The Catholic Company Book Review: Holy Crocodile

Holy Crocodile: Stories of Saints and the Animals Who Helped Them

by Caroline Cory

You know I just can't resist a children's book on saints, right?

This is a nice hardcover book with large full-color illustrations for each saint story. Most of the stories are a page or two long (with an additional page for the illustration). Usually they tell of just a brief episode in a saint's life, one which involves (not surprisingly) an animal.

The illustrations are bright, in a "scribble" style (as described by the author and illustrator). They are perhaps not the my favorite style, but the children seem to love them. First Son keeps picking up this book and flipping through it. (I wouldn't let him read it until I'd finished my review because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find it when I had a minute to sit down and write something. He'll be very happy when I hand it over to him.)

There is not much biographical information on any of the saints, just enough to tell the story. While I appreciate the pronunciation guides for names within the stories, it would be nice if there were a little more, perhaps an index in the back or a list with their countries or dates. Some of them might be hard to investigate more because names are recorded differently in various sources. For example, the story of St. Jerome and the Lion is here, but Jerome is "Gerasimos (Ju-RAY-zee-mos)" which may very well be more accurate than Jerome, but "Jerome" is the way I've always seen it.

Some of the stories are funny, some are exciting, some are truly miraculous. A few have morals, but many of them are just interesting stories of the saints, such as we might tell if something unusual happened to us. I've read a lot of saint stories in the past few years and there were quite a few here I had not read before, so there's a nice mix of the familiar and the new.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Holy Crocodile!. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith. (Speaking of First Communion gifts, I highly recommend Man to Mangia, the Altar Gang CD on the Eucharist. It's my favorite of the Altar Gang CDs and perfect for sacrament prep or celebration.)

My Favorite Picture Books: Where Are You Going Manyoni?

Where Are You Going, Manyoni? by Catherine Stock

I've mentioned this book on the blog before, but not as part of this series and it definitely deserves a post as one of my Favorite Picture Books.

Catherine Stock is one of my favorite illustrators. I love her double page spreads in this book of the African countryside. I love her depictions of the children playing games outside the school house. As a true artist should, she sketched and painted from life for the illustrations in this book.

The text simply describes Manyoni's journey from home to school one early morning, showing a world many of us will never see. How greatly Manyoni values her education! What I sense more than anything is her happiness. She skips and scrambles. She hurries and, finally, runs.

In addition to a lovely text and delightful illustrations, the end of the book includes a glossary and pronunciation guide for unfamiliar words and a pictorial list of wildlife included in the illustrations. This book is delightful to read, just for fun, but it provides a wonderful glimpse of life in Africa and a small study in African wildlife.

My Favorite Picture Books: Diary of a Wombat

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley

This book entertains every single person who reads it or hears it. Our children laugh out loud every time.

You might learn a little about wombats by reading the story, mainly that they sleep a lot. It's slightly more interesting for it's depiction of the intersection of humans and wild animals.

Mostly, though, it's funny.

The story is told from the point of view of the wombat. Even very young children know more about humans than the wombat does, so they know exactly why the humans look displeased when the wombat is the most pleased.

The illustrations are crisp on the white pages and the wombat is adorable, even at its most infuriating.

I hope you can find a copy of this book to enjoy!

What I Loved About Last Week (31st Ed.)

For those interested, here's a picture of the snake I mentioned last week, as it crawled up our window.

1. Last week, we spent Monday, part of Tuesday and all of Wednesday playing with friends. We did a few lessons, too, but it was nice to be able to set them aside for a while.

2. Friday was our last day of school! I am so excited to have some free time! The children are, too. We'll keep up with our math facts and some reading lessons, but it will be nice and relaxed...until all those summer activities start up.

3. On Friday night, we attended a lovely birthday party. The children ate and played outside and even roasted marshmallows. Everyone was happy and covered in dirt and sand when we got home, so we had a quick bath before a late bedtime (by which nearly no one was happy, but that wasn't unexpected).

4. Kansas Dad called me into the bathroom after First Son's shower on Friday night. He had drawn the Eucharist and chalice in the foggy mirror.

5. When one of the other kids will apologize to me, Second Son will repeat them, "Wahwy, Mommy." It's so adorable!

6. On Saturday, we enjoyed a BBQ lunch with Kansas Dad and the graduates of the masters program at his university. I wanted to do something to celebrate the end of the school year, so we took the children to a huge candy store in town. We had never been and it was certainly end-of-school-treat-worthy.

7. I had a lovely Mother's Day. We visited and played with friends after Mass, then met Grammy and Paw Paw for lunch at a restaurant followed by a visit to my favorite frozen yogurt place. The kids went on an errand with Grammy and picked out a beautiful blooming plant for me, then Kansas Dad and I had a little time all to ourselves to go out for coffee and tea. Kansas Dad made dinner and did all the dishes and got the kids ready for bed by himself.

