Mary Cassatt (United States, 1844-1926)

WebMuseum Entry on Mary Cassatt


The Boating Party
1893-94 (130 Kb); Oil on canvas, 90.2 x 117.5 cm (35 1/2 x 46 1/4 in); National Gallery of Art, Washington (courtesy of WebMuseum)

The Wind Blows Free by Loula Grace Erdman

1952/2006, Bethlehem Books, 271 pages, softcover

After Papa's store burns down in East Texas, the Pierce family decides to take up farming and moves to the wilds of the Texas Panhandle where life is challenging and money is tight. Papa has built a "dugout" cabin and the family makes do with circumstances far different from those to which they are accustomed.

The Panhandle in the 1890s is quite barren - just a few ranchers and cowboys about and hardly a tree to be found. It's a tough land to survive in, especially for farming families like the Pierces. They grow accustomed to things they would never have dreamed of in the past - like collecting old cattle bones to sell, burning "cow chips" for fuel and living with a dirt floor. But somehow they learn to appreciate their homemade Christmas, the dependability of the cowboys and "the wind that blows free."

15 year old Melinda is the particular heroine of the story. She is reluctant to leave her grandmother, her school and her close friends. The new life is hard and strange and some days she just can't seem to get anything right.

This is a delightful family story with plenty of adventure and just a bit of romance. I really didn't want it to end (and not many books have that effect on me). My daughter and I especially enjoyed the balance between living simply and appreciating education. The "homemade Christmas" was a particular favorite - quite inspiring actually!

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (12-06)
Available from All Catholic Books and Emmanuel Books

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

The Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods

Little House on the Prairie

On the Banks of Plum Creek

By the Shores of Silver Lake

The Long Winter

Little Town on the Prairie

These Happy Golden Years

The First Four Years

Note: Laura also wrote Farmer Boy, about her husband, Almanzo Wilder's childhood on a prosperous farm in upstate New York.

Fr. Pierre De Smet (1838-1875)

Grades 5-8:

Giant of the Western Trail, The Life of Fr. de Smet by Fr. Michael McHugh

Websites:

Catholic Encyclopedia

Note: De Smet, South Dakota, the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder (and the setting of her later books, including The Long Winter and These Happy Golden Years, was named after this beloved missionary.

Our Lady of Lourdes (France, 1858)

Grades 5-8:

Bernadette and the Lady by Hertha Pauli

Teen/Adult:

The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel

Movies:

Bernadette: Princess of Lourdes (CCC Animated Video)

The Song of Bernadette (1943 - Vincent Price - won four Academy Awards in 1944)

Civil War, U.S. (1861-1865)

Picture Books:

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Grade School:

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (1864)
Caddie Woodlawn's Family by Carol Ryrie Brink (a.k.a. Magical Melons 1863-1865)
Willie Finds Victory: A Blessed Francis Seelos Story by Joan Stromberg (1819-1867)
Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Gettysburg by Makinlay Kantor (1863)

Teen/Adult:
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Gettysburg 1863)

Famous Speeches:

"Gettysburg Address", Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Movies:

Gettysburg (1993 - Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels)

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
1852, Penguin/Signet Classics, 496 pages, softcover (many editions available)

The story is about slavery in America. It follows the lives of two slaves in detail, Eliza and Uncle Tom, and introduces us to a great many more slaves and masters and their stories. The two belong to the same master in Kentucky. When the master falls on hard times (from his own inability to manage his estate) he ends up making a deal to sell these two - despite the fact that both of them are rather dear to him and his family. Getting wind of this Eliza decides to run for safety with her son while Uncle Tom allows himself to be taken away from his wife and young children. Eliza risks her life to save her child - running across the ice floes of a partially frozen Ohio river to escape - then finds her way along an underground network. (I won't tell you how her story comes out.) Uncle Tom is sold and resold. He is steadfast in his faith throughout - though not unchanging. Moreover, he affects those who he meets along the way.

