Rise Up and Read

A Reading Challenge for the Catholic Family

Hi everyone! I’m Kathryn, Colleen’s librarian friend. Colleen and I are big fans of reading (probably an understatement), so we thought that we would get together and create a family reading challenge for 2021. Since the theme of the blog is taking the elevator to heaven, why don’t we call it the Rise Up and Read Challenge. 

The Rise Up and Read Challenge is an opportunity for families to come together and be lifted upon to God by a common theme. Your family members can read their own books and talk about them. You can read a book together as a family. You could even watch a movie [but at least put on the subtitles so there’s some reading 😉 ]. The whole idea is to just participate in something together that brings you closer to Christ. 

We’ll suggest a topic each month for you to consider. With that topic will come recommendations for some books for different age ranges that we have enjoyed. We will even recommend movies and audiobooks, anything that can bring you together as a family in Christ.

January’s Topic: The Saints

It’s time to pull out the Catechism. Who are the saints and why should we talk about them?

The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. (CCC 2683)

The saints give us their example; leave us their writings and prayers; and intercede on our behalf. 

With the new year, many people choose new saints as their patrons. Now is a chance to learn about those new saints and rediscover your favorites. Below we’ve listed some books that we’ve loved about the saints. 

Picture Books 

• Hildegard
• The Attic Saint 
• Brigid’s Cloak
• Martin de Porres  

Chapter Books 

• The Secret of the Shamrock
• Bernadette: Our Lady’s Little Servant 

Adult Books 

• Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undstet 
• Daily Lessons from the Saints by Higginbotham
• My Sisters the Saints

Compilations 

• Women of Faith 
• Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times
• Sitting Like a Saint 
• Light of Heaven

Movies

• A Man for All Seasons
• Song of Bernadette
• Fatima

I encourage you to put your favorite saint books in the comments. We know that there are so many more books about saints, particularly about more diverse saints, so we’re asking for your opinion and your help to look through our list. 

Stay tuned for next month where we’ll be reading about the Bible . . .