Books

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Book two of the Austin Family Chronicles, an award-winning young adult series from Madeleine L’Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time, about a girl who experiences the difficulties and joys of growing up.

FROM SARAH:

This is one of the books by Madeleine L'Engle that I haven't yet read! It's on my TBR, and Sarah Arthur (author of A Light So Lovely and Once a Queen) assures me it's a must.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Story captures our hearts and feeds our imaginations. It reminds us who we are and where we came from. Story gives meaning and direction to our lives as we learn to see it as an affirmation of God’s love and truth–an acknowledgment of our longing for a rock in the midst of life’s wilderness.

FROM SARAH:

A lovely collection of thoughts from Madeleine L'Engle, especially poignant for mothers and/or writers. If blogs had been a thing during Madeleine's time, this would have been a blog.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

The beloved author of A Wrinkle in Time takes an introspective look at her life and muses on creativity in this memoir, the first of her Crosswicks Journals.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Better Together teaches you how to design a part of your homeschool day where the entire family can learn together. This time, known as "Morning Time,” has exploded in popularity since its inclusion in Sarah Mackenzie's bestseller Teaching From Rest. Now homeschool mom and former teacher Pam Barnhill breaks down the practice for every homeschooler.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Biography tracing the fascinating life of Louisa May Alcott from her happy childhood in Pennsylvania and Boston to her success as a writer of such classics as Little women.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

A modern biography of an ambivalent rebel and irreverent feminist who became, in spite of herself, one of our most popular authors.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Madeleine B. Stern, one of the world's leading Alcott scholars, shows how the breadth of Alcott's work, ranging from Little Women to sensational thrillers and war stories, serves as a reflection of a fascinating and complicated life dotted with poverty and riches alike, hard menial work, physical suffering relieved by opiates, and the acclaim of literary success.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Louisa May Alcott is known universally. Yet during Louisa's youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson―an eminent teacher and a friend of Emerson and Thoreau. He desired perfection, for the world and from his family. Louisa challenged him with her mercurial moods and yearnings for money and fame. The other prize she deeply coveted―her father's understanding―seemed hardest to win.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

May Alcott, the youngest of the four Alcott sisters, is best known to readers as ""Amy"" in the beloved classic ""Little Women,"" written by her sister Louisa May Alcott. Caroline Ticknor's 1928 memoir describes May as the vibrant artist of the family (as was the semi-fictional Amy), with an enthusiasm for beauty, people, and life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat! screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo. Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel - one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
Hundreds of books have been written on the art of writing. Here at last is a book by two professional editors to teach writers the techniques of the editing trade that turn promising manuscripts into published novels and short stories.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Widows and Orphans is the debut novel in the new Rachael Flynn mystery series by critically acclaimed author, Susan Meissner.  The perfect new series for readers who enjoy CBA authors Dee Henderson, Angela Hunt, and Brandilyn Collins.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Whether you're in the midst of a major life transition or are weary of the low-grade anxiety that daily life can bring, Emily helps create space for your soul to breathe so you can live life with God at a gentle pace and discern your next right thing in love.

FROM SARAH:

Straightforward, strategic, soulful, and a little sassy, The Lazy Genius Kitchen will turn your hardest-working room into your favorite one, too.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

You want your kitchen to be the heartbeat of the home, but you’re overwhelmed and out of breath trying to make it happen. Meals are on a never-ending loop, and you don’t have time to prepare dinner, much less enjoy it. Popular Lazy Genius expert and bestselling author Kendra Adachi is here to help!

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

t's been said that the glory of God is the soul fully alive. It's time to start chasing our spark, and Your Blue Flame will show you how.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

A lyrical, captivating retelling of the biblical redemption story from National Book Award nominee Mitali Perkins, sure to become a beloved tradition for families of faith.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

When relief workers bring used clothing to the refugee camp, everyone scrambles to grab whatever they can. Ten-year-old Lina is thrilled when she finds a sandal that fits her foot perfectly, until she sees that another girl has the matching shoe. But soon Lina and Feroza meet and decide that it is better to share the sandals than for each to wear only one.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Here are 12 spirited, easy-to-implement ideas for theme gardens that parents and kids can grow together, connecting children to nature through gardening. Each project includes a plan and the planting recipe--as well as a "Discovery Walk," activities and crafts to make with what you grow. And each is illustrated with author Sharon Lovejoy's lyrical watercolors.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

