Nancy Carpentier Brown, (born in 1961 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an author and blogmistress. Her first published work is The Blue Cross Study Edition published in 2006 by Hillside Education. Brown's study guide concerns the first Father Brown mystery, a literary work that high school, college, and book study groups can read, think, and write about. This study guide is useful to teachers and leaders of study groups, including Chesterton Society's throughout the world. This Study Edition includes the entire original text of the G. K. Chesterton story "The Blue Cross", from the Chesterton book, The Innocence of Father Brown, which is now public domain.
Brown has also written A Study Guide for Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi. G. K. Chesterton had a devotion to Saint Francis and his biography of the saint became one of his most popular books. Brown's study guide will help readers to gain more detail from Chesterton's work, and learn more about both St. Francis and Gilbert Chesterton.
Her most controversial work, The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide was published in 2007 by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing. Brown suggests that Catholic parents have the ability to discern for themselves, by pre-reading, whether the Harry Potter novels would be appropriate for their family. By reading the books herself, and studying J.K. Rowling's life, Brown determined that the claims that the books would lure children into witchcraft and the occult were unfounded, and that the Catholic family could benefit from reading the books aloud together.
Also in 2007, her popular book "The Father Brown Reader: Stories from Chesterton" was published by Hillside Education. This book gives young children, ages 8–12, the opportunity to be introduced to Chesterton's famous work of fiction, the Father Brown stories. It features four popular works, The Blue Cross, The Flying Stars, The Strange Feet, and The Absence of Mr. Glass.
In September 2009, Brown launched a podcast for the American Chesterton Society, called "Uncommon Sense" and available on iTunes and most audio outlets. http://uncommonsense.libsyn.com/
In August 2010, Brown contributed to the book, "Stories for the Homeschool Heart" edited by Patti Maguire Armstrong and Theresa A. Thomas. She has two stories, "Help! My Daughter Wants to Go To School", and "Late Night Catechism", in this book for homeschooling families.
In the fall of 2010, Brown's second adaptation, "The Father Brown Reader 2: More Stories from Chesterton" was published by Hillside Education, and features the stories: The Perishing of the Pendragons, The Eye of Apollo, The Mirror of the Magistrate, and The Invisible Man.
Brown has also contributed a chapter in The Catholic Homeschool Companion, entitled "Grammarphobia". This book is edited by Maureen Wittmann and Rachel Mackson. This collection of works by over 40 authors about every aspect of homeschooling, including chapters by dads and grads, special needs, and every normal school subject area is covered thoroughly.
Brown is the blogmistress for the American Chesterton Society blog, http://americanchestertonsociety.blogspot.com as well as managing the Facebook Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/americanchestertonsociety and http://www.facebook.com/uncommonsensepodcast and the Twitter page http://www.twitter.com/amchestertonsoc
Brown is an award winning poet. Her poem "Clarence" was published in St. Anthony Messenger May, 2000 and won the 2001 Catholic Press Association award for Best Original Poetry.
Brown has also been published in This Rock, New Beginnings, Our Sunday Visitor newspaper, Sunshine Artist magazine, Heart and Mind: A Resource for Catholic Homeschoolers, Canticle, and Gilbert magazine. Brown is a former contributing editor for Heart and Mind, and a contributing editor and columnist for Gilbert magazine.
Brown is a graduate of Marquette University, and resides in Antioch, IL with her husband and children.