Are you looking for some good solid literature recommendations which would be wonderful resources to add to your home library? I have received the question on numerous occasions and have compiled a list of high quality literature that will inspire your little tots towards godly living, building Christian character, and inspiring a love for giving and service. I hope you find this helpful! These are all excellent investments for birthdays and Christmas and will certainly be treasured for a lifetime.
Fool Moon Rising by Kristi & T. Lively Fluharty – One of our true favorites! It’s a crime of cosmic proportions: the moon is stealing the sun’s glory! This rhyming, rollicking tale teaches children the importance of humility and the dangers of pride.
Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd Jones – The best Bible for little ones that we have found! Extremely sound and yet rich with insight as it traces God’s story throughout the Bible and how Jesus is seen in each story. Highly recommend!
The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Hunt – The sweet folklore story of three trees that dream about what they will become one day. They become key tools in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado – A touching story about a disabled lamb who finds he has a special purpose and place in this world. Check out other excellent stories by Max Lucado – All You Ever Need, Because I Love You. All of these titles can also be purchased in the Max Lucado Treasury.
The Christian Mother Goose Book by Marjorie Ainsborough Decker – another favorite in our house with a sweet God-centered adaption of the Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Karis loves: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, God has placed you where you are.”
Princess and the Kiss: A Story of God’s Gift of Purity by Jennie Bishop – A young princess learns the value of saving her first kiss for the right man. Check out the companion study guide that teaches valuable life lessons about purity. The Squire and the Scroll is the young boy’s version (although Karis loves this one too!) about learning to live your life in light of God’s Word.
The Three Gifts of Christmas by Jennie Bishop is a sequel of sorts to the Princess and the Kiss, where the young princess learns the important truth that it is better to give rather than receive. An excellent addition for Christmas and all year long!
My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt – learn Bible verses and character stories that correspond with every letter of the alphabet. We have been using this while we learn our ABC’s and it has been extremely valuable for character education.
Big Truth for Little Kids by Susan Hunt
Sammy and His Shepherd by Susan Hunt – the sweet account of a little sheep called Sammy while he takes a delightful trip through Psalms 23. A picture of the precious love of our caring Lord Jesus, our Shepherd.
Dangerous Journey by Oliver Hunkin – a child’s adaption of Pilgrim’s Progress with beautiful pictures.
Do You Want A Friend? by Noel Piper - A sweet story that helps children ages 3-7 recognize that potential friends are all around them, while reinforcing that Jesus is the best friend of all. This is a sequel to Most of All, Jesus Loves You.
The Gospel (Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers) by Joey Allen – A clear, doctrinally sound, introduction to the gospel for little kids. So cute! Others by this author: The Trinity, The Scriptures.
The Story of St Valentine by Voice of the Martyrs – want to learn the true history of St. Valentine’s day? This series of books published by VOM are extremely well done with beautiful colorful pictures and intriguing stories. Check out: The Story of St. Patrick and The Story of St. Nicholas for holidays throughout the year. VOM also offers other Kids of Courage books covering the lives of Paul, Stephen, and Richard Wurmbrand. Highly recommended!
My First Book of Question & Answers by Carine McKenzie – This is an excellent first little book for teaching the catechism.
The Creation Story for Children by Helen Haidle – Focused on God’s wonderful handiwork in Genesis 1-2 and Psalms 139, it is one children will enjoy over and over again! Also check out: D is for Dinosaur by Ken Ham.
The Prince’s Poison Cup by R.C. Sproul is an allegorical story about the fall of man and Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation
through the story told to Ella by her Grandma during her illness and evaluating why medicine has to taste bad in order to make us better. Other in this series: The Lightlings & The King Without A Shadow.
The True Story of Noah’s Ark – learn the true story of Noah’s Ark with beautiful imagery.
The Beautiful Girlhood Collection by Tracy Leninger – Sweet stories of the lives of great women of the past who demonstrated true femininity, courage, and virtue. Included in this series is the life of Dolly Madison, Priscilla Mullins, Sacagawea, Nan Harper.
What is God Like? By Beverly Lewis – Before a father departs for his longest business trip yet, he encourages his children to remember that, “Even when I’m not here, God is always with you.” After he leaves, the boy and his little sister spend a fun-filled day and star-filled night remembering everything their father told them about their heavenly Father. Also by this author: What is Heaven Like?
Tell Me About Heaven by Randy Alcorn – Follow 10 year old Jake who learns about the reality of Heaven after the death of his grandma.
I’ve Got a Job to Do by Dandi Daley Mackall – help children understand the importance of the Great Commission and how they can practice it in their home, school, and extended family.
Our Home Is Like A Little Church by Lindsey Blair – This little book was written to teach preschool children the Christian doctrine of the home as a place of worship where the father teaches his family God’s commands and leads them to worship the one true God.
The Beggar’s Blessing by Mark Hamby – A true story from the 1800s about a little girl who sacrificed her savings for a starving beggar. Full-color illustrations will capture the hearts of children as they learn that sacrifice is the cornerstone for surprising blessings.
God Gave Us You by Laura Dyrant – When a charming polar bear cub climbs into bed one night, she asks her Mama a very important question–one that little “human cubs” often wonder about, too: “Where did I come from?” Mama Bear answers that “God gave us you.”
Hand Commands: The Ten Commandments for Little Ones by Ann Dunagan – Hand Commands is an easy-to-use tool to teach your children to love God’s law. It follows the most traditionally held numbering and the Biblical account from Exodus 20. This darling book can help you to train your little ones to love God and to love to follow Him.
What are your favorite godly reading materials for little ones?
Stay tuned for more recommendations for ages 8-12!
Thank you for compiling this resource for us. My husband and I are about to buy some new books for our church’s nurseries and these lists are making the picking out of the books much, much easier! Thanks again.
Make sure to check out Humphry’s First Christmas and Humphrey’s First Palm Sunday… told from the perspective of one the Three King’s camels. Humphry is hysterical and the illustrations are fantastic!
Thanks for posting this great list! Our family loves the book “You are Special” by Max Lucado. I cry almost every time I read it!
I must agree with one of your commenters, that The Big Picture Story Bible is a wonderful storybook bible for kids a bit too young for the Jesus Story Book Bible. It does a GREAT job of putting the whole Bible into perspective. I used it in my preschool class for 3 years and in teaching the little ones at church & in our evangelistic ESL classes.
What a great list – every day I find new reasons to love your blog!
)
If I might add a few to your list…
We love the Catherine Voss Story Bible. It doesn’t water down the stories, or shy away from harder topics – but presents them in the way a loving and wise grandmother might share them.
Ravi Zacharias has two children’s books we love:
The Merchant & the Thief
The Broken Promise
Nancy Ganz is working on a series of Bible commentaries for children titled “Herein is Love…” and they start in Genesis!
The Lost Lamb by Melody Carlson is a great book about the parable of the shepherd and his 99 sheep (going after the one lost).
Hymns for a Kid’s Heart by Bobbie Wolgemuth & Joni Eareckson Tada tells the stories behind the great hymns. Our kids love that.
The Lamb by John R. Cross explains salvation in a way all kids can understand.
We’re also fans of Kenneth N. Taylor, although his books are mostly out of print – they’re not hard to find. We like Big Thoughts for Little People, Good News for Little People, and Right Choices.
Although it’s not necessarily Christian, Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Rosenthal does a good job defining vocab we use every day. Cooperate, Patient, Modest, Respect, and more – using quaint illustrations and cookies!
And the last one makes me cry *every time* I read it!
) Let Me Hold You Longer by Karen Kingsbury is a great reminder for parents to enjoy every moment, and it might clue in kids why we sometimes get weepy as they hurdle their milestones. There should be some sort of warning on it for pregnant moms – tears are guaranteed!
Thanks for *your* great book suggestions, my Amazon cart is bulging a bit more today!
I grew up on Kenneth N. Taylor children’s Bible stories. My mom used them for our nightly prayer & Bible reading time when my siblings and I were little. They’re wonderful!!!
Also, one of my favorite children’s pictures books is “Little Rose of Sharon” — it’s a beautifully illustrated parable, especially enjoyed by younger girls, about how true beauty is not selfish, but sacrificial. The emphasis is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and a precious story about a gorgeous rose in God’s garden who has to surrender her petals to save the life of a baby dove. It’s one to read aloud, over and over!!!
Thank you so much for your list!!!! I am always looking for children’s book ideas — especially since we do not have and English library near us. I look forward to more of your suggestions. Also thank you for your TRUE WOMAN recap and listening links.
I was thankful to have also stumbled upon this blog a few months ago: Aslan’s Library: http://aslanslibrary.wordpress.com/category/reviews/bible-stories/
Thanks for your many great resources!
Thank you for this!
One of my favorites is “On the Night You Were Born.” It is too sweet and often I can’t read through it without tearing up.
Thank you for the list. I can’t wait to find some of them to read to my children. We love many of Debby Anderson’s books.
I stumbled upon your site because of a link I was sent for a soaked granola recipe and found that your family likes the same kind of books that we like! Oh, I wish you lived down the street! Thank you for a great book list with some new things to explore-many we love, many on a wish list and many I hadn’t heard of. (Sproul has children’s books? Where have I been?) I am looking forward to reading more of your postings!
What a fabulous post. I can’t wait to try some of these books. I also would like to heartily recommend the book “Honey For a Child’s Heart” by Gladys Hunt, for additional ideas for wholesome reading. Although it is written from a Christian perspective, a number of the books she suggests are not Christian. They are often classics and I have yet to go wrong with one of her suggestions!
Oh my goodness thank you so much!!!! I’m off to track these titles down in my country
perfect timing as always Lindsay!
Jesus Storybook Bible is indeed the best. We’ve already read through it once with my 12 month old and have started it over and intend to do it again and again. I’m pretty much in tears at the end of each story! Children need to see that every story whispers his name!!!!!! Such a great springboard to talk about even more life application and pictures of Jesus throughout the Bible!
What a great book list!! Thanks so much.
Because I Love You by Max Lucado is an excellent book. As an adult I get a lot out of it too.
I just wrote a post like this earlier this week! You put 4 of the 5 I wrote about. The fifth I mentioned is The Lightlings by R. C. Sproul. It’s a great story and so very beautiful!
Thanks a lot Lindsay! This is really helpful.
By the way Jesus Wants All of Me is only $5 at Barnesandnoble .com
If you spend $25 you get free shipping. I usually buy a few of Oswald Chamber’s “My Utmost For His Highest” and a couple of “Jesus Wants All of Me” at a time to get free shipping. They both make great gifts!
Francis Chan (author of CrazyLove and Forgotten Love) has released 2 kids books that model the message of these adult books.
The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village
Halfway Herbert
There is also a daily devotional for very young children modeled after one of my favorites Oswald Chambers but written by Phil Smouse. I love that is very big concepts put into very short simple sentences. Great way to discuss our walk with God daily.
Jesus Wants All of Me
Thank you so, so much for this list! I have wanted to build a wholesome Christian library for our children and this is just the place to start.
I just heard about the Jesus Storybook Bible last night at a Mars Hill Doctrine Class. An excerpt was posted on the PowerPoint and I immediately made a note of the title–and I don’t even have kids yet!
6 months or so ago we were given Baby’s Hug-a-Bible
http://www.amazon.com/Babys-Hug-Bible-Sally-Lloyd-jones/dp/0061566217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287710961&sr=8-1
It is covered in fake lambswool, with adorable rhymes and pictures. Our 16 month old loves it!