A magical book of adventures and appreciations written and illustrated by the author of Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots this award-winning title was published by a small press in Colorado in 1991.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Make your table a place where your family and friends long to be―where they will find rest, renewal, and a welcome full of love.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Everyone agrees that reading is important, but kids today tend to lose interest in reading before adolescence. In Raising Kids Who Read, bestselling author and psychology professor Daniel T. Willingham explains this phenomenon and provides practical solutions for engendering a love of reading that lasts into adulthood.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
A mother living well in her God-ordained role is of great beauty and inestimable value to the future history of any generation. Her impact is irreplaceable and necessary to the spiritual formation of children who will be the adults of the next generation. Fun, comfort, humor, graciousness, spiritual passion, compassion for the lost, hospitality, chores, meals, training, life-giving words, hours and hours of listening and playing and praying and reading―all are parts of the mosaic of soul development.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

FROM SARAH:

This is a delightful middle-grade mystery set on the streets of Ancient Rome! Get a sneak peek into Roman ways of life and solve a page-turning puzzle all while getting to know a hilarious cast of characters. Head's up that there are a few references to slavery that could be important conversation-starters for your family.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

In these two delightful history-mysteries, seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes . . . thanks to some help from their cranky teacher, a little bit of logic, and a lot of amusing misadventure.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
Discovered in the attic where she spnt the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

There are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear in the only two story collections O'Connor put together in her short lifetime--Everything That Rises Must Converge and A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Narration, the art of telling, has been used as a pedagogical tool since ancient times. Over one hundred years ago, Charlotte Mason methodized narration and implemented it in scores of schools in Great Britain. Over the past few decades, educators in the US, mostly in home schools, have followed her guidelines with outstanding results.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered 20 million hardcover donations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

On a clear December morning in 1937, at the famous gold clock in Grand Central Terminal, Joe Reynolds, a hardworking railroad man from Queens, meets a vibrant young woman who seems mysteriously out of place. Nora Lansing is a Manhattan socialite and an aspiring artist whose flapper clothing, pearl earrings, and talk of the Roaring Twenties don’t seem to match the bleak mood of Depression-era New York. Captivated by Nora from her first electric touch, Joe despairs when he tries to walk her home and she disappears. Finding her again - and again - will become the focus of his love and his life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America’s oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone’s boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no?

FROM SARAH:

This book destroyed me, but it was also one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. A historical fiction account of the son of Shakespeare, who died at 11 years old, leaving behind his twin sister, but really the story of his mother’s grief. A heart-wrenching, gorgeous book I could not stop listening to. The audiobook narrated by Ell Potter is astounding. I wouldn't hand this to an under-18. Also: heads up for two open-door scenes.

Recommended for Mamas.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

A young Latin tutor—penniless and bullied by a violent father—falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman. Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is just taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
A sweeping mystery of love, jealousy, and betrayal, Death on the Nile is one of Christie’s most legendary and timeless works.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

“A love letter to Paris, the power of books, and the beauty of intergenerational friendship” (Booklist), The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest places.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
This significantly expanded edition of W. H. Auden’s Selected Poems adds twenty poems to the hundred in the original edition, broadening its focus to better reflect the enormous wealth of form, rhetoric, tone, and content in Auden’s work.

FROM SARAH:

Wow, this book stays with you! Not my normal genre (speculative fiction), but I still loved it. The story follows Nora Seed as she accesses a library that allows her to explore alternate versions of her life. Compelling! Heads up: contains some foul language.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Barbara Elleman’s insightful biography on Tomie dePaola captures the essence of the beloved author-illustrator through engaging stories, childhood photos, countless illustrations, and thoughtful analysis of decades of celebrated books.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

A clever and complex woman builds an ice cream empire after immigrating from Russia in this stunning novel of power, Prohibition, and performance set against the backdrop of early 20th century America

FROM SARAH:

Is it possible that you don't already love this book from your own childhood? it's a classic for a reason, and many picture books in recent years have attempted to achieve what this little beauty has. Marvelous. Worth owning, and perfect to tuck into a baby shower gift basket.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Seventy-five years ago, Virginia Lee Burton created the Little House, and since then generations of readers have been enchanted by the story of this happy home and her journey from the pleasures of nature to the bustling city, and back again.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Leo Lionni’s Caldecott Honor–winning story about a little mouse who gathers something unusual for the long winter is celebrating its fiftieth birthday!

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
This entrancing classic fantasy novel is filled with surprises at every turn. An international bestseller, this much-loved book is the source for the Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature.

