mean every craft has to be religious. Catholic encompasses the whole being, and we have other celebrations in our life that encompass our Catholic life that aren't necessarily religious, but celebrated by Catholic kids, such as Fathers' Day.

All in all, I think it's a wonderful book, inspiring, appealing, and simple for children to follow. And I think it's so wonderful for it to be her last title before her return to her Heavenly Father. "Let the little children come to me."

If you're reading this review, I wonder what book you looked up. The book I have in front of me is titled "Crafty Catholic Kids." The book is listed on Amazon as "Crafts for Catholic Children." If you look at the picture on the cover, it is the same book. I can only imagine that someone is trying to convince you they are two different books, and that one of them is worth buying. I'm sorry, it is not.

I have "Catholic Traditions in Crafts," a 1997 book by Ann Ball, and it is wonderful. The crafts have an almost reverent feel about them-particularly the small baby Jesus doll to keep little one's hands busy in church.

This new book is 4 times the price of the old one, and not 1/10th the value.

To begin with, I can't tell where one craft ends and the next begins. There are no separate pages or chapter headings. The peculiarly generic crafts include soap balls, a decorated fish tank and paper flowers. I suppose you could make the argument that a swimming pool should remind you of Jesus walking on water, but most people would consider that a bit of a stretch to bring religion into your life.

The somewhat religious crafts require the purchase of statues or medals or crosses that are then incorporated into some perfectly ordinary craft like a picture frame.

Even if this book wasn't being marketed as a book for Catholic children, the crafts are tacky and simply reworked from any number of other craft books-a B-B-Q apron for Dad, a clay coaster, and a cedar shavings pet pillow. There aren't even instructions for making the pillow, it was bought at a $1 store and stuffed.

This book is an embarrassment. I have to decide if it is worth my trouble to return it.

I ordered this book for my Pre-K class and discovered it is very informational for adults, but contains no pictures. Perhaps useful as a teacher's reference.