Some nice pics here. We are HUGE fans of the Jesus Storybook Bible in my house! For more ideas, check out Christian Children’s Book Review: http://www.ccbreview.blogspot.com/
We love The Princess & the Kiss and The Tale of the Three Trees. I made a free lapbook to go with it and you can find it here: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/tale_of_the_three_trees.php
We love these! =0)
Oh, I love your selection of books! The Tale of Three Trees is my favorite!
Great list! Had to add a few to our amazon wishlist.
My 4 yr old love the book, “Praying with our Feet” by Lisa Weaver. http://www.amazon.com/Praying-Our-Feet-Lisa-Weaver/dp/0836193067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287708386&sr=8-1
It even has a simple song at the end which she insisted we learn.
Thank you for this list! I’m going to try to find some of these for my little ones (4, 2, and 3 months).
Thank you so much for the list! I am looking forward to your suggestions for older children. I teach 6th grade at a Christian school and am currently looking for new chapter books for my students to read. I’ve come across so many books that sound wonderful at first, but then I find that they have subject matter and language not appropriate for a young Christian reader.
Amanda,
Have you looked into the biographies that Christian Focus publishes? Here are their guidelines: http://www.christianfocus.com/pages/guidelines_children/-/- They have some very good, Gospel-centered resources that would serve that age group well. Reformation Heritage Books sells them at great prices (around $5 a book). Reformation Heritage also carries a good bit of historical fiction that this age group would likely enjoy. I came across some of these titles via the Veritas Press catalog which I have found very helpful in selecting quality reading material for various ages. (They have chapter books listed from the second or third grade section through the sixth grade section since they teach history chronologically.)
Hope this serves!
Warmly,
Elizabeth
Wonderful timing!! My son is sixth months old and I was just beginning the hunt for some Christian books. Thank you so much
This is such an excellent post, I’m already looking for a number of these from our libraries…thank you for taking the time to write a blurb about each, too, making it that much easier for us to sift through for age appropriate books.
The Tale of Three Trees sounds wonderful.
Sarah M
My parents began reading us the Chronicles of Narnia at age six and I was reading them on my own at age seven. Those books have shaped my theology and Christian imagination more than any other childhood book. Also, we loved Tales of the Kingdom by David and Karen Mains.
I’m so glad you mentioned Tales of the Kingdom as it’s one of my kid’s (ok, mine too!) favorites! In case you didn’t realize TotK is the first in a series of three books. The other two are titled: Tales of the Resistance and Tales of the Restoration. As these stories are allegories, they probably need to be on the older age list, but they’re wonderful and highly recommended anyway!
We have enjoyed many of these books too. Probably our favorite is the Jesus Storybook Bible. We love “Fool Moon Rising”, written by friends from our church. The “Fluparty’s” as my 3 yr.old calls them are truly incredible people, humble and gifted in many ways. They are wonderful parenting examples to our whole church, and I certainly hope that many of your readers purchase their awesome book!
Oh, thanks for this! Perfect timing…I’ve been on the hunt for great Christian kids’ books…especially a story Bible for family worship time. I’m very excited about this list. Saves me a lot of time hunting on Amazon.
Wow- great list! A few of these are well-loved at our house, and a few more have been on our wish list for a while, but most of then were ones I’d never heard of- thanks!
“Our Home is Like a Little Church” was written and illustrated by my friends from our church, Sojourn! So exiciting to see their work on your website! I’ve been following your site for a couple years now and have been encouraged and inspired by your writings and recipes. Thank you for the time you take to write. It allows women like me to continue to pursue excellence in taking care of our home well, in loving our husbands, serving the Lord, and serving traditional nourishing food.
My son loves his “Bible for Little Boys”. it is set up like the bible and retells the storys for little boys, with simple pictures. We keep our bookmark in there and read the stories at bedtime.
