Mr. Blue
Recommended. Age: 14+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Blue is a modern Saint Francis. He chooses poverty, loves the poor, and finds wild joy in the Mass and in ordinary things. The book makes a teenager ask what a Christian life could look like if he took it seriously. The reservation is small. The 1928 wording about Jews and Black characters is dated and needs a word from a parent.
For parents
For readers 14 and up, and short enough to read aloud to a 13-year-old in a week. Good Books for Catholic Kids suggests it for an American literature year. Ask whether Blue is a saint or just odd. Ask what Blue's story of the last priest and the last Mass says about the Eucharist.