Book Reviews and More: Saint Francis of Assisi Gentle Revolutionary - Mary Emmanuel Alves and Patrick Kelley

Saint Francis of Assisi
Gentle Revolutionary
Encounter the Saints Series Book 4
Mary Emmanuel Alves
Patrick Kelley (Illustrator)
Pauline Books and Media
ISBN 9780819870308

In the last year I have read the majority of the books in the Encounter the Saints Series by Pauline Books and Media, I discovered them by accident. I was looking for another book to read on Saint Damien of Molokai to read and picked up the one in this series. Since then I have tracked down all 38 books in the series including The Saints Pray For Us and we have read 26 and have been working on reviewing them all. And I am now reading these books with or to my children ages 11, 10 and 7. All three children love the books, and the oldest two can read them with ease. Thought this series is written for youth, children and young adults they are so well written that anyone can enjoy them and be challenged by them.

When reading these books, there are some saints I am familiar with, some like Damien I have a deeper knowledge of and a few I have not encountered before or was only aware of their name in passing. Francis is one of those saints I am more familiar with, and yet even with that there were some surprises in this volume on his life and the founding of the Franciscans. My son was home sick when we began reading this book, when his younger sister got home from school she wanted to join so I got her caught up and we finished the book together. Both of my children were enthralled by the book. We even went back to reread some of the chapters once they realized what happened they wanted to read it again.

Saint Francis is one of those figures from Catholic Church History that crosses many boundaries. Irish author Alice Curtayne in her own slim booklet on Francis states:

"The literature on Saint Francis has by now assumed the proportions of a new Tower of Babel, erected by writers of all creeds and tongues. There is no devotee of Franciscanism who cannot find within that edifice the writing of his choice."

This book does add to that extensive volume of work. But it does so in a justified manner. As part of this series to not have a book on Saint Francis would be a great omission. It is a volume written true to the historical records without exaggeration, or misrepresentation. It is a book that is engaging, entertaining and yet will stir the readers to prayer. It is excellent written and also well illustrated. Patrick Kelley illustrated this volume in a pen and ink style. He also illustrated the volume on Saint Ignatius of Layola. My children loved the illustrations and we have copied one so my son could put it up in his prayer corner in his room. My children found most memorable the story of his shipwreck, the near wreck on the return voyage, his preaching to the birds and the story about the wolf terrorizing the town.

This book is one of the kids favorites from the whole series. This volume is an excellent book in the Encounter the Saints Series; from Pauline Books and Media. This book and the entire series are excellent resources for Catholics of all ages! And we hop the series will continue to grow.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2018 Catholic Reading Plan!