Illuminations Literature

In this brief and incisive book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills tells the story of the "Confessions"--what motivated Augustine to dictate it, how it asks to be read, and the many ways it has been misread in the one-and-a-half millennia since it was composed. Following Wills's biography of Augustine and his translation of the "Confessions," this is an unparalleled introduction to one of the most important books in the Christian and Western traditions.

An exciting mystery for your homeschool library: AD 79, following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii. Among the thousands of people huddled in refugee camps along the bay of Naples are Flavia Gemina and her friends Jonathan the Jewish boy, Nubia the African slave-girl, and Lupus the mute beggar boy. Their discovery that children are being kidnapped from the camps--among them the daughter of the powerful Publius Pollius Felix--leads them to solve the mystery of the pirates of Pompeii. A terrifically exciting and dramatic story and a brilliant picture of the aftermath of a great disaster.

The story of Sundiata, son of the king of Mali in the time of the great trading empires of Africa some eight hundred years ago, is a powerful tale of courage and determination. As a boy, Sundiata was unable to speak or walk. He overcame these obstacles, but was driven into exile by a rival queen. When Mali was overrun by intruders, 18-year-old Sundiata returned to defeat them and reclaim the throne. Full color.

In 1558, while exiled by Queen Mary Tudor to a remote castle known as Perilous Gard, young Kate Sutton becomes involved in a series of mysterious events that lead her to an underground world peopled by Fairy Folk--whose customs are even older than the Druids' and include human sacrifice.