Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

Picture Books:

For the Children: Words of Love and Inspiration from His Holiness Pope John Paul II (Scholastic Press)
Pope John Paul II Comic Book by Toni Pagot, illustrated by Sergio Toppi (Pauline Books & Media)

Grade School:

The Young Life of Pope John Paul II by Claire Jordan Mohan (b. 1920)

Teen/Adult:

Chapters on Pope John Paul II and the modern papacy, PF pgs. 111-118
Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel

Movies:

Pope John Paul II (1984 - Albert Finney)
Witness to Hope: The Life of Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II (2002 - documentary)
Pope John Paul II (2005)

Writings on the Web:

Official Vatican Site

World War II (1939-1945)

Picture Books:

The Little Ships by Louise Borden, illustrated by Michael Forman (rescue at Dunkirk, May 1940)
Across the Blue Pacific by Louise Borden, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker (set soon after U.S. entered World War II)
The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse, illustrated by Wendy Watson (Poland, 1943)
The Journey that saved Curious George: the true wartime escape of Margret and H A Rey by Louise Borden, illustrated by Allan Drummond
The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden, illustrated by Niki Daly (Netherlands)
A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Anita Lobel (post-war Europe)

Favorite Read-Alouds:

The Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery
Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (1944)
The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum

Audio Resources:

Enemy Brothers audio drama

Grades 1-4:

The Small War of Sergeant Donkey by Maureen Daly
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (1944)
The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum

Grades 5-8:

World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities by Richard Panchyk
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp
Enemy Brothers: A Story of World War II by Constance Savery
The House of Sixty Fathers by Meendert de Jong
Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serralier
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
A Place to Hide: True Stories of Holocaust Rescues by Jayne Pettit

Grades 9-12:

The Borrowed House by Hilda Van Stockum
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Bom

Teen/Adult:

Night by Elie Wiesel
The Red Horse by Eugenio Corti
The Shadow of His Wings by Fr. Gereon Goldmann

Out of Print Favorites:

Up Periscope by Robb White

Movies:

The Assisi Underground (1985 - Ben Cross, James Mason, Maximilian Schell)

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009 - Anna Paquin - Hallmark)

The Great Escape (1963 Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Coburn) Note: There's also an episode of Nova in which they excavate the site of this true story.

The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949 - John Wayne)

The Scarlet and the Black (1983 - Gregory Peck, Christopher Plummer, John Gielgud)

Famous Speeches:

"We Shall Fight on the Beaches", Winston Churchill, June 4, 1940, House of Commons, London, England

"Against Nazi Euthanasia", Cardinal Clemens von Galen, August 3, 1941, Münster Cathedral, Münster, Germany

"Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation", Franklin Delano Roosevelt, December 8, 1941, Washington D.C.

On the Web:

Sergeant Darrell S. Cole, USMC (1920-1945)
U.S.S. Arizona Memorial
U.S.S. Missouri Memorial
World War II Memorial

Our Lady of Fatima (Portugal, 1917)

Grade School:

The Children of Fatima by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
Our Lady Came to Fatima by Ruth Fox Hume

Teen/Adult:

Our Lady of Fatima by William Thomas Walsh

Movies:

Apparitions at Fatima
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)

On the Web:

EWTN's Fatima Page

The Christmas Truce of World War I

I was reminded of The Christmas Truce of 1914 a few weeks ago, when I came across this article on the passing of the last witness to this unique event.

This has sparked my interest in finding other resources about this event. Really, someone ought to write a picture book about it.

As Sara mentioned in the comments from my post on Studeo, The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy does include the Christmas truce in part of the story, although I believe this is a different one on the Russian front (and possibly a different year)...

"We crept out into the snow, countless silent dark shapes against the whiteness, and ran to the sunken road which lay between our lines and the mountainside where the Russian trenches were. Shells screamed overhead and burst behind us, drowning out all noise we might have made, and when we reached the road, whispered orders from the Captain scurried down the line like mice: 'Advance along the road. Don't dare make a sound or strike a light.'

"We tramped in knee-deep snow, skirting the friendly hillside that sheltered us from the fire, stealing toward the Russians. And then, just ahead of me I saw a boy kneel i the snow before a wayside crucifix and light a candle. It flickered in the still air, casting a feeble light on the image of Christ above it. 'Oh, Lord,' the man next to me sighed, reaching into his knapsack for a candle. Others had seen the glowing light, and as I looked around I saw that more and more candles were lighted all around. A whisper spread, like the order from the Captain from mouth to mouth, only this was not an order from the Captain. 'Light a candle for Christmas Eve,' men whispered and their very words seemed to turn into tiny stars as dozens and dozens, then hundreds of candles came forth from the knapsacks to be lighted and stuck in the snow. The hillside now was one glow of light and the crucifix was bright with an unearthly brightness. We were a target for the Russian guns, but we never gave it a thought. For a little while we were lost in prayer, until one of the men cried: 'They have stopped firing. Look!'

