Each month, in association with Pauline Books & Media in Camberwell, Sr Joanna Coleiro fsp gives book recommendations for parishioners, both big and small.  Pauline Books & Media is run by The Daughters of St Paul, which is an international congregation of religious women founded to spread the Gospel through the channels of the modern media.

Children’s Books

When Things Are Hard, Remember

By Joanna Rowland

Illustrated by Marcela Calderon

A seed falls to the ground.  A child moves away from home.  Can life bloom in a new place?

With gentle storytelling and poetic language, Joanna Rowland explores what it means to have hope that things will get better, hope that you are cared for, even when things are hard, and hope that new growth is waiting to burst forth, just around the corner.

Available online from Pauline Books and Media

Mary, the Mother of Jesus

by Tomie De Paola

Tomie De Paola’s splendid depiction of the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is sure to touch the heart of every child, and adult. These beautifully written and illustrated episodes draw on what we know about Mary from the Scriptures, as well as stories from the apocryphal tradition, and pious legend, to present the woman chosen by God to bring the Saviour into the world.

In sharing episodes from Mary’s birth to her crowning as the Queen of Heaven, these fifteen stories will inspire a love for and devotion to Mary. They will draw children closer to her Son and invite them, like Mary, to say “Yes” to the presence of Jesus in their lives.

Available from Pauline Books and Media

Spirituality

The Grace of Beauty: Its Mystery, Power, and Delight in Daily Life

by Melanie Svoboda

In a world beset by the ugliness of war, greed, and injustice, we all need to seek, find, and let our hearts rest in the experience of beauty. Not the beauty found in fashion magazines, but the true beauty, “ever ancient, ever new,” sought by St. Augustine and countless philosophers, artists, musicians, poets, and holy people throughout the centuries.

This beautiful book explores the mystery, power, and grace of the beauty our souls seek, the kind of beauty that evokes a whispered “Wow!” or heartfelt, “Thank you, God!”

Available from Pauline Books and Media

By Sr Joanna Coleiro fsp

Sr Joanna Coleiro, fsp, is a Daughter of St Paul with a long-time interest in the spiritual growth, faith development and religious experience of both adults and children.