Saints Around the World Early Reader Collection
Lindsey Sanders (illustrator)
ISBN 9781645854265
I recently received the 6 volumes in this set to review. The volumes are:
Adventurous
Ordinary
Royal and Warrior
Talented
Unshakable
Young Saints
These 6 volumes are geared for younger readers. They are a very high quality picture book. The six books are available individually or as a set. There is a volume that was released in 2021 by the same author and illustrator called Saints Around the World, that could be read to the same audience as this volume but it is much more in-depth and has significantly more information on each of the 100 saints covered in the volume. The description of this volume states:
“Saints Around the World Early Reader Collection includes all six books authored by Meg Hunter-Kilmer and Illustrated by Lindsey Sanders. Each book features the stories of fifteen saints—young, adventurous, ordinary, royal and warrior, talented, and unshakable—with 32-page full color illustrations.
Young Saints Around the World showcases young saints who accomplished much in their very short lives.
Adventurous Saints Around the World compiles the stories of adventurous saints and shows how serving God is the greatest thrill of all.
Ordinary Saints Around the World features short stories that show children that no life is too ordinary for extraordinary holiness.
Royal and Warrior Saints Around the World show how great heroes can also be holy
Talented Saints Around the World depict saints using their remarkable skills to spread God’s message in many times and places.
Unshakable Saints Around the World teaches children to never let go of God’s hand—despite danger, doubts, and other challenges.
Recommended for ages 4-8.”
About the author we are informed:
“Meg Hunter-Kilmer is a speaker, a writer, and a missionary who has lived out of her car since 2012. Meg loves telling stories, learning about Saints, reading the Bible, and watching the Olympics. She is a proud godmother of ten and aunt of an ever-increasing crew of incredible nieces and nephews.”
About the illustrator we are informed:
“Lindsey Sanders is the creator of AlmondRod Toys, an online shop that sells Catholic toys designed by Lindsey herself. She has seven kids who she homeschools in Grand Rapids, Michigan.”
There is no table of contents nor even pages numbers which are the only draw backs I see to this book and the 6 in the series. If you wanted to find a specific saint you would need to flip through looking for them. That being said this is an excellent volume and series. We have given a set of them to our Catholic School Library. The physical books are well made, and designed to last a long time and for heavy use. They are beautiful hardcovers with solid stitching. I bent the books flat to scan a couple sample pages and there is no indication I did so. I believe the artwork is either watercolours or water colour pencils. The artwork is stunning. The artist sells blocks with images from the books, for teaching children, and other resources to support learning about saints. I wish she sold a set of them as prayer cards, I would buy a set for myself and 2 of my teen children who love collecting prayer cards. I would also love prints of a couple of the images to be able to hang in my den.
Each 2 page spread includes:
Name of the Saint or Blessed
Pronunciation Guide to the name
Brief introduction to them
A key point to learn from them
Then the country, dates and feast day.
A world map with a star marker for where they were from.
There is also available a Saints Around the World Map & Sticker Set that contains stickers for all the saints in the series. The inside cover of each volume shows where the saints for that volume come from. It would be an excellent supplement for home or classroom use. The saints by volume are:
Adventurous
Blessed Peter Kasui Kibe
Saint Dulce Pontes
Blessed Emilian Kovch
Saint Damien of Molokai
Saint María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa
Saint Laura Montoya
Saint Joseph Vaz
Blessed Ladislaus Bukowinski
Blessed Sara Salkaházi
Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo
Barnabas
Blessed Maria Therese von Wüllenweber
Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky
Blessed Peter To Rot
Saint Rafael Guízar y Valencia
Ordinary
Saint Agatha Kim A-gi
Saint André Bessette
Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Saint Faustina Kowalska
Saint Nina of Georgia
Blessed Stanley Rother
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz
Saint Alphonsa Muttathupadathu
Blessed Laurentia Herasymiv
Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla
Saint Martha Wang Luo Mande
Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
Blessed Rani Maria Vattalil
Blessed John Sullivan
Peter Wu Guosheng
Royal and Warrior
Saint Adelaide of Burgundy
Blessed Takayama Ukon
Saint Casilda of Toledo
Saint Raphael Kalinowski
Saint Augustine Phan Viết Huy
Saint Dominic Đinh Đạt
Saint Nicholas Bùi Ðúc Thê´
Saint Olga of Kiev
Saint Kaleb the Ethiopian
Saint James Intercisus
Rosalia of Palermo
Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá
Blessed Margaret Pole
Saint Pulcheria
Saint Moses the Strong
Saint Albert Chmielowski
Virgin Mary
Talented
Blessed Denis of the Nativity
Blessed Dina Bélanger
Blessed Benedict Daswa
Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida
Blessed Nicolas Steno
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
Blessed Francisca de Paula de Jesus
Blessed Hermann of Reichenau
Saint Hildegard of Bingen
Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara
Blessed María Romero Meneses
Saint Martin de Porres
Saint Jerome
Saint Macrina the Younger
Saint Thorlak Thorhallson
Unshakable
Saint Josephine Bakhita
Saint John Colobus
Saint Leopold Mandić
Saint Mary MacKillop
Saint Oscar Romero
Blessed Ana of the Angels Monteagudo
Saint Margaret of Castello
Blessed Peter Donders
Saint Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès
Saint Monica
Blessed Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrung
Saint Columba of Iona
Saint Katharine Drexel
Saint Serapion the Sindonite
Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Young Saints
Blessed Carlo Acutis
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
Blessed Cecilia Butsi Wongwai
Blesseds Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa
Saint Germaine Cousin
Blessed Benedetta Bianchi Porro
Saints Perpetua and Felicity
Blessed Paul Thoj Xyooj
Saint Teresa of the Andes
Saint Eulalia of Mérida
Saint Joan of Arc
Saint Peter Yu Tae-chol
Saint Jacinta Marto
I have had the longer version of this book for a few years now, as well as Meg’s volume Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness but after reading just one of these they have jumped way up in my ‘to be read’ pile. I look forward to reading Meg’s other works. I can easily recommend this series for home, school, and church library. They are excellent for introducing children and even us older folks to a wide range of friends in heaven. A great series sure to become a family favourite!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2024 Catholic Reading Plan!
Books by Meg Hunter-Kilmer:
Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness
A Year in the Word Catholic Bible Journal
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Saints Around the World Books:
Saints Around the World
Saints Around the World Map & Sticker Set
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Saints Around the World For Younger Readers:
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Contributed to:
Living the Word Catholic Women's Bible
The Ave Catholic Notetaking
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