Good News and Bad News

The good news: We no longer have a skunk living under our porch.

The bad news: It discharged when Kansas Dad killed it, so now our front yard smells like skunk. It's getting into the house a bit and we can't open the windows to air it out because it's even worse outside. Ugh.

So you may want to avoid visiting our house for a day or two.

Good Morning to You, Too!

Our dog found what's been making noises under our porch the past few nights.

A skunk.

Yeah, he got sprayed.

Happy Friday everyone!

Snake in the Tree

First Son announced he could see a snake from the kitchen window at breakfast a few days ago. We all ran over and searched for it, six-year-olds not being known for being specific in the placement of sighted animals. Kansas Dad finally spotted a tiny little snake hanging out in the tree. You might be able to see it near the top right of the picture. (Kansas Dad took it through the window.)

I went out later and got a slightly better picture from the other side of the tree (after the snake had moved a bit).

I'm pretty sure it's a Western Ribbon Snake.

The Beginning and the End

Here are a few pictures of our Siberian irises from way back on March 9th. They've been on the camera since then. It's so nice to see them.

Two days later, you see, we found the stumps of the stems with little rabbit teeth marks on them. It was a bad move on their part, because I suddenly decided it wouldn't bother me at all if Kansas Dad took the gun out and nabbed a few.

Making Friends

Kansas Dad and First Son took some nice pictures of a fellow Ranger, the Ornate Box Turtle, the Kansas state reptile.


Because Kansas Dad was able to take this great picture, we know this one is a female. (Note the yellow eyes.)


There she goes, not too frightened.


Did anyone else notice her stowaway?

When Bunnies Attack

Warning! Sensitive eyes and ears may want to avoid this post.

Grandma called First Son to the window to watch the bunny. First Son said, "There's no bunny, just a snake!" Since I hadn't seen a snake on the Range yet, I hurried over to take a look.

There were actually two bunnies...and they were attacking the gopher snake! It was incredible!


The snake was infiltrating the warren. At one point, we could hear the babies crying out, so I'm guessing the snake had a tasty afternoon snack.





My mom was concerned for the baby bunnies (though First Son wasn't really worried about them). As far as I'm concerned, the snake did us a favor since the bunnies (while cute) eat their fill in the garden. The gopher snake in particular is always welcome on the Range...at a distance.

Learn more about snakes in Kansas here.

Unwelcome Neighbor

Kansas Dad called me to the front room this morning and pointed to the porch. We watched the black and white fellow meander across, nibbling some cat food and sniffing around before climbing under the porch.

Will cats chase a skunk off? Perhaps he's just wandering through...

Catching Up and Heading Out

I have a brutal headache and a lot to do tonight, so I'm just going to throw all these pictures together in a single post.

Kansas Dad has been hard at work on our garden. It's coming along a little slower than he'd hoped with all the rain, but hopefully he'll have a lot of time to work on it next week.



Second Daughter loved the chalk. Of course, you have to keep a close watch or she eats it.



We have a few beautiful clematis flowers. The vine as a whole needs a lot of pruning. Only four flowers so far, and two of them are hidden in the back. I have yet to identify the variety, which we need to do before we start pruning. Let me know if you know what it is!


First Son has discovered Legos and he's hooked. He has a few Pirate sets and will put them together (following the instructions) and then take them all apart again. Over and over.



Second Daughter has started crawling. Just today she figured out she could use this new skill to get somewhere. Not so convenient for me as I spent the day packing for our trip and had trouble keeping track of her. I don't have a video of her crawling, but I do have one of this snapping turtle running away from us.

Our Creek on the Range

A few days ago we took advantage of the glorious weather to hike to our creek, a trip that will be impossible once summer is upon us without Kansas Dad's dramatic intervention in cutting a path for us. The kids were mildly impressed, but I think First Daughter was a little disappointed we didn't let her dive right in.





We were excited to find evidence of some wildlife on the range. I've requested a pile of books from the library on our new friends.

Suprised Mama

Last night, I took Second Daughter to our bed to nurse her to sleep as I do every night. I should point out that of our three children, she's the only one to go to sleep at a regular bedtime in a room by herself at such a young age. First Son was at least six months old. I think First Daughter was even a little older. I usually nurse Second Daughter to sleep and then leave her on our bed. (Horrors! A baby on a big bed! But she doesn't roll yet, either way, and there are no blankets. And she's on her back. So I have the important stuff down.*)

Anyway, last night she was in no mood for sleeping. I'm guessing it was because her last nap ended only half an hour before I took her in. She finished nursing and then was just smiling up at me and wiggling a little. I enjoyed that for a while and then told her it was time to sleep and left the room. I never imagined she'd go for it.

