Nancy Carabio Belanger
Autor(a) de Olivia and the Little Way
Obras por Nancy Carabio Belanger
The Gate 2 exemplares
Olivia's Gift 2 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Educação
- Michigan State University (BA/English Education, Journalism)
- Ocupações
- author
editor - Prémios e menções honrosas
- Catholic Press Association (2009)
Fatal error: Call to undefined function isLitsy() in /var/www/html/inc_magicDB.php on line 425- Nancy is the author of Olivia and the Little Way, a Catholic fiction book for preteens from Harvey House Publishing (www.harveyhousepublishing.com). It just received an award from the 2009 Catholic Press Association Book Awards, children's division.
St. Therese of Lisieux plays a major role in the story as a spiritual friend and mentor to ten-year-old Olivia. In the fifth grade, Olivia has moved to a new school and is eager to make friends. Her best friend quickly becomes someone she has never seen—St. Therese. With the help of her grandma, Olivia learns about the Little Way of serving God and how it can change everything!
This heartfelt story celebrates the life of St. Therese and will inspire children to follow her example and discover their own Little Way miracles.
Nancy is currently working on the sequel to Olivia and the Little Way, due out in mid-2010. She writes a blog for the readers of her book at nancybelanger.blogspot.com.
Membros
Críticas
My 11 yr old received this, and its sequel, as a gift recently. As an avid reader, she was thrilled to open books, but her face fell when she saw the cover. I immediately recognized it to have the religious publisher didactic look to it, but didn’t say anything and just watched how she’d react. I remember receiving gifts of poorly written, boring books that hit you over the head with their Biblical message on How to Be a Good Christian, and this appeared to be of that ilk. After reading the description on the back cover, she asked me if she had to read this book. I told her of course not, although she might want to try it to see if it was as bad as she was assuming. A few days later she brought them to me and emphatically told me she wasn’t interested.
Just to see if these were as bad as the Bible fiction I’d read as a child, I started reading Olivia and the Little Way. Instead of preaching Biblical principles, this book’s purpose is to inculcate the reader with the tenets of Therese of Lisieux, and 19th century Catholic nun who is also known as the Little Flower. Olivia’s grandmother teaches her to pray to the saint, and to follow St. Therese’s “Little Way,” which is basically practicing random acts of kindness and a secret self-denial. Except Therese doesn’t do this out of unselfish altruism, but instead to garner points with God, as her goal was sainthood.
Olivia sets out to follow this Little Way, but of course she’s human and has struggles. In two instances, the author has Olivia “successfully” practice in a way that I find morally questionable and I certainly don’t want my child to do. One involved a self-sacrifice based on an unfounded judgement of a person and situation, and the second involved taking punishment for something she didn’t do. Ah, no, neither of those is “a good thing.”
Literature in service of a cause is always problematic, and children’s fiction from religious publishing houses is generally drivel—poorly written, flat, clichéd, and predictable. One of its hallmarks is a dearth of complexity. Further, the world view is exceedingly simplistic, and reinforces gender stereotypes. Olivia and the Little Way falls under this description. Its message to proselytize for Therese of Lisieux is without a trace of subtly. Yet, it’s not the worst book I’ve ever read. Olivia was drawn realistically enough that I could sympathize with her challenges and she wasn’t an annoying goody-two-shoes.
Recommended for: nuns.… (mais)
Just to see if these were as bad as the Bible fiction I’d read as a child, I started reading Olivia and the Little Way. Instead of preaching Biblical principles, this book’s purpose is to inculcate the reader with the tenets of Therese of Lisieux, and 19th century Catholic nun who is also known as the Little Flower. Olivia’s grandmother teaches her to pray to the saint, and to follow St. Therese’s “Little Way,” which is basically practicing random acts of kindness and a secret self-denial. Except Therese doesn’t do this out of unselfish altruism, but instead to garner points with God, as her goal was sainthood.
Olivia sets out to follow this Little Way, but of course she’s human and has struggles. In two instances, the author has Olivia “successfully” practice in a way that I find morally questionable and I certainly don’t want my child to do. One involved a self-sacrifice based on an unfounded judgement of a person and situation, and the second involved taking punishment for something she didn’t do. Ah, no, neither of those is “a good thing.”
Literature in service of a cause is always problematic, and children’s fiction from religious publishing houses is generally drivel—poorly written, flat, clichéd, and predictable. One of its hallmarks is a dearth of complexity. Further, the world view is exceedingly simplistic, and reinforces gender stereotypes. Olivia and the Little Way falls under this description. Its message to proselytize for Therese of Lisieux is without a trace of subtly. Yet, it’s not the worst book I’ve ever read. Olivia was drawn realistically enough that I could sympathize with her challenges and she wasn’t an annoying goody-two-shoes.
Recommended for: nuns.… (mais)
18 
Nickelini | 2 outras críticas | Jan 3, 2012 |
Nickelini | 2 outras críticas | Jan 3, 2012 | Olivia and the Little Way – Review for American Author's Association by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
‘She hated feeling nervous, but she couldn’t help it. Today was the first day of fifth grade at her new school. Two big things in one day. She thought of all of the other kids at St. Michael’s School who were probably eating their breakfasts at the same time as she. They were lucky. They would be able to see all of their old friends. They would know their way around the hallways, know where to go for lunch, be able to find the bathrooms and drinking fountains. She’d be lost in a sea of new faces and new rules.’
Living in Houston, Olivia always looked forward to being able to visit her Grandma Rosemary in Michigan. But things had changed. She and her family would now be living in Michigan. She would be leaving her two best friends Claire and Emily. She was not faced with making new friends in a new school.
Then Grandma came to the rescue with a beautiful chaplet that had been given to her years before. It was the St. Therese chaplet. Grandma explained to Olivia that St. Theresa the Little Flower was someone who had lived many years before and would always be there to listen to her when she needed someone to talk to. Olivia took great solace in knowing that even in a new town and new school, she would never be alone. But that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t still run into problems as she made herself comfortable in her new surroundings.
Reading Olivia and the Little Way made me realize that things never change. I can remember some of the problems that Olivia was faced with as she made new friends and worked at being accepted by the other kids in school. I can remember the trials of being tested to do things that I knew weren’t right. I can also remember what it cost me when I made the wrong decisions. Olivia and the Little Way is a book that would be wonderful read as a discussion book. Not only is this book helpful for young people that WILL eventually be faced with the same situations Olivia is faced with but it will also help adults remember how difficult it was for them when they had to make decisions of right and wrong at such a young age. Reading Olivia and the Little Way just might slow us all down enough to think about the outcome of anything that we do, good or bad. I recommend this book for ALL ages.
2010
Harvey House Publishing
216 Pages
ISBN# 978-0-923568-92-4
Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com Stir, Laugh, Repeat… (mais)
‘She hated feeling nervous, but she couldn’t help it. Today was the first day of fifth grade at her new school. Two big things in one day. She thought of all of the other kids at St. Michael’s School who were probably eating their breakfasts at the same time as she. They were lucky. They would be able to see all of their old friends. They would know their way around the hallways, know where to go for lunch, be able to find the bathrooms and drinking fountains. She’d be lost in a sea of new faces and new rules.’
Living in Houston, Olivia always looked forward to being able to visit her Grandma Rosemary in Michigan. But things had changed. She and her family would now be living in Michigan. She would be leaving her two best friends Claire and Emily. She was not faced with making new friends in a new school.
Then Grandma came to the rescue with a beautiful chaplet that had been given to her years before. It was the St. Therese chaplet. Grandma explained to Olivia that St. Theresa the Little Flower was someone who had lived many years before and would always be there to listen to her when she needed someone to talk to. Olivia took great solace in knowing that even in a new town and new school, she would never be alone. But that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t still run into problems as she made herself comfortable in her new surroundings.
Reading Olivia and the Little Way made me realize that things never change. I can remember some of the problems that Olivia was faced with as she made new friends and worked at being accepted by the other kids in school. I can remember the trials of being tested to do things that I knew weren’t right. I can also remember what it cost me when I made the wrong decisions. Olivia and the Little Way is a book that would be wonderful read as a discussion book. Not only is this book helpful for young people that WILL eventually be faced with the same situations Olivia is faced with but it will also help adults remember how difficult it was for them when they had to make decisions of right and wrong at such a young age. Reading Olivia and the Little Way just might slow us all down enough to think about the outcome of anything that we do, good or bad. I recommend this book for ALL ages.
2010
Harvey House Publishing
216 Pages
ISBN# 978-0-923568-92-4
Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com Stir, Laugh, Repeat… (mais)
Prémios
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 5
- Membros
- 126
- Popularidade
- #159,216
- Avaliação
- 4.1
- Críticas
- 3
- ISBN
- 3
There were times when I just shook my head and said to myself 'I never would have done that when I was ten.' When Olivia threw away her brand new lunchbox... As a homeschooler I didn't have to deal with peer pressure quite as badly at that age, but I could identify with her distress at the rudeness. What I couldn't understand was her reactions. I think that if I'd been in her place I would have sat there and felt uncomfortable through the lunch hour, and then avoided those girls after that. When Olivia threw Chad's book in the street my ability to identify with her at all had diminished to the point that I just shook my head and wondered if someone would really do that. That said, shortly after those scene Olivia worked to become a better person, with the intersession of Saint Therese, and I actually liked her for the rest of the book. The only other time that I had a disconnect from her was when she got her ears pierced. Especially as someone trying very hard to do the right thing, I was just surprised she could go through with that without permission. I got my ears pierced when I was ten or eleven (though I had parental approval) and I would have been far to afraid to go through with it without my mom with me, not to mention without the awful sick feeling of guilt if I had done it without permission.
I really liked watching as Olivia used a loving disposition to influence the to bullies that she had managed to befriend. It reminded me of how Immaculée Ilibagiza managed to use love to influence men possessed by hatred (on a much larger scale) in her nonfiction book [b: Left to Tell|408615|Left to Tell Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust|Immaculee Ilibagiza|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328860563s/408615.jpg|69191] (Left to Tell book should be left until at least age sixteen though.)
Though I usually prefer books for people in a higher age range, I still did enjoy the story for the most part. And it's renewed my desire to read [b:The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux|8539607|The Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux|Thérèse de Lisieux|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387300537s/8539607.jpg|740889], which is surely a good thing.… (mais)