Filled with fond recollections and touching stories, these tales from hundreds of contributors pay tribute to nuns-those monochromatically clad monitors of the right, the wrong, and the holy. Catholic nuns are portrayed as devoted and passionate women who, armed with an arsenal of educational weaponry ranging from creative storytelling to psychological terrorism, had the massive responsibility of molding children into model citizens of God. The brief, descriptive anecdotes cover subjects ranging from religious training, habits, and devotion to discipline, pranks, and the always-dicey sex education. Readers are introduced to such legends-in-the-making as baseball-playing nuns, telepathic nuns, gun-toting nuns, and even skinny-dipping nuns. These nuns have seen it all-the silly or the sad, the frightening or sublime-and always keep their gazes directed upward.

Danielle Schaaf is a public relations consultant. She lives in Houston.

Michael Prendergast is an attorney at a labor employment firm. He lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

Funny and nostalgic tales of being taught by nuns, "the foot soldiers of Catholic education" (John Powers, author of Do Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?).

Filled with fond recollections and touching stories, this book collects reminiscences from hundreds of contributors that pay tribute to nuns-those monochromatically clad monitors of the right, the wrong, and the holy.

These devoted and passionate women-armed with an arsenal of educational weaponry ranging from creative storytelling to psychological terrorism-had the massive responsibility of molding children into model citizens with a devotion to God. Covering subjects from religious training and habits to discipline, pranks, and the always-dicey sex education, these stories introduce us to such unforgettable characters as baseball-playing nuns, telepathic nuns, gun-toting nuns, and even skinny-dipping nuns. These nuns saw it all-the silly or the sad, the frightening or sublime-and always kept their gazes directed upward.