Book Review - Seeing God's Action in Our Lives

 


Seeing God's Action in Our Lives by Leann Thieman, Sophia Institute Press, 2019.

Review by Rosa M. Sautner, Catholic Homeschooling mother of two.

    Most of us need to take a long break from reading internet news, reading the newspaper and watching the evening news.  What we need now is to be reminded that God is still in charge of our world no matter how chaotic it seems.  Seeing God's Action in Our Lives by Leann Thieman will reawaken Christian hope in the reader.

    During the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent social disruption, we have been inundated in discouragement, violence and negativity.  What we need is to see and experience God working in our world despite the trials that we face. 

    These seventy stories are uplifting and encouraging.  They are stories of ordinary people in sometimes desperate situations that have experienced God working in and acting in their lives. 

    This is a hope-filled book that will at times bring tears to your eyes or a smile to your face.  I think the most beneficial result of reading this book will be to encourage the reader to pray to our Heavenly Father who can work miracles in our everyday lives if we but pray to Him.

    It is highly recommended and would be a perfect gift for just about anyone right now.

Book Review - A Storybook of Saints

 

A Story Book of Saints by Elizabeth Hanna Pham, illustrated by Cecilia Vu, Sophia Institute Press, 2020.

Book Review by Rosa M. Sautner, Catholic Homeschooling Mother of two.

    If you were looking for a book with charming illustrations and a year-long feast day collection of saints, this book is perfect.  As a homeschooling mother read aloud time is a very important part of our day.  Especially in the morning, we like to begin with stories that capture the interest of our children as well as introduce the feast day or liturgical season.

    This book is a ideal addition to our "morning basket" of read alouds.  It contains fifty saint stories and a charming illustration for each saint.  As the author writes in her introduction, some of the stories come from historical fact.  Some stories, however, come from legends based on something that probably happened.  This can be explained to children and it will make the stories all the more fascinating.

    A Storybook of Saints gives brief stories of saints beginning on December 6, in the season of Advent with St. Nicholas and concluding at the end of the liturgical year with the Vietnamese Martyrs on November 24.

    As with all the books published by Sophia Institute Press, this book is beautifully printed, with an attractive, colorful cover and pleasing typeset.  This a perfect little volume to introduce young children not only to the saints, but to the many saints which light up the liturgical year .