Monday, August 31, 2009

Christians Courageous---A Book Review

Today's guest reviewer is my son Daniel. Daniel is 16 and plans on entering the seminary next fall. He is a voracious reader and I knew that this was the perfect book for him to review. Please keep Dan and his vocation in your prayers.

Christians Courageous, by Aloysius Roche is a very wonderful book. It depicts the lives of 14 heroes of the Catholic Faith. The tales are spread out from the Roman persecution to early English monasticism to Hawaii at the end of the 1880's. It shows the courage Catholics have shown throughout their history to bring the message of Christ to all people. These 14 men would climb to the top of the world in order to preach the Gospel, and one actually did!


I very much enjoyed the book. However, the book lays claim to being written for youthful readers. While the story structures are clearly toward that level of education, the vocabulary and the amount of knowledge needed to enjoy the book, as much as it deserves, is more of an early high school level. This being said, as a read aloud this book would keep most young listeners on the edge of their seats. It is perfectly suited for a read aloud. Each story is short enough to finish in one sitting, and most are jam packed with action to keep young people interested for the time it takes to read. I would recommentd this book for any person from about twelve years and up, but younger that that if they do not have to work through the book themselves. Reviewer: Daniel Collins
This review is written as part of the Catholic Book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Christians Courageous.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

Nice post. I'll try this with my 13 year old.
cindy