I heard her fuss a few times but she quieted each time before I got to our room. After about an hour, I checked on her and sure enough she was fast asleep!

A wide awake baby, lying in our bed, just closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. That's a first.

If only I could say we then had a wonderful night's sleep. Unfortunately, we heard coyotes for the first time last night. Let me tell you, that's a disturbing sound. They scream, not like a howl at all, and it was close enough to human to keep me awake for at least an hour. (The noise itself lasted only a few minutes, but the just the memory of it gave me the shivers.)


* We have a crib for her, very generously on loan from my aunt and uncle. We just need to order screws for it because they all got lost in the move to our house. And then we need to buy a mattress. And empty the corner where the crib will go which is currently full of all the kids' clothes that need to be reduced, reorganized and stored properly...I'm tired just thinking about it.

Working Hard

Last night, I slipped into the kids' room to check on them as we do each night. I pulled the covers back over First Son. He shifted and woke. He mumbled something I couldn't understand so I leaned in to ask him to repeat himself.

"I worked so hard today, Mama."

You did work hard today, Little Man.

You and First Daughter learned about chimpanzee nests.


You learned to pant hoot.

Second Daughter learned to suck her thumb.



(And just be cute.)

First Daughter learned how to use her feet to push against an outer wall to climb. (I admit I showed her this trick...and immediately regretted it. I have no doubt she'll quickly transfer this skill to some piece of furniture at home and disaster is sure to ensue, for us if not for First Daughter.)



It was indeed a very busy day of learning and playing, and we've already learned that playing is the work of childhood.

I hope, too, you were able to bask in your Mama and Grammy's love today, learning how much we love you with your heart, if not your head.

Elusive

We went searching for an anteater at the zoo today. This is what we found.

Flighty Visitors

This morning I watched a flock of pheasants cross through our back yard. They were already in the grass by the time I got the camera so you can just barely see them here.

Yum - Grasshopper for Lunch

I found it here, here, and here.

Expedition

Kansas Dad and I decided we needed to talk a walk around the property - to try to get some enjoyment to temper the frustration of trying to fix the house. (I'm sure you'll hear more about that later.) We probably only covered about half the property since so much of it is too overgrown for hiking with kids in tow (a carrier each and one boy on his own). So we didn't get to see the creek today.

Just for Brandy, I took lots of pictures. (Ok, I took them for everyone.)

Our property is shaped a bit like an arrowhead. This is our driveway on the left and our land goes all the way to the highway on the right.


It's hard to tell in the picture below, but our land goes all the way to the car on the highway, just crossing the "bridge" over our creek.


Below is our lovely "4+ car garage" which is really a half-built outbuilding of questionable structural integrity. We found the rest of the pieces later on our walk. (Who does that sort of thing on their own land?)


Kansas Dad is already planning the tree house for the tree below. It has some perfect branches. We think First Son will be ready to help build (and enjoy) a tree house pretty soon, so we're hoping to tackle at least the first phase next summer or fall.


Below you can see the trenches where the owner dragged out the two cars Kansas Dad found rusting on the property earlier. They are among the things we've discovered missing since we moved in (along with the wires on the clotheslines and some ductwork under the house).


First Daughter loved the backpack. I'm predicting she'll ask to ride in it every day from now on (which I know is true because I'm actually writing and posting these on the 24th).


Here's a little "hollow". The grasses and wildflowers you see growing here are all probably as tall as Kansas Dad.


First Son actually kept asking to go back home while we were walking, until we started talking about climbing trees. Then he spent the rest of the walk trying to climb every tree he could find, most of which were so surrounded by overgrowth he couldn't even get to them. We're going to have to clear some out for him soon.


A huge old tree we think might be on our land. (It's hard to tell away from the house. We'll have someone come in to survey it before we start doing anything with the wooded areas. At this rate, it'll be a year of so before we have time for that.)


Finally, the ubiquitous spiders. I have a fear of spiders. When I was pregnant with First Son, I woke Kansas Dad nearly every night with nightmares of spiders landing on my head, great big ones just like this (ok, bigger). Out here on our farm, though, it's easy to see them as friends, eating up all those bugs that eat our plants. As long as they stay outside (and these big orb weavers only come inside if we catch their webs and carry them in ourselves), we're on good terms.


We also have about a zillion grasshoppers, but I couldn't get a decent picture of one. If you know us in real life and want to see more pictures, let me know and I'll send a link to a Snapfish photo album...just as soon as I get these uploaded, of course.