Is your husband reading “Caps For Sale” in the picture?
That was one of my favorite books, we got it for my son last year for Christmas for his special book that year. Each Christmas they get a new special book and we sign and date it for them.
Yes, he is reading Caps for Sale! That’s one of my daughters favorite and we love this collection!
Thank you so much for this! I attend a Bible study with Kate Cole and had just asked everyone for good character building resources! This is exactly what I need.
We love a lot of these books as well. I’ve reviewed The Prince’s Poison Cup and Sammy and His Shepherd on my blog. Our family also enjoys The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm for the younger ones who have shorter attention spans and aren’t quite ready for The Jesus Storybook Bible. (I also reviewed this one on my blog for those who are interested in its pros & cons.)
Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt is probably one of our favorite books. This book is a great way to teach doctrinal truth to young children.
We’ve also enjoyed “The ABCs of Church History” for introducing children in this age group to church history, as well as, The Little Lights Biographies by Catherine Mackenzie.
Thanks for sharing your family favorites! There are a couple of titles that I don’t recognize and will have to check out.
Thanks for this list!! I added them ALL to my baby registry at Amazon. Baby is due at the end of December and I am already reading aloud to him from our existing collection of books. Thanks again!
We really like “The Big Picture Story Bible” by David Helm .
“Tale of the Poisonous Yuck Bugs” and “The Nineteenth of Maquerk” by Aaron Reynolds
These two are based on Proverbs.
Love this list! We love a lot of these books, and can’t wait to check out the rest. What a great list, thank you!
Although I don’t have kids, I remember being so much in love with The Littlest Angel when I was a kid (http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Littlest-Angel-by-Charles-Tazewell-Book-Review) I didn’t have much Christian literature as a kid, but it’s nice to remember that out of all my books, this one stands out so much to me.
And, wow, until I just looked up that book now, I had no idea it was that old, or that there were so many different illustrated versions of it! I can’t find the illustrated version I had anywhere on the net (bummer, because it was so cute)…I hope I still have it in storage at my mom’s house. (-:
LOVE the Jesus Storybook Bible. It captures my sons attention and he’s only 2.5 years old. What a blessing it has been. We’ll look into some of the others listed, thank you.
A lot of my favorite children’s books are not “Christian” per se, but mesh well with a Christian worldview. Promoting good values, showing children the beauty of God’s creation, etc.
Anything by Robert MacCloskey: Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine, Time of Wonder, and more. These books always focus on a warm, loving family, whether human or animal. Sweet and funny, with lovely illustrations.
Winnie the Pooh. The original A.A. Milne stories, not those ridiculous Disney adaptations (hmm, opinionated much?). They have memorable characters and storylines, with a lot of emphasis on friendship, courage, and kindness.
The Seven Silly Eaters. This book makes us roll around laughing, with its clever rhymes and whimsical illustrations. It’s about a family with seven children, all of whom like to eat something different. A sweet portrait of loving parents and (in the end) grateful children.
And the list could go on. Doctor DeSoto, Miss Rumphius, The Story of Ferdinand, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, The Little House, Hog Music, Mirette on the High Wire…
Thank you so much for this list! We absolutely love the Jesus Storybook Bible our Pastor gave us. It even helped teach us, my husband and I, about the bible when we were new believers not having grown up in believing households : )
We were enjoying the Jesus Storybook Bible, too, until we encountered the story of the angel telling Mary about God’s plan for the birth of Jesus. When the angel ‘threw back his head and laughed’ and had a ‘tear in his eye’ they lost my husband. It seems like an unnecessary bit of dramatic license with scripture. We went back to The Young Learners Bible Storybook by Mary Manz Simon. With every story it offers a verse to say/memorize and a simple prayer.
All of these books are great. I want them all and I don’t even have kids yet. he he
I am bookmarking this post for when that time comes and for baby gifts.
Thank you!