Youth Books

Read this aloud with my children about 2 years ago. It sparked my son's interest in Civil War historical fiction. He is not an avid reader, but has read several civil war books including "Red Cap" by Clifton Wisler and just picked up "Across Five Aprils" for his sixth-grade historical fiction assignment. Jim Murphy is a fine writer, weaving quotes, diary entries and anecdotes into a lucent and revealing account of the lives of youths who participated in the Civil War. A fine book!

With the many boys who fought in the civil war most of them lied about their age. A lot of them wrote letters or had a diary. Johnny Clem had run away from his home at 11. At age 12 he tried to enlist but they refused to let him join because he was clearly too young. The next day he came back to join as a drummer boy. "I was not happy to trade a musket for a stick". He got his wish in the battle of Shiloh and he became a soldier. I recommend this book to people who want like war and/or personal stories. I liked it. I hope you will to.

Jim Murphy has given us a wonderful account of the Civil War with emphasis on the role the young soldier (teen and pre-teen) played in that conflict. The text is quite understandable and the illustrations, black and white photo of the Civil War, make this a valuable and interesting tool in sparking an interest in the young reader. The author uses many first hand accounts and has done a very good job with his research. The writing is not of the dry variety and seems to be able to hold the youner readers interest while still filling his or her head with many interesting and important facts. Highly recommend this one.

This book is very good & understandable. I like it mainly for the pictures.

We haven't purchased this yet, but it's going on the kids' Christmas list. We borrowed it from the library and my 4 yr. boy and 2 1/2 yr. girl are always wanting me to read it or are "reading" it themselves.

My children were starting to ask questions about what happens to their food when they eat it, discussing what muscles were, why we drink water, etc. This book covers a large topic but it a very interesting and kid friendly way. I borrowed quite a few from the library but this is the only one that both I and my kids enjoy.

Very well done!

i brought this to my 2nd grader's class and read it to them as a group and it was perfect. Really great for this age group. They ate it up.

What a super book. It is kid friendly and makes learning about our bodies fun. The pictures and wording are both age appropriate. My grandsons (ages 3 & $) are both gaining from the book and love to see what happens to their food. It also has a great message to keep your body moving (that thing called exercise). Kudos to the author!

This is a great book that introduces many different systems in the body while emphasizing that keeping active is so important for your body to work better. Using your muscles makes them stronger instead of wearing them out it tells us. The illustrations are detailed and colorful and the book is fun, overall, with an important underlying message to encourage children to stay busy and healthy.

Patricia Sprinkle has such an amazing ability to create characters that you can visualize and you begin to feel like you know them. You feel for MacLaren as she experiences assorted situations, as you would for a close friend. Her books get better and better. One begins to suspect that she has actually experienced the events in her books. Couldn't put it down once I started reading.

I enjoyed this book very much, as I had already come to love Maclaren Yarborough from her later escapades. The characters are well-rounded, the plot beautifully executed, and the setting, Hopemore, Georgia, is a place I never want to leave. I wonder, though, if I would have enjoyed this one as much had I read it first. ("Why Shoot the Magistrate?" is Maclaren Yarbrough's debut story.) The reason for my hesitation is that this book is a bit heavy on the "preachy" kind of religion. Overall, I love Mac's philosophy, her connection with God, her staunch morality. But in this book, and the next (When Did We Lose Harriet?) the reader is made to feel that unless you believe exactly what Mac does, you are sadly misled, spiritually. Happily, every book in this series from the third one on is light on the religion angle and heavy on just basic common sense and common decency - and excellent plotting. Don't pass this one by, even if you have no religious beliefs at all, because overall the book is a winner!

All of the MacLaren Yarbrough books are engaging mysteries and easy reads---the kind of book that is best enjoyed on a rainy day with hot chocolate. What Sprinkle does with clues is interesting, especially in this MadLaren book.

I bought this book because the cover had a sticker that said if I did not love it, I could return it and get my money back with no questions asked. I figured what did I have to lose? Patricia Sprinkle has since become one my favorite authors. Her Maclaren Yarbrough books are easy reads. I felt like I knew her characters personally and was already missing them as I read the last few pages. If you like Perry Mason, Ben Matlock, or Jessica Fletcher, you will love Maclaren Yarbrough.

I love that this is an ACTIVE book. Reading daily Scripture, attending Mass are all important parts of faith, but the activities in this book are tangible things to DO with your children.

Reminding them of the Church and their faith though crafts and activities is a concrete way for kids to get involved - and with an activity every day, you'll never run out of ideas.

