For the aging and the ages, stories provide valuable insight

(CNS photos)

Spend any time with the aging and you will discover that one thing they have in common is personal stories.
It makes sense that the longer one has lived, the greater repertoire of material he or she will have. And, as life expectancy increases, one can expect a greater supply of stories. Collectively, these three books add to the story storehouse, but each in a different way and for a different purpose.
"Rich in Years" by Johann Christoph Arnold is for those for whom more of life is in the rearview mirror than in the windshield. Arnold offers an opportunity to engage with people who are immersed in their faith and who relied on it through sickness and as they anticipated death. These are upbeat, inspirational stories that -- if read with an open heart and mind -- have the potential to change, for the better, how readers live their remaining years.

Graphic novel: 'Boxers & Saints,' faith and rebellion in China

Illustration from "Boxers & 
Saints" (CNS photo) 

"Boxers & Saints" (First Second Books), a two-volume graphic novel written and drawn by Gene Luen Yang, is an example of comic art at its best.
Author Yang is a practicing Catholic who teaches computer science at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California. But "Boxers & Saints" is more than simple cartoon evangelization. It's a subtle and colorful work that keeps the faith while acknowledging that sometimes there are no easy answers in life.
No surprise, then, that "Boxers & Saints" has just been awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature.
Yang's subject is the Boxer Rebellion, the anti-foreign, anti-Christian movement that roiled China from 1898 to1900. "Boxers," the first volume in the set, tells the story of Bao, a young man who becomes a leader in the uprising.
"Saints," by contrast, is the tale of Four-Girl, a young woman who has visions of St. Joan of Arc, becomes a Catholic and adopts the name Vibiana. The two characters ultimately come face to face on opposite sides of the political and religious divide.