"Across the valley, on the hillside where the Russians were entrenched, a few small flames began to tremble, then more and more. Candles, hundreds of them, thousands, one for every gun that was now silent. Around me men began to sing 'Holy Night, Silent Night,' and from across the valley the song came back to us a thousandfold. Behind the lines so facing each other, the guns had ceased to roar and no more shells were screaming between men and the stars. Perhaps the Christ Child had walked between the lines and while He walked, peace had stayed the guns."

More information on this remarkable event...

An Illustrated History of the First World War by John Keegan has this little tidbit in a photo caption of some soldiers from both sides smiling and smoking together:

"The Christmas Truce, 1914, Early on the morning of Christmas Day, the Germans in the line opposite the British, between Ypres ad Messines, began to sing Christmas carols and display Christmas trees on their parapet. Germans then came forward into no-man's-land and proposed a break in the fighting. Parties from both sides began to mingle, to exchange tobacco and drinks, to sing together and, in one place, to organise a football match. They also agreed to allow burial of the dead in no-man's land. The truce persisted the following day and in places for some days afterwards but the high command on both sides disapproved and took measures to stop the fraternisation. There was none on the French front. In this photograph Private turner, of the London Rifle Brigade, a recently arrived Territorial regiment, stands behind two German officers, one of whom wears the ribbon of the Iron Cross."

Online:

"The Christmas Truce" by Simon Rees
Snopes - Urban Legends Page (this one does pan out as "True"!)
"The Christmas Truce" adopted from the book Christmas Truce by Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton

More related links

World War I (1914-1918)

The Good Master (prequel) and The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery (from the Anne of Green Gables series)
Rascal by Sterling North

Out of Print Favorites:

Flying Aces of World War I by Gene Gurney (published by Scholastic)

Movies:

Sergeant York (1941 - Gary Cooper)

On the Web:

World War I - Trenches on the Web

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)")

Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)

Grade School:

St. Ignatius and the Company of Jesus by August Derleth (1491-1556)

High School/Adult:

St. Ignatius of Loyola by Francis Thompson
St. Ignatius of Loyola by James Broderick, S.J.
The Golden Thread: A Novel about St. Ignatius by Louis de Wohl

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Grade School:

St. Thomas Aquinas: The Story of the Dumb Ox by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Preaching Beggars by Brendan Larnen, O.P. and Milton Lomask

Teen/Adult:

St. Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton
excerpts from the Summa Theologiae TC pgs. 247-298
The Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas
The Quiet Light: A Novel About St. Thomas Aquinas by Louis de Wohl

13th Century AD

The Lost Baron by Allen French (1200)
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green (King John 1167-1216)
Big John's Secret by Eleanore Jewett (The 5th Crusade, 1218)
Saint Dominic: Preacher of the Rosary and Founder of the Dominican Order by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
Saint Dominic and the Rosary by Catherine Beebe (1170-1221)
"The Miracle of Alatri, Italy", EM pgs 30-37 (1228)
"The Miracle of Santarem, Portugal", EM 38-46 (early 13th century)
"The Two Miracles of Florence, Italy", EM 47-49 (1230)
Saint Elizabeth's Three Crowns by Blanche Thompson (1207-1231)
Saint Anthony and the Christ Child by Helen Walker Homan (1195-1231)
"The Miracle of Daroca, Spain", EM 50-52 (1239)
"The Miracle of Olmutz, Czechoslovakia", EM 53-55 (1242)
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction by David Macaulay
St. Hyacinth of Poland: The Story of the Apostle of the North by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
"The Miracle of Regensburg, Germany", EM 56-58 (1257)
"The Two Miracles of Paris, France", EM 63-65 (1274 and 1290)
He Went with Marco Polo by Louise Andrews Kent (1271-1295)
"The Miracle of Slavonice, Czechoslovakia", EM 66-69 (1280)
"The Miracle of Offida, Italy", EM 70-83 (1280)
Castle by David Macaulay (1283)
Women in the Days of the Cathedrals by Régine Pernoud

Architecture:

Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France (construction 1195-1220)

Bayeux Tapestry - 11th century, Britain

The Vikings

Picture Books:

Leif the Lucky by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (Leif Ericson 1000 AD)

Upper Grade School/High School:

The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French (Bethelehem Books )



Audio Resources:

The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow (dramatization - Northern Rain Productions/Bethlehem Books)

10th Century AD

The Little Duke by Charlotte Yonge (943)

8th Century A.D.

Picture Books:

The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History by John S. Major, illustrated by Stephen Fieser (concentrates on a journey in 700 AD)

Grade School:

"The Miracle of Lanciano, Italy" EM pgs 3-18 (700 AD)
Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard (Charlemagne 768-814)

Architecture:

Temple at Borobudur, Java, Indonesia (constructed in the 8th or 9th century)

Beowulf (written circa 500 AD)

Beowulf the Warrior trans. by Ian Serralier (Bethlehem Books)