I'm no super mom, and there's no way I could actually accomplish every activity each and every day - so one of the nicest things about this book is you can pick up on whatever calendar day you happen to be on. No need to go back or feel guilty for missed days, just begin wherever you are.

I received my order in a timely manner and was well pleased. The book is supposedly used, but it appears to be new. Thanks so much!

As parents, most of us want to share our faith with our children by teaching, but also by truly living our faith in our homes. This new book by the wonderfully talented Ann Ball will become one of your most used resources in this goal!

Ann Ball shares a project for every day of the year in this great book. Topics included are crafts, recipes related to the liturgical seasons, gardening tips and ideas and much more.

The photos which accompany each project will encourage you to try some new things with your family or students.

Templates and easy to follow directions for the crafts and recipes make this a great resource for crafters and chefs of any experience level. The book is chock full of wonderful stories, information, and lore related to our beautiful Catholic traditions.

This book is one of my new favorites, and I know that you and your family will love it too!

Catholic Traditions In the Home and Classrooms: 365 Days to Celebrate A Catholic Year is a great resource and find. It can get you through the class if you are looking for supplemental material or you can base an entire class or lesson on one of the ideas/traditions found in this book. It is a real great resource for every Director of a Program to have. Some of the traditions would be "lost" if it weren't for this book.

I was very impressed with this Prayer Book and highly recommend it not only for Youth, but for Adults of any age. Many wonderful prayers, leather-bound book will last a lifetime. Makes a wonderful gift!

This is a must have for every teen. What a great resource for them to not only learn about different forms of prayer, but to have meaningful and relevant words and ideas to use in their personal prayer as they form their relationship with their God.

This is a wonderful prayer book. It presents prayer in a context that young people can understand and appreciate. Topics are organized into four sections: I. Prayers for Today's Teenagers, II. Prayers from the Catholic Tradition, III. Methods for Personal Prayer, IV. Liturgical Prayer. The book follows the "Pray It! Study It! Live It!" format of the Catholic Youth Bible and the Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth. There are sidebar notes throughout the book which provide additional information and ideas for the reader. In part IV, Liturgical Prayer, the Mass is explained in the context of prayer and how one's personal experience of the Mass can be deepened.
While this book is written specifically for teenagers, it can also be understood and appreciated by pre-teens. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade Religious Education students like this book very much. And, as an adult, I find this book fascinating and helpful to my own continuing formation. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to every Catholic!
(One little note--It is not leather-bound as described; it is bound with a leather-ette material--similar to leather, but NOT LEATHER. It is still a very nice, sturdy binding and cover.)

I work in a Catholic High School and this little book has been a great resource for Youth friendly prayer. It has the basics and much, much more. I love it! More importantly the kids love it and USE IT!!!

Within the pages of this book, A Chance to Fly, there lies a separate universe, a world apart. The reader is allowed to tiptoe through the realm of the adolescent girl, without changing, disturbing, criticizing or rearranging a single thing. And what a rare privilege this is.

Starlings Volleyball Clubs USA is a national non-profit organization that provides opportunities from coast-to-coast to girls of every socio-economic stratum to play
club volleyball regardless of their zip code. Starlings celebrates its 10th anniversary with the publication of this book of poems, essays and art by the Starlings girls
themselves, deftly edited by Byron Shewman, a co-founder of the Starlings in 1996.

You will be deeply moved as you read page after page of the innermost thoughts of girls as irridescent and seemingly fragile as the small birds for which they were named but as resilient as the stars in the firmament. There are stories here that will break your heart, such as that of the only girl child of Vietnamese refugees, a victim of life-long verbal abuse from her family, who found volleyball and the
Starlings, which quite literally saved her life.

There are stories and poems from the Navajo reservations of Arizona, such as the one from Sherry Hudson of Tuba City, AZ, which begins poetically, with a recitation
of her ancient Navajo lineage, ". . . Bitterwater . . . Edgewater . . . Black Streak People . . . Towering House People . . . ."

There is the gritty, flashy poetry in the urban cadences and vernacular of Oakland, Philadelphia and New York. There are the memories of long-time coaches and club
directors, volunteers all, in the most magnanimous way.

In the beginning, the Starlings girls whose work is featured in this remarkable collection may have walked into a gym to try out for a volleyball team. What they found, in addition to their sport, was much the same as what Dorothy found on the yellow brick road to Oz, companions like themselves who have heart, courage and brains and friends who have become like family even when home sometimes seems
so very far away.

Support the Starlings. Buy this book.