FROM SARAH:

From the author of Pippi Longstocking, this is the tale of close-knit families spread out amongst three farms in Sweden.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Go crayfishing in the summer at Nocken, “dipping in the pot” at Christmastime with Lisa and Karl, and join Britta and Anna who know the best way to go about “nutting” for the New Year. In this gently humorous tale, master storyteller Astrid Lindgren takes us through a year in the lives and customs of six Swedish children living on a group of three farms in the countryside.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Are you a word person? A curiosity seeker? An explorer? Take a look at these twenty-six extraordinary individuals for whom love of language is an extreme sport.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

A moving and powerful introduction to the life and art of renowned artist, Judith Scott, as told by her twin sister, Joyce Scott and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist, Melissa Sweet.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up their daily routine, missing Mama all the time. They find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company, but nothing can fill the hole Mama left. Every day they wait, watching for the letter that says Mama will be coming on home soon. Set during World War II, Coming On Home Soon has a timeless quality that will appeal to all who wait and hope.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

Bruno, a lonely old man, creates three dolls and sits them on the window sill facing outside to keep him company while he works in his garden, but one day he leaves and never returns, causing his house, dolls, and garden to change.

FROM SARAH:

What is a home? This book explores homes all around the world, for all kinds of people! Your kids will love the simple and lovely illustrations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

The picture book debut of Carson Ellis, acclaimed illustrator of the Wildwood series and Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead, this is a gorgeous, imaginative celebration of the many possibilities of home. Home might be a house in the country, a flat in the city, or even a shoe. There are clean homes, messy homes, sea homes and bee homes. Home resides on the road or the sea, in the realm of myth, or in the artist's own studio. This loving look at the places where people live brims with intriguing characters and is a visual treat that demands many a return visit.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
From B is for Brooklyn Bridge to K is for Kodak and onward to T is for Fort Ticonderoga, E is for Empire is an alphabet book that introduces children and adults to New York State's history, culture, and landscape in a unique two-tiered approach.

FROM SARAH:

I wrote the foreword to this stunning new book. Tomie's religious art and stories first baptized my own imagination, and then they went on to baptize the imagination of my kids. Now, collected like beads on a string, Tomie's liturgical art is paired with excerpts about saints and holy days to carry us all through the whole liturgical year. Truly a work of beauty. Highly, highly recommended for your homeschool's Morning Basket, or as decor on your coffee table.

Read more about the book HERE. And while you can purchase from Amazon or Bookshop with the buttons on this page, we recommend purchasing directly from Ignatius Books. 

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

This engaging book is sure to inspire the whole family to celebrate with the Church her special days and seasons through the year.

From the Publisher:

In 1941 England, when all hope was threatened by the inhumanity of war, C. S. Lewis was invited to give a series of radio lectures addressing the central issues of Christianity. More than half a century later, these talks continue to retain their poignancy. First heard as informal radio broadcasts on the BBC, the lectures were published as three books and subsequently combined as Mere Christianity. C. S. Lewis proves that "at the center of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks with the same voice," rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many denominations. This twentieth century masterpiece provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.

All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler’s forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving. With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club. As the destruction rages around them, Zofia must fight to save her friend and preserve her culture and community using the only weapon they have left - literature.

From the Publisher:

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri’s poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise—the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.

FROM SARAH:

This collection of essays from Tolkien is heady and wonderful! My oldest daughter wrote her college thesis on it. For anyone who likes to think about the soul-enriching powers of stories.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

J.R.R. Tolkien's "On Fairy-stories" is his most-studied and most-quoted essay, an exemplary personal statement of his views on the role of imagination in literature, and an intellectual tour de force vital for understanding Tolkien's achievement in the writing of The Lord of the Rings.

From the Publisher:

Fr. Jean C. J. d Elbée, a French priest deeply imbued with St. Thérèse's spirit, brings you St. Thérèse's teachings on God's love and the confidence in Him that it should inspire in your soul; humility, peace, and fraternal charity; the apostolate; the Cross; and what it means truly to abandon yourself to Divine Providence. I Believe in Love has helped countless souls embark on the way to the Father. It will help you focus on Him throughout each day, rest in Him amid your troubles, and live joyfully with Him at every moment!

From the Publisher:

First published in 1944 and now a spiritual classic for Catholics across the globe, The Reed of God contains meditations on the humanity of Mary, Mother of God. British Catholic writer and artist Caryll Houselander lovingly explores Mary’s intimately human side, depicting Our Lady as a musical instrument who makes divine love known to the world. This refreshed edition is rich and rewarding reading for all Christians who wonder what Mary was really like.

FROM SARAH:

This book by Grace Lin has won quite the handful of awards, and it deserved it!

FROM THE PUBLISHER: