Chance of a Lifetime!

Calling all fans of Father Brown . . .

Ted Schluenderfrtiz, the illustrator of our recently released The Father Brown Reader is offering his original cover artwork for sale on e-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150191101584

What a great gift this would make for the Chesterton lover on your list!

Shipping Information for Christmas Mosaic

Thanks to all who placed a preorder with us for Christmas Mosaic. The preorder period has expired!

We had so many preorders that I had to order another print run before I had even received the first one . . . so thank you!

I will now be shipping the books in the order I received the preorders. It may take me a few days to get through the huge pile of invoices. I've enlisted the help of some local elves to scoot me along, but please be patient with me! You'll definitely receive your order by the end of next week, (considering that it takes longer to get to you if you live on the west coast).

We hope you will be pleased with the book.

The booklist of over 200 Christmas titles and Cay's annotations of about 75 of them will be available for purchase as a pdf download on the website sometime later this weekend.


Happy Feast of All Saints to everyone!!!

Blessings



Thanks to the Infant of Prague for continued protection of Hillside Education.

Christmas Mosaic Book Package

Many people have been asking about the book package we will offer for the Christmas Mosaic titles. These books will be included in the package:

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski
The First Christmas Stocking by Elizabeth Winthrop
An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco
Father and Son, a Nativity Story by Geraldine McCaughrean
The Christmas Donkey by Gillian McClure (this is an out-of-print book and will be a used copy)

Book Package Price $65.99
All are hardback books except The Christmas Donkey

You may preorder this now, but they will not ship until November 2.

Updates on the new Titles

The Father Brown Reader has hit the streets! Thanks to all of you who placed preorders. If you ordered both Christmas Mosaic and the Reader, you will receive them all together when Mosaic is ready.

Speaking of that, we have had some delays at the printer. Our new ship date for Christmas Mosaic is November 2 or 3. To thank you for your preorder and to make up a little for the delay, we will be including a copy of one of the featured books with your order. Be sure to order by November 1 to receive this special gift.

God bless you and your families as Advent approaches.
Margot

New Titles this Fall

Well, all the projects we had hoped to have completed last spring are slowly coming to fruition, somewhat fittingly, in this season of harvest. Two new books will be released later this month, both very special projects at Hillside.

The first is the long awaited Father Brown Reader, a set of four Father Brown mysteries adapted for young readers by Nancy Carpentier Brown and illustrated by Ted Schluenderfritz. Perfect for the 8 to 10-year-olds in your life . . . and you might enjoy them, too!

The second is the long awaited Christmas Mosaic by Cay Gibson. ("Long awaited" seems to be a theme around here!) Sequel to the popular Catholic Mosaic, this books features study guides for 30 Christmas-themed picture books. Cay has also compiled a list of over 200 Christmas picture book titles and annotated quite a number of them. We've included Christmas poetry and recipes from our readers. A special highlight is a series of essays contributed by Karen Edmisten, Kathryn Faulkner, Elizabeth Foss, Alice Gunther, Dawn Hanigan, Jennifer Miller, Gwen Wise, and yours truly. We hope you find it a treasure worth adding to your Christmas observances/celebrations.

Both are available to preorder on the Hillside website. Check the "What's New" page.

Saint Collage Contest

Please visit the Arma Dei website to find out about a really neat poster contest.

It would be a great way to prepare for the upcoming Feast of All Saints.

Christmas Recipes Needed

We are including recipes in the forthcoming Christmas Mosaic! I need help finding a few authentic recipes that go with some of the picture books, recipes that you or your family use at Christmas time. For example in the story The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey, the widow brings Mr. Toomey a plate of molasses cookies. We are including "Grandma Maher's Molasses Cookies" contributed by Julie (nee Maher) of Julie's Stuff. This "Grandma" happens to be my husband's Grandma, too!

Here is what we need:
1. A good reliable fruitcake recipe FOUND
2. Lebanese "Nest of a Bird" or "Eat and be Grateful;" failing that, a good baklava FOUND
3. Oyster stew FOUND
4. Currant cakes FOUND
5. Wibele (cookie) Found out this cookie is only made by one company in Germany and there is no recipe. Please email me if you know otherwise!
6. Your favorite Christmas cookie Thanks to all who contributed recipes!!

I could find some of these online (or in my "wall" of cookbooks), but I want to include recipes that people have as part of their family Christmas traditions. Please email me (sales@hillsideeducation.com) if you want to contribute. Include the recipe, directions, and any tidbit about the history of the recipe or how you use it as part of your family's Christmas traditions.

Thank you!!!
Margot

Changes on the website

We've had a facelift!

While our content is the same, we have changed the look and functions of our website.
Please bear with us as we figure out the new way things work and load up all the essential information.

Special thanks to Michelle, webmaster extraordinaire!

Intermediate Language Lessons

Many people have written to the website email asking about the release date of Intermediate Language Lessons by Emma Serl.

We will be sending it to the printer tomorrow and it should be ready within two weeks. So I predict August 6th as a ship date. We will post a preorder button on the website in the next few days.

Thank you all for interest in this work and I hope you will find it worth the wait. We're heading off to go camping this week. When I return, I will post more information about what you will find in our revised text.

New Conference Date!!

We've added another date to our conference calendar:

August 11, Real Learning Conference in Manassas, VA
See the link below for registration form and more information

4Real Learning Forum

Fenestrae Fidei

Fenestrae Fidei

(Windows of Faith)

by Sean Fitzpatrick

We are proud to announce the publication of a completely unique new coloring book. Please visit our website to see sample pages and a table of contents.

The best part is that Mr. Fitzpatrick and his wife just had a new baby this week (Eve Ruth), and the coloring book was done just days after. So we have much reason to rejoice!!

The coloring pages follow the Liturgical Year and complement our publication Catholic Mosaic. Mr. Fitzpatrick designed the coloring pages to be like stained glass windows and have enough detail to keep an older child well occupied, yet can still be enjoyed by a younger child.

Happy Feast of the Pentecost!

Conference Schedule 2007

We're getting ready to hit the road for a few conferences this spring. If you are attending any of these conferences, please visit our table and say hello!

April 21 - Harrisburg, PA

April 26-27 - Milwaukee, WI

June 8-9 - Chantilly VA (IHM Conference)

June 15 - Kansas City

June 28-30 - Baltimore MD, Catholic Family Expo

We'll be premiering our new coloring book Fenestrae Fidei.

You can see a listing of other Catholic homeschooling conferences at this website.

Easter books in Catholic Mosaic

So many people have had trouble finding Hosanna to You Jesus! and Petook from the Mosaic booklist, we decided we had better find some in-print books for people to use during Holy Week and the Easter season. So you can find guides for these three books for free on our website:

Easter is for Me! by Dandi Daley Mackall (for preschool age children)
The Jesus Garden by Antoinette Bosco
The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith

(We have the Wildsmith book for sale on our website.)

Eventually we will place these guides in Catholic Mosaic and remove them from the website.

We hope they add some joy to your coming Eastertide!
Blessings
Margot

New for the Spring

We have a lot of books in the works right now, but these four are in production now.

The Father Brown Reader
The first one coming out by April is a book with 4 short story adaptations of Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries. It is intended for a middle grade reader (ags 8-11) or to be read aloud to younger children. Author Nancy Carpentier Brown adapted "The Blue Cross," "The Queer Feet" (called "The Strange Feet" in our version), "The Flying Stars," and "The Absence of Mr. Glass." Ted Schluenderfritz has provided the illustrations. This will be a great book for gift giving!


Intermediate Language Lessons
Yes, we are finally moving ahead with this text. We hope to have it ready for the coming school year. (Please continue to check this blog for updates.) Our version is aligned with the Mother of Divine Grace Syllabi for 4th and 5th grade and includes a completely revised Part 3 that can be used in 6th grade.


Christmas Mosaic
Cay Gibson is at work again, this time preparing a mosaic for experiencing the Advent and Christmas seasons through picture books. The book will include study guides for 20 featured children's books as well as a comprehensive annotated list of other Christmas book resources. Available this summer, possibly sooner.




Sacerdos: The Story of Sir Melchisedech and the Knight of the Holy Mountain
This fairy tale written and illustrated by Sean Fitzpatrick is an allegory of the Mass. It is intended as a middle grade reader or to be read aloud to younger children; available by Christmas time (or sooner!).

We also have a few other things that we are working on, but it may take longer to find the "resources" to get them in print:

Fabiola (edited version recommended in the Mother of Divine Grace Syllabus)
Lives from Plutarch: The Modern American Edition of Twelve Lives by John McFarland
The King's Thane by Charles Brady
The Mass for Children (reprint of a 1925 Mass book)

We appreciate your continued interest in Hillside Education!
Margot

A Spirit of Gratitude

It's tax time across America and as I wade through piles and piles of the stuff of this last year, I am struck with a great sense of gratitude. I know, I know, I should feel frustrated with organinizing it and satisfying Uncle Sam, but I keep thinking of how much we accomplished in 2006 and the incredibly generous and talented people who made it happen.

So I'm inspired to make a list . . . and it's a good thing I'm not on some award show because I would never make the time limit.

#1 Infant of Prague for continuous support
#2 Husband and children: We are on a grand adventure with lots of twists and turns! I love you!

Partners: Matt and Diane Kuplack. They saved Hillside when it most needed saving.
Donors: Thank you is not enough!!! (Anonymous and incredibly generous!)
Lay-out and gracious, indispensible support: Mary Jo Loboda
Artists: Ted Schluenderfritz, Sean Fitzpatrick, Maureen Van Nostrand
Authors: Cay Gibson, Nancy Carpentier Brown, Madeleine Polland, the family of Charles Brady, the family of Geoffrey Trease
Editor par excellence: Rose Decaen
Proofreading: Jane Elliot
Printers: Katie Luzzi at RR Donnelley in Allentown, Rose Marie at PDQ in Scranton, Amy at Smart Design in Wyoming
Retailers: Theresa Johnson at CHC, Paola Ciskanik at Emmanuel Books, Mark and Anna Hackett at Fountain Resources in Australia, Linda Nelson at Sacred Heart Books and Gifts, Mark Bonds at All Catholic Books, Tom Heldridge at Adoremus Books

Thanks also to the ladies at love2learn.net (Favorite Resources for Catholic Homeschoolers).
Thanks to the person, who wishes to remain nameless, who first suggested that I write literature study guides and English books, and who still supports me and pumps me up out of insecurity when I feel like I'm in over my head.

Thanks to all those who have used our products! There is a great line in a prayer that I say to the Infant of Prague every day and I think of you all when I say it:

"Give me the necessary grace to use my temporal goods according to Your will, to employ myself usefully after Your pleasure, and to give joy to my neighbor through love of You . . ."

2006 was an incredibly creative and adventurous year. In my next post, I'll tell you what we're working on for this spring and summer. It all depends of the will of God. Please keep us in your prayers. We have greater ambition than we have resources.
God bless
Margot

Mosaic Book Packages

Thanks to all those who purchased book packages for Advent/Christmas! We have three left with just a few days until Advent begins.

People who ordered the package got one of the these three books as the "surprise" in the Advent/Christmas package: The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie DePaola, Lucia Morning in Sweden by Ewa Rydaker, and Baboushka, A Christmas Folktale from Russia by Arthur Conley.


We had hoped to include a cookie press for the Feasts of St. Nicholas and St. Lucy in the book packages, but we didn't order them in time.
They will be posted for sale on the website in a few days. These are fun and easy to use with children and reasonably priced.



We will be putting together a package for January if you want to start planning for that now. It will include the 5 books for January featured in the Mosaic, plus a set of Marian coloring cards from Illuminated Ink. More details to come!
Blessings
Margot

Hillside in the news!

Here are the parts of an article about the author of Sword of Contarf which appeared in the Buffalo News last week. In the print version these three parts were all on one page.

Main article

side bar 1

side bar 2

Congratulations to the Brady family!
Margot

Advent and Christmas Book Package is now available!

Check our website to see the complete package. It includes all the books featured in the Mosaic for December (7 titles) as well as a little surprise as our gift to you.
You can also purchase the books individually and request a substitution if you already own one of the books in the package.

We're trying this as an experiment to see if people are interested . . . if so we will offer other packages for other times of the year. We never really imagined ourselves a retail bookstore and were secretly hoping some well established bookstores would make this kind of package available. But we're willing to try it!


The new Liturgical Year begins the First Sunday of Advent, December 3,2006.
Many blessings to you and your family as you prepare for the new year with the Church!
Margot

Sword of Clontarf

It has arrived!!! You will love Charles Brady's story set at the time of the Irish victory over the Norse at Clontarf weir outside of Dublin in 1014 A.D. Sword of Clontarf is full of the romance and poetry of the "warrior bard" and laced with a beautiful look at Catholic Ireland in the Middle Ages. This book is my favorite of the Clarion book series published in the 50's and 60's.

Niall, a boy of fifteen who lives in Iceland, finds out in one moment that his father has been murdered and that his mother, who had never spoken in his entire life, can speak and is in fact the daughter of an Irish Chieftan. The reason she never spoke is that when she was first captured by Norse raiders, she had a treasured talisman of the Norse and hid it in her mouth. Niall is charged with delivering the talisman (Thor's ring) to Brian Boru, High King of Ireland and finding his Irish grandfather. Many adventures intervene, but eventually Niall is presented to Brian Boru and takes part in the Battle of Clontarf. The story draws out the virtues of courage, loyalty, compassion, honor and integrity, and forgiveness.

The cover art is a painting by Douglas Girard called Brian Boru and can be seen with his entire collection at www.battleart.com. The cover was designed by Ted Schluenderfritz who never fails to capture the tone and flavor of a story when creating his designs. The book was laid out by my dear friend Mary Jo who is really a saint; I wish to tell her story someday.

For a great listen while you read, check out Maurice Lennon's CD Brian Boru, available from Dara Records . It features some traditional music as well as Lennon's original compositions to highlight the life of Boru. At the end there is a reading of macLiag's poem Kincora, a lament for Brian Boru. You can read the entire text of macLiag's lament here. We only print a little part of it in the book. Visit this site to read more about the artist and the production.


I am bubbling over with excitement at realizing the dream of bringing this book back in print.

A study guide will be available soon!
Margot

Book Packages for Catholic Mosaic

We are going to attempt to offer books packages of the books recommended in Catholic Mosaic for Advent and Lent. If this goes well, we may offer other packages, such as monthly packages or sets of twelve books, with one from each month.

We are wondering how interested people are in this. If you would be interested, please drop us a note at

info@hillsideeducation.com

or comment to this message.

Please check the website regularly, as we will post the Advent package there in the next few weeks. The Advent package will include:

St. Francis and the Christmas Donkey
Clown of God
Miracle of St. Nicholas
Lady of Guadalupe
Legend of the Poinsettia
Donkey's Dream
The Crippled Lamb

as well as one other "surprise" book.

God bless
Margot