The Magnificat Readers are a collection of excerpts from nearly a dozen vintage Catholic school readers, dating from the late 1800s to the early 1930s. For the most part, the selections found within are those prescribed by the Religion in Life Curriculum, created by the Marquette University Institute of Catechetical Research in the 1930s. We have carefully assembled as many of the suggested readings from this curriculum as were still findable, and have augmented these with illustrations, as well as additional stories and poems of interest, found in those same readers. The result might fairly be considered a compendium of the best material published for Catholic school children over a period of nearly fifty years. And so we have given these readers the name Magnificat, in honor of Our Lady and her song of praise and thanksgiving to Him that "hath done great things to me...and holy is His Name." This first reader corresponds to the first year of studies in the Religion in Life Curriculum and the First Grade text in the Highway to Heaven series, The Book of the Holy Child. Please note: while most readers are intended as reading practice for younger children, this reader contains some material that is meant to be read to the student with the help of a parent or other more proficient reader.