I found this book to be very insperational. I highly recommend this book for readers young and old. It will lift any spirit.

This book is an excellent read for anyone who coaches, plays, or is a fan of volleyball.

great book. would recommend it to anyone with a heart. the book has so much to offer. makes you want to help. 2 thumbs up.

...sino es el Che verdadero hablando por el mismo.Explica el porque el cambio social no es haciendo por personas solitarias individualistas ; se trata como la revolucio`n cubana descubrio` " el camino de Marx " como gui`a de accio`n mientras haciendo la revolucio`n ;de la technologi`a como arma de la revolucio`n ; y de el papel de una organizacio`n disciplinada de joven comunistas que son educado en el Marxismo ( y educada por los trabajadores
y campesinos mismos en lucha ) en la vanguardia de la revolucio`n. La introduccio`n de la editor Mary-Alice Waters,una dirigente socialista norteamericana , se trata de la relevancia del texto a jovenes rebeldes mundiales de hoy di`a.

...sino es el Che verdadero hablando por el mismo.Explica el porque el cambio social no es haciendo por personas solitarias individualistas ; se trata como la revolucio`n cubana descubrio` " el camino de Marx " como gui`a de accio`n mientras haciendo la revolucio`n ;de la technologi`a como arma de la revolucio`n ; y de el papel de una organizacio`n disciplinada de joven comunistas que son educado en el Marxismo ( y educada por los trabajadores
y campesinos mismos en lucha ) en la vanguardia de la revolucio`n. La introduccio`n de la editor Mary-Alice Waters,una dirigente socialista norteamericana , se trata de la relevancia del texto a jovenes rebeldes mundiales de hoy di`a.

Los títulos de los discursos lo dice todo para que este libro quede de cabecera para todo rebelde.

Siendo médico él, explicó que no basta ser buena gente para ser médico revolucionario, sino hay que hacer una revolución. Ya victoriosa la revolución, explicó la que tiene que hacer la juventud comunista. Se puede tomar este consejo bastante a pecho, porque hay demasiada gente que quiere ser buena persona y hasta allí.

Lee el Ché en su propia voz, para que juzgas con tu propio criterio. Es en esto que se destaca la editorial Pathfinder: dar espacio los revolucionarios hablar por si mismo, y bien merecedora es esta adición a su "serie" de "Habla..."

De índole histórico, en esta colección se puede trazar la maduración intelectual de este personaje, de la manera en que se estaba llegando a cuajar las ideas que resultaron en el primer proyecto socialista solidaria, que se volvió a tomar en 1985 -justo a tiempo antes de que la URSS empezó a estremecer-.

El libro publica ocho discursos pronunciados por el dirigente de la revolución cubana, Ernesto Che Guevara, en reuniones con estudiantes y trabajadores cubanos, y jóvenes de otros países solidarios con la revolución. Nos da un vistazo importante a algunos aspectos claves en la historia de la revolución cubana. Y realmente los discursos son aún más importantes por su relevancia hoy en día para trabajadores y jóvenes de todo el mundo.

Che habla del desarrollo de la revolución, del subdesarrollo económico y los pasos necesarios para transformar la sociedad, de los enfrentamientos con el gobierno norteamericano, de la reforma agraria y su importancia para cualquier país en un proceso revolucionario. Habla también del papel del individuo en la sociedad, presentando una perspectiva no de caridad sino de solidaridad con los oprimidos y explotados. Expresa una confianza enorme en la capacidad de jóvenes -- estudiantes, obreros y campesinos-- de superarse en el proceso de cambiar la sociedad.

¡Léalo! ¡Compártalo! ¡Discútalo! ¡Qué sea de provecho!

Ché Guevara Speaks to Youth
The titles of these speeches are enough to tell why this should be every rebel's handbook.

As a physician, he explained that being good people is not enough to become a revolutionary doctor - one must make a revolution. Once that revolution had won through, he explained the tasks communist youth face. This advice may be taken well to heart, because there are too many people who try to be good persons, and leave it at that.

Read el Ché in his own voice, so you can make up your own mind. This is what Pathfinder Press stands out for: offering space for revolutionaries to speak for themselves. And well earned is this addition to the "...Speaks" "series."

Historically, this individual's intellectual development may be traced in this volume. The reader can see how the ideas gelled into what was to become the first experiment in the socialism of solidarity, which was retaken in 1985, just in time before the USSR began to quaver.

