Teens and Young Adults

In What Matters Most, University of Notre Dame theology professor Leonard J. DeLorenzo urges youth ministers, teachers, and parents to help young people redefine success in light of their call to discipleship--completely saying yes to God.

In Luke's account of the Annunciation, Mary offers a true model of discipleship for young people to follow. Her example will empower them to make choices about how to live their lives as a courageous yes to God in everything they choose--just as she did.

DeLorenzo, who served as the long-time director of Notre Dame Vision--a program designed to help young Catholics find their true calling as disciples of Jesus--shows how Mary exhibited four habits that will guide young people to make important life decisions:

Following Christ isn't always easy. You need faith, courage, patience, and love.

Colleen Swaim looks at eight young souls who became saints for the against-the-current, selfless heroism of their teen years. In addition to the inspiring stories, Ablaze includes maps, recipes, prayers, journal prompts, scripture references and reflection questions to help the reader apply the saints' experiences to every day life.

Read how an Italian high school student inspired thousands as she faced cancer joyfully. Follow a new Christian as he marches to his death by fire after standing firm in his faith in the face of a wretched king. Lock arms with a young man and his crucifix as he dares brawling teens to throw the first stone.

We are all called to follow Christ in our own ways. This book will inflame your heart with vivid storytelling, saintly challenges, prayers, images, and more. Discover how you can set your world ablaze with love for the Lord!

Features: Saint Dominic Savio; Saint Teresa of the Andes; Saint Kizito; Blessed Chiara Luce Badano; Saint Stanislaus Kostka; Saint Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception; Blessed Pedro Calungsod; and Saint Maria Goretti.

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Paperback

Review by Lisa M. Hendey, CatholicMom.com webmaster:

If you're a mom of teens like me, you're constantly on the lookout for books and resources that will help inspire your family. With this new book by Colleen Swaim -- her first, but hopefully just the start of a prolific writing career -- we discover a treasure of the faith for Catholics young and old.

Ablaze is aimed at teens, but truthfully, the resources contained within this book will aid anyone looking to grow in sanctity and faith. Colleen profiles the lives of eight young saints and blesseds, sharing their path to sainthood with accounts that are filled with insight and detail. She has a voice that truly manages to bring these stories to life. Perhaps it's her work as a high school teacher that has provided her with an insight into what will move, challenge and inspire young people. Ablaze is filled with so much more than simply biographical details, including sidebars, vocabulary descriptions, maps, sacramental lessons, and even recipes. Journal prompts, prayers, scripture references and reflection questions help the reader to fully interact with the content presented, applying it to the challenges of every day life.

Each of the saints profiled, though living in different periods of history, has a freshness and a relevance to the world our teens face today. Colleen Swaim aptly brings their heroic virtues to light in a way that will have teens (and grown ups too!), eagerly interacting with her content and asking for more. I give Ablaze my highest recommendation and will enjoy sharing it with my own son this summer.

Seventeen-year-old theater geek Nanette believes her life is headed toward stardom on Broadway. But when her dream theater college rejects her and her best friend dies in a terrible accident, Nanette decides the world would be better off without her. Unfortunately, the afterlife offers something less than a heavenly situation. Trapped between alternating periods of utter darkness and light, Nanette is stuck following a high school freshman around. Soon, she learns she's a guardian angel, and the only way she can earn her wings is to keep her young charge, Vera, from committing the same sin she did--taking her own life.

Unfortunately, Nanette is missing more than just her wings. She has no tangible body or voice, either. Frustrated by her inability to reach out to Vera and haunted by memories of her old life, Nanette wants to give up, but then she sees what happens when another Guardian at the high school turns his back on his charge. The shock is enough to supercharge Nanette's determination. She's going to find peace in the afterlife...as soon as she can convince Vera that living is what life is all about.

Avonlea's new schoolma'am, at the age of 15, is barely older then her pupils. Anne earnestly strives to win the affection of every student while maintaining the decorum of her new role. Her irrepressible spirit and lively imagination, however, often sidetrack her into amusing mischief and mortifying scrapes, all eventually remedied by the warmth of friendship and goodwill.
In this classic sequel to Anne of Green Gables, the author once again draws from girlhood memories of Prince Edward Island to portray the sweet, old-fashioned village of Avonlea, situated amid the natural beauty of the Canadian Maritimes. Although Anne and her friends and neighbors dwell in a bygone age of gaslight and horse-drawn carriages, Anne's dreams of the future, lofty aspirations, and romantic visions make her a heroine for all ages. Modern readers continue to share her tribulations and triumphs in leading the village improvement society, adapting to the boisterous arrival at Green Gables of a pair of 6-year-old orphans, and searching always for the company of kindred spirits.
Since Anne's debut in 1908, generations of readers around the world have grown up with the starry-eyed young woman with the shining hair (please, call it auburn, not red). This inexpensive new edition of Anne's further adventures ensures the continuation of a joyful tradition.

With wisdom and wit, Hart tackles such questions as:
What does it take to change your life?
Do peers pressure you?
Are you dealing with divorce in your family?
No date on Valentine's Day?
Are you affected by hatred or racism?

Ask the Bible Geek(R) 2 will help you "slow down long enough to encounter God in time, all the time, until the end of time."

Any Bible can answer questions. This is the one that explains why those answers are the answers.

In twenty-five very compelling tabs spread throughout the Bible text, Prove It! The Catholic Teen Bible gives the why to the biggest questions of all. To the questions you've been asking your parents, your teachers, your friends yourself:

What's life all about and where do I fit in?

What's my life all about, and where do

God, family, friends, and all the rest fit in?

How do I know God even exists, and what

do the life and death of Jesus have to do

with me right here, right now?

If God loves us all, why should I bother

taking my Catholicism seriously?

If all religions are pretty much the same,

why be a Catholic at all?

God calls each of us to become saints. That may seem daunting, but in Becoming Holy, One Virtue at a Time, Sara Estabrooks shows you how you can answer this call in your daily life. By drawing on Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, you will be enabled to seek virtue and pursue sainthood, starting now.