This book is written in a very foreign style. - at least to the modern reader. Chronologically Mrs. Stowe's style fits somewhere between that of the crafters of the Constitution and that of Mark Twain. But it is not so easy to put it into any other category. Her own narration is a bit archaic, overtly Christian, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes patronizing, and yet very broad minded. She calls you "gentle reader". She says "now don't you think that is fair?" when she expects you to come to the opposite conclusion. And yet she sees clearly through all the haze of the issue - i.e. the "shades of grey" everyone loves to talk about when they can't bear to say right vs. wrong. And she does more - she presents us with characters who take various positions on the slavery issue. Not just "it's right" and "it's wrong" - but a wide variety of views. She allows them ample voice and reason to discourse their whole argument; she does not make them straw men; she does not mitigate or twist their ideas; she lays out the best cases for and against - and from several different angles. In the midst of this she demonstrates the effects on the PEOPLE who are subjected to the system - those who are the masters as well as those who are the slaves. It is incredibly revealing to have the whole gamut - the entire conversation - all in one accessable story. And it is incredibly convincing!!! Which is why, as legend has it, Abe Lincoln, when introduced to her for the first time declared, "So you're the little lady responsible for this big war."

Age level: High School Freshman +/- a year. Kleenex required.

Reviewed by John Van Hecke (7-29-04)
Available from Adoremus Books and Our Father's House,

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

This is a beautiful classic, appropriate for high school about Father Jean Marie Latour and his work in New Mexico beginning in 1851.

Saint John Bosco (Italy, 1815-1888)

Picture Books:

Saint John Bosco: The Friend of Children and Young People by Carol Monmarche (Pauline Books & Media)

Grade School:

St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio by Catherine Beebe (1815-1888)

Primary Sources:

Letter from Don Bosco

On the Web:

The Secret of Saint John Bosco by Henri Gheon

Saint John Vianney (1786-1859)

The Cure of Ars: The Priest Who Out-talked the Devil by Milton Lomask

The Cure of Ars: The Story of St John Vianney by Mary Fabyan Windeatt

The Man Who Fought the Devil: The Cure of Ars by Eva K. Betz

The Cure D'Ars: St. Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney by Francis Trochu

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (1809-1865)

Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House by Sterling North

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858

"Justice for Ireland" speech by Daniel O'Connell (1836)

"Justice for Ireland", Daniel O'Connell, February 4, 1836, House of Commons

St. Catherine Laboure (France, 1806-1876)

Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine in 1830 and gave her the Miraculous Medal

St. Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal by Alma Power-Waters

The Miraculous Medal: The Story of Our Lady's Apparitions to St. Catherine Laboure by Mary Fabyan Windeatt (1830)

The Miracle of Bordeaux (France, 1822)

"The Miracle of Bordeaux, France", Eucharistic Miracles, pgs. 171-178 (1822)

Hokusai (Japan, 1760-1849)

Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain by Deborah Kogan Ray (Hokusai, Japan, 1760-1849)

The War of 1812

Cleared for Action by Stephen Meader

Charlotte Tucker (Laura Ingalls' Grandmother, born in 1809)

Little House by Boston Bay by Melissa Wiley
On Tide Mill Lane by Melissa Wiley
The Road from Roxbury by Melissa Wiley
Across the Puddingstone Dam by Melissa Wiley

The full-length books are sadly on their way out-of-print (snatch them up if you can find them!). They are being replaced with considerably shorter abridged editions.

Additional resources from the author can be found here

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Napoleonic Wars: (approximately 1799-1815)

The Midshipman Quinn Collection by Showell Styles (1803-1805)
The Flying Ensign by Showell Styles (1809)


Imprisonment of Popes Pius VI and Pius VII:

Pope Pius VI from the Catholic Encyclopedia
Pope Pius VII from Patron Saints Index
Napoleon Bonaparte from Catholic Encyclopedia (see especially the sections: "The Campaign in Italy" and "The Great Victories; Occupation of Rome; Imprisonment of Pius VII (1805-09)")

Ludwig van Beethoven (Germany, 1770-1827)

"Beethoven's Triumph", The Moral Compass pgs. 336-339

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)

Wanted Dead or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann McGovern