...as an equal.Too many books are out there "interpreting" Che Guevara ; most often by academics who fear and hate revolution.Here Che speaks for himself : how the Cuban revolution discovered the "road of Marx" by breaking out of the Yanqui Empire fror good; how "lone wolf" individualists do NOT make social revolutions; how to be a revolutionary MD or anything else "first a revolution must be made"; the need for a disciplined revolutionary youth organization;how to learn from fighting workers and peasants while fighting alongside them;internationalism as a necessity and a duty; the fight against postrevolution bureaucracy.These ideas as guide to action are how revolutionary Cuba has survived and will survive.Young and not-so-young fighters REQUIRE THIS BOOK as "globalized capitalism" tears our lives apart.To fight back "intelligently, as Malcolm X would say.Read "Cuba And The Coming American Revolution" by Jack Barnes side by side with this gem of a book.

Even if you are not so young person like myself, you can find your youth and your belief in the future,through Che's vision in these speeches. Whether speaking to a group of medical students in Havana, or a Latin American Youth Congress, or to anti-imperialist youth from around the world gathered in Algeria, Che's message to young people was not watered down. These speeches are a serious charge to young people to take the present and the future in their hands, and follow his vision of struggle for socialism, for the needs of working people, the oppressed, around the world. The ideas in this book are just as, or perhaps, even more valid than when Che lived.


While this book may not be directly available from Amazon at times, they are available from the booksfrompathfinder on Amazon that you can find by clicking on the new and used books on this page.

Che Guevara was an Argentinean-born revolutionary who helped lead the first socialist revolution in the Americas and initiate the renewal of Marxism. In Che Guevara Talks To Young People, he speaks as an equal with the youth of Cuba and the world as he challenges them to work, become disciplined, and join in the struggles for justice at home and abroad. Guevara excites youth to read, study, aspire to become revolutionary combatants, politicize the organizations and institutions they are part of, and in the process to politicize themselves. The talks collected in this single volume are prefaced by Armando Hart, and were compiled with the cooperation of Casa Editora Abril in Cuba. Che Guevara Talks To Young People is highly recommended reading for students of Marxism, the Socialist struggle in the Americas, as well as the life and thought of Che Guevara.

I found this book an enthralling read from start to finish. It transported me through time to the Victorian and Edwardian eras - a fascinating study of the lives of the matriarchal Queen Victoria, her children and grandchildren.
John Van der Kiste paints a vivid picture of the lifestyle of the aristocracy. I couldn't help comparing their lives to the poverty-stricken living in squalor, but that is for a different book.

The book begins with the story of Queen Victoria's own childhood which it goes into in some detail. It shows how she developed from a shy and insular young girl to a matriarch of the first order. We are then taken through the early married life of the Queen and the Prince Consort and the birth of each of their nine children.

There is a lot of fascinating detail in this book about the family life of the Queen. There are many anecdotes about the children, and although contact between parent and child was much less than we would have in a modern day family, it is plain that Victoria and Albert were loving and devoted parents who took a keen interest in the development of their children.

As time progresses we are introduced to the Queen's grandchildren and great grandchildren. It is interesting to read of the contrast in the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra as parents, as unlike Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as you could wish. They were much more lively and fun loving and this really comes across as you read further.
There are some wonderful anecdotes about King Edward and his grandchildren. His geniality sparkles from the page.

There seems to have been an about turn with George V who was a much more distant parent. It was interesting to read about all his children, as one usually hears most about the two brothers who later became King.

If you like English or European history you will find this book fascinating. It gives a flavour of the time and is eminently readable without being too heavy, even when going into politics, and without being frothy.
It is fascinating to learn of the inter-personal relationships within this massive family descending from one remarkable lady.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and felt that the individuals almost leapt from the page. I understood far more about them and their role in England's future having read it.

To make a history book riveting takes a particular talent and this author seems to have this in abundance. John Van der Kiste has a talent for getting right into a subject so that you can really imagine that you are there as an observer.

I highly recommend this book.

I found this book an enthralling read from start to finish. It transported me through time to the Victorian and Edwardian eras - a fascinating study of the lives of the matriarchal Queen Victoria, her children and grandchildren.
John Van der Kiste paints a vivid picture of the lifestyle of the aristocracy. I couldn't help comparing their lives to the poverty-stricken living in squalor, but that is for a different book.

The book begins with the story of Queen Victoria's own childhood which it goes into in some detail. It shows how she developed from a shy and insular young girl to a matriarch of the first order. We are then taken through the early married life of the Queen and the Prince Consort and the birth of each of their nine children.

