Book Reviews and More: Unshakable Saints Around the World - Meg Hunter-Kilmer and Lindsey Sanders

Unshakable Saints Around the World

Meg Hunter-Kilmer

Lindsey Sanders (illustrator)

Emmaus Road Publishing

ISBN 9781645853831

eISBN 9781645853848

Unshakable Saints Around the World - Meg Hunter-Kilmer and Lindsey Sanders

I recently received the 6 volumes in this set to review. This is the fifth that I have read. The volumes are:

Adventurous

Ordinary

Royal and Warrior

Talented

Unshakable

Young Saints

These 6 volumes are geared for younger readers. They are a very high quality picture book. The six books are available individually or as a set. There is a volume that was released in 2021 by the same author and illustrator called Saints Around the World, that could be read to the same audience as this volume but it is much more in-depth and has significantly more information on each of the 100 saints covered in the volume. The description of this volume states:

““Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us.” Colossians 3:23

In times of danger, doubt, despair, or other difficulties, these holy men and women remind us to never let go of God’s hand.

This hardcover book includes sturdy laminate pages suitable for young hands.

Unshakable Saints Around the World features the stories of:

Saint Josephine Bakhita

Saint John Colobus

Saint Leopold Mandić

Saint Mary MacKillop

Saint Oscar Romero

Blessed Ana of the Angels Monteagudo

Saint Margaret of Castello

Blessed Peter Donders

Saint Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès

Saint Monica

Blessed Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrung

Saint Columba of Iona

Saint Katharine Drexel

Saint Serapion the Sindonite

Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Recommended for ages 4-8.”

About the author we are informed:

“Meg Hunter-Kilmer is a speaker, a writer, and a missionary who has lived out of her car since 2012. Meg loves telling stories, learning about Saints, reading the Bible, and watching the Olympics. She is a proud godmother of ten and aunt of an ever-increasing crew of incredible nieces and nephews.”

About the illustrator we are informed:

“Lindsey Sanders is the creator of AlmondRod Toys, an online shop that sells Catholic toys designed by Lindsey herself. She has seven kids who she homeschools in Grand Rapids, Michigan.”

There is no table of contents nor even pages numbers which are the only draw backs I see to this book and the 6 in the series. If you wanted to find a specific saint you would need to flip through looking for them. That being said this is an excellent volume and series. We already plan to give a set of them to our Catholic School Library. The physical books are well made, and designed to last a long time and heavy use. Beautiful hardcovers with solid stitching. I bent the book flat to scan a couple sample pages and there is no indication I did so. I believe the artwork is either watercolours or water colour pencils. The artwork is stunning. The artist sells blocks with images from the books, for teaching children, and other resources to support learning about saints. I wish she sold a set of them as prayer cards, I would buy a set for myself and 2 of my teen children who love collecting prayer cards. I would also love prints of a couple of the images to be able to hang in my den.

Each 2 page spread includes:

Name of the Saint or Blessed

Pronunciation Guide to the name

Brief introduction to them

A key point to learn from them

Then the country, dates and feast day.

A world map with a star marker for where they were from.

Wow what a great collection of saints in this volume. About half of the saints in this volume I had never encountered before. They were a few I was familiar with. And a few were long time favourites and friends in heaven. I look forward to tracking down more information about some of those new friends in heaven.

There were saints in this volume I had never encountered before. They were a few I was familiar with. I look forward to tracking down more information about some of those new friends in heaven.

I have had the longer version of this book for a few years now, as well as Meg’s volume Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness but after reading just one of these they have jumped way up in my ‘to be read’ pile. I look forward to reading the other 5 volumes in this set as well as Meg’s other works. I can easily recommend this book and series for home, school, and church library. They are excellent for introducing children and even us older folks to a wide range of friends in heaven. A great book and series sure to become a family favourite!