Introduction to the Devout Life
Recommended. Age: 16+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
The best first book on the spiritual life for a layperson. St. Francis de Sales insists that holiness belongs in the workshop, the army and the married home, and then shows how: daily prayer, the sacraments, gentleness with others and with yourself. The reservation is small. Some counsel on dress, dances and courtly society needs translating to today.
For parents
For adults and older teens; Kolbe Academy assigns it in grade 12. Read alone from 16, or aloud in short chapters from 14. Ask what devotion would look like in your state of life. Ask why the saint wants us patient with our own faults.