There is a lot of fascinating detail in this book about the family life of the Queen. There are many anecdotes about the children, and although contact between parent and child was much less than we would have in a modern day family, it is plain that Victoria and Albert were loving and devoted parents who took a keen interest in the development of their children.

As time progresses we are introduced to the Queen's grandchildren and great grandchildren. It is interesting to read of the contrast in the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra as parents, as unlike Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as you could wish. They were much more lively and fun loving and this really comes across as you read further.
There are some wonderful anecdotes about King Edward and his grandchildren. His geniality sparkles from the page.

There seems to have been an about turn with George V who was a much more distant parent. It was interesting to read about all his children, as one usually hears most about the two brothers who later became King.

If you like English or European history you will find this book fascinating. It gives a flavour of the time and is eminently readable without being too heavy, even when going into politics, and without being frothy.
It is fascinating to learn of the inter-personal relationships within this massive family descending from one remarkable lady.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and felt that the individuals almost leapt from the page. I understood far more about them and their role in England's future having read it.

To make a history book riveting takes a particular talent and this author seems to have this in abundance. John Van der Kiste has a talent for getting right into a subject so that you can really imagine that you are there as an observer.

I highly recommend this book.

This book was so interesting! Enough has certainly been written about Queen Victoria that you'd think yet another biograpy of her and her family is not what the world needs: but this book is very much true to its title in concentrating on Victoria's childhood, that of her children, and that of her grand-children. People say that Childhood was invented in the Victorian period, and it is fascinating to see how an ultra-priveledged upbringing changed in the 100 years that this book covers. Even the changes that took place while Victoria's children were growing up is fascinating: the eldest daughter was married to a German prince at age 15, while her youngest daughter didn't marry until she was in her late 20's!

I definately recomend this book to anyone who is interested in british royal history, or the history of childhood. Since Victoria's children married all over Europe, anyone who is interested in European history would also find this book well worth a read. Since it is not too long and not too dry, it would also be a good book for a teenager or young person who is ready for adult non-fiction, but wants something that they can relate to.

Childhood at Court is an entertaining look at the lives of royal children at the British Court from 1819 to 1914, roughly the lifespan of Queen Victoria and her son Edward VII. There have been innumerable biographies of Queen Victoria and her children, but none that have focussed only on their childhoods. This book therefore fills a gap, and does so with an interesting, fresh style which makes use of plenty of anecdotes, some well known, others more obscure. I was interested to come across some of these stories, because I have read many histories and biographies of the period, and many of Van der Kiste's anecdotes were brand new. Both Queen Victoria and her son Edward VII had childhoods best described as dysfunctional, but its interesting to see how the future king seems to have learned from his parents' mistakes and given his own children a happier upbringing. Queen Victoria also seems to have mellowed as she grew older, and its nice to read about the antics her younger grandchildren and great-grandchildren were allowed to get away with, like slapping the Queen's hand and saying "Naughty Grandmamma!!"

This is a nice addition to anyone's library of books about royals or books about children.

I have used ideas from this book with my Sunday School classes. Some are extremely well thought out; for example OUR WIRED GENERATION. This is about using the technology of today to MEET our children on their turf.

This is one of the most practical resources I own! Each chapter is relavant to children's ministry right now. Each chapter has a list of easy to use, ministry-tested ideas that you can read and implement today.
This entire series by Group Publishing is a must have for staff/volunteers involved in church ministry in the 21st century.

Group has so many incredible resources for children's ministy...here are a few to check out!
The Humongous Book of Preschool Ideas
The Humongous Book of Bible Skits for Children's Ministry with CD (Audio)
The Humongous Book of Children's Messages
The Humongous Book of Games for Children's Ministry

This book does an amazing job at helping us to see, beyond the obvious, how kids are growing up differently, now more than ever before; and how the church needs to be prepared to meet them where they are at, or even where they will be - or risk becoming "irrelevant" in our rapidly changing world. Then, you are given fun, practical ideas of how to put these new concepts into practice. Every person who works with kids should read this book!!!

Children's Ministry in the 21st Century is a refreshing approach to the basics of Children's Ministry for today. I've read a mountain of books that theorize and pontificate on the subject, but Craig Jutila's book delivers more than just theory. This book delivers the goods. He explains the latest trends in Childrens' Ministry then at the end of each chapter, he gives you good concrete suggestions for activities that you can implement to bring your church's children's ministry into the 21st century. Whether you have a small church or a mega church or you work with babies or preteens, you can find many activities and suggestions for your classroom, small group Bible Study, or church wide event in this easy to read and reference resource.