“According to Uncle Al the Princeton area is filled with all sorts of research centers. I didn’t know that the big companies had separate buildings and places where their scientists developed new products, but apparently they do. I guess that’s an example of free enterprise, and I am going to learn more about these research…
Author: Sara Masarik
Curators of things Good, True, and Beautiful
Raising Chaste Catholic Men
“The sexual sins are the sins of our day. There is no denying it, and there is no denying that our men and boys struggle mightily to remain chaste and retain their purity in a world designed to incite lust and drag them down to the dark pit of hell. Dramatic? Nope, it’s just reality….
Little Girl Life
We are boy moms, but we have little ladies in our lives too and we want the most lovely books for them. Please don’t take these age recommendations too seriously. They are just very general guides. Very Little Girls (4-8) Bedtime for Frances (Frances Series) Fairchild Family Series (4 books) Betsy Tacy Series (first 4 books)…
Freddy the Detective
You know the old adage not to judge a book by its cover? Never was it more true than in the case of Freddy the Detective. I happen to own this book is several different covers. Not one of them properly recommends the story inside. In fact, prior to getting a really excellent recommendation on…
Magic in Fairyland
“Material facts are good enough for him. Until it comes to religion. And then, suddenly, the child who has been forbidden to believe in Jack the Giant Killer must believe in Goliath and David. There are no fairies, but you must believe that there are angels. The magic sword and the magic buckler are nonsense,…
Ronia The Robber’s Daughter
Many years ago I read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren and disliked it. There was something about Pippi’s tone that most people found to be hilarious, but which I found to be troubling. After buying and reading aloud several Pippi books, I finally gave myself permission to acknowledge my concerns about Pippi’s disrespectful attitude towards…
The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux
“My God! I love you!” – Last words of St. Therese of Lisieux On September 30, 1897, Therese Martin, Sr. Therese of the Child Jesus, quitted her 24-year-old body and entered into eternity. The “Little Flower,” (a name she called herself which became emblematic of her relationship with the great gardener, God) was the ninth…
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The movie is better. Much better, in fact. In 1903, Baroness Orczy wrote a successful stage play about a foppish English noble who mastered the art of “disguise and redirect” in order to save the lives of French royals destined for the Madame Guillotine during the Reign of Terror. Building on the success of The…
My Sisters the Saints
“A beautiful and inspiring story of a woman’s deep faith and the saints who became her sisters along the path to her answered prayers.” -Mary Higgins Clark In October 2014, I was struggling under the weight of a heavy cross to bear. I had lost three babies in miscarriage, was struggling against a neurological disease,…
Danny Dunn and the Anti Gravity Paint
In 1956, Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams published their first young reader science fiction book: Danny Dunn and the Anti Gravity Paint. Penned almost fifteen years before Neil Armstrong took mankind’s first steps on the moon, the science in this series is dated but still magical and full of wonder. Nearly seventy-five years after H.G….
The Miracle of St. Nicholas
“Why can’t we celebrate Christmas tomorrow in St. Nicholas?” Set in a small Russian village, young Alexi asks his babushka (grandma) why they cannot celebrate Christmas in their village church of St. Nicholas. In the wake of the Bolshevik revolution, the communists vigorously worked to eradicate religion because it threatened the Russian people’s dependence on…
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving
We are big fans of Louisa May Alcott here at Plumfield and Paideia. The “Plumfield” portion of our name comes from her iconic Jo March books. While Alcott notably wrote many full length novels for children and young readers, she also wrote many endearing short stories. An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving is one of them. Thanks…
Burgess Readers
Title Dover Librivox Audible 1 Old Mother West Wind Dover Set Librivox 2 Mother West Wind’s Children Dover Set Librivox 3 Mother West Wind’s Animal Friends Dover Set Librivox 4 Mother West Wind’s Neighbors Dover Set 5 Reddy Fox Dover Set Librivox 6 Johnny Chuck Dover Set Librivox Audible 7 Peter Cottontail Dover Set Librivox…
Creed in Slow Motion
“Authors Note: The sermons of which this book is composed were delivered to the girls at the Assumption Convent (now at Exton, Rutland) when they were being evacuated to Aldenham Park, Bridgnorth, during the late war.” In 1855, the bishops of England had suggested to John Henry Newman that he should translate the Vulgate Bible…
What If: Serious Scientific Answers
A few years ago some friends recommended What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe because I have a very science-minded little boy who loves “what if” type questions. Munroe started his career by building robots for NASA. He is the author of a very popular webcomic and science Q&A blog:…