What could be more exciting for a young boy in thirteenth-century Italy than a tournament? Loupio, the orphan befriended by Saint Francis of Assisi, competes against lads bigger and better trained than himself. But he and his friends, with some help from Brother Wolf, achieve surprising results. Cheer them on to victory in this third volume of The Adventures of Loupio.

This award-winning comic-book series has first-rate, full color illustrations with exciting stories set in the days of knights and castles. Kids love them!

Jean-François Kieffer is a deacon and father of four children. Born in France in 1957, he has been an award-winning writer and illustrator of children's works.  

More than Candles and Calendars?

Introducing Book #3 in The Adventures of Nick & Sam!

The Perry family's first Advent in Hope Springs is a mix of drama and comedy as Sam competes with her best friend to be in the Christmas pageant, Nick hopes to play an angel that actually flies, the search for a Christmas tree leads to danger, and family traditions take on a whole new meaning of joy.

It's a time of fun, learning, and wonder that might become the Perry family's best Advent ever.

About the Series

Nicolas (Nick) and Samantha (Sam) Perry are twins in the Perry family. They moved with their parents, their brother Andrew, and their sister Lizzy, to Hope Springs in the summer. Hope Springs is a fictional town in the mountains of Colorado, the setting of the Hope Springs series. Hope Springs is a multi-faceted series of stories that explores living the Catholic faith in the modern world. This series presents the adventures of the twins, their family, their friends, and the people they encounter at school, church, and in town. This series presents Catholic culture easily and normally, and provides opportunities for readers to think about the consequences of words and actions. Centered around the Perry family, Hope Springs was introduced as short stories in the Signs of Grace catechetical workbooks and now includes novels for First Readers (ages 5-8) under the banner The Adventures of Nick & Sam. The world of Hope Springs also appears in the grown-up novel Blue Christmas. The likeable and engaging characters reflect the sensibilities and struggles of being Catholic in the quirky small town of Hope Springs, playing out their faith at the St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church and School, with their neighborhood friends and adversaries, and in the many adventures that makes the teachings of the Church come alive. This series is written similarly to the Adventures in Odyssey series and the Magic Tree House Series, and is recommended for readers ages seven and up, but can also be read by parents to younger children.

Edited by Joseph Pearce

Contributors to this volume:
Anthony J. Berret, S.J.
William F. Byrne
John Francis Devanny Jr.
Mary R. Reichardt
Thomas W. Stanford III
Aaron Urbanczyk

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is, according to many critics and fond readers, the great American novel. Full of vibrant American characters, intriguing regional dialects and folkways, and down-home good humor, it also hits Americans in one of their greatest and on-going sore spots: the fraught issue of racism. As Huck and Jim float down the Mississippi and encounter all manner of people and situations, and as Huck struggles mightily with his conscience concerning Jim, the novel strongly invites a moral and religious perspective. In this new edition, Mary R. Reichardt's introduction places the book in its historical and biographical context, and several critical articles examine such issues as the book's moral implications, religious contexts, and status as an American epic. Mary R. Reichardt, the editor of this edition, is a professor of literature in the Catholic Studies department at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul MN.

The Ignatius Critical Editions represent a tradition-oriented alternative to popular textbook series such as the Norton Critical Editions or Oxford World Classics, and are designed to concentrate on traditional readings of the Classics of world literature. While many modern critical editions have succumbed to the fads of modernism and post-modernism, this series will concentrate on tradition-oriented criticism of these great works.
Edited by acclaimed literary biographer, Joseph Pearce, the Ignatius Critical Editions will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist, or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer-choice, enabling educators, students and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism.
The series is ideal for anyone wishing to understand great works of western civilization, enabling the modern reader to enjoy these classics in the company of some of the finest literature professors alive today.

In the exciting days of chivalrous knights and wandering troubadours, a young orphaned poet and musician named Loupio travels throughout Italy experiencing many daring adventures.

Befriended by Francis of Assisi and accompanied by the wolf tamed by this saintly guide, Loupio's often dangerous encounters help him and young readers learn lessons of faith, hope, and charity.

In The Cave, volume 5 of this best-selling series, Loupio encounters prejudice and burglary while learning that mercy and forgiveness are offered to all who sincerely repent and seek God.

The excitement continues in this second volume of The Adventures of Loupio. In Volume 1, we meet the orphaned Loupio living in the days of knights and castles in Assisi, Italy. The young troubadour becomes the friend of Brother Francis and of the wolf tamed by the Saint. With his gift of song and his youthful enthusiasm, Loupio has many escapades in which he learns to love and be loved in return.

Volume 2 picks up the story with new challenges for Loupio. The youthful and colorful comic- book style presents to young readers an attractive example of a boy their age doing his best, though not without making a few mistakes along the way, to follow Jesus.