Graham and I love books. When we packed up our stuff to overseas for 2 years, we packed 40 boxes of books. Then when we moved back we bought 5 book shelves and barely hold all of them.
Now as parents, we have embraced a new genere of book accumulation. When it comes to Christian childrens' books my theory is that many books can be borrowed from the library, but not "God books" for kids.
From early on, we decided that only Bible related books at bedtime. The kids fought it by bringing in Barenstein Bears, Cat in the Hat and other good reading. We read those during the day, and Bible stuff at bedtime ensures that we actually teach them God's truths daily. Now 8 years into parenting, we have one routine I can say is truly successful. Bible content only at bedtime. And as I say this, it sounds totally boring, but we have the most dynamic discussions at this time. I cherish bed time snuggle and Bible time.
Here are some favorites we have gone through for the last 8 years. Actually, this is only the beginning of a list of our favorites. This post was getting too long. So this is now only part 1. Another post will be Bible books for older kids and Christian books...
And by "favorites," I mean these books generally meet our criteria of being biblically accurate, visually appealing and well written.
Most of All Jesus loves you is a really great "starter book." It is simply illustrated and sweet book for babies and toddlers. It's simple and you can read it over and over. And it becomes a part of your routine. The text is basically, "Mama loves you, Daddy loves, your brother and sister loves you, .... but most of all Jesus loves you."
Big Picture Story Bible sweeps through the whole Bible through picture stories. The author has written it with depth yet the big pictures and sweet illustrations give an understandable perspective for kids. I can read this to all three kids (ages 2 to 8) and they can each get something out of it. The "Big Picture" refers to the whole of biblical history from God's vantage point.
First Virtues for Toddlers is a favorite with each of our kids as they got through their toddler years. Naomi has literally loved this book to shreds, as it is missing the cover and major pages. This book doesn't quite meet all our criteria but has passed the kid test. The gospel component in this is lacking, but we don't only teach from this book so it supplements all our gospel content. Toddlers love rhyming books. This book is a fat book, a collection of a dozen little books including our favorites ... Bunny loves others, Bear Obeys, Kitty Shows Kindess, Tiger Forgives. You can also purchase individual ones from Amazon for about $7 each.Jesus Storybook Bible is a book for kids ages 4 to 104. Amazingly illustrated. The theme revolves around Jesus being the one who fulfills God's rescue plan. It has more of an illustrated chapter book feel to it. It's amazingly well written. The author has chosen bible stories drawing out how Jesus is the rescuer relating to that specific story. As well, the CD recording of it is so well read. The man has this soothing grandfatherly British accent. I highly recommend it for listening to in the car or just during their play time. I believe it may be sold with the deluxe edition.
Words about God is a new release I just got in the mail today. Here is an awesome theological book for kids on different characteristics of God. The illustrations are so sweet and creatively relevant in such an interesting way to each characteristic of God. On each page there are rhymes for little kids and explanations for bigger kids. Just reading through this brought me to worship. And the bonus is this is written by a friend of mine!
In my Amazon.ca account "shopping cart," I have ready to purchase ... The Rhyme Bible Storybook (for Toddlers) and The Rhyme Bible Storybook From what I can tell, these have cute illustrations and catchy rhyming. I think these will be good for Naomi. So I'll update and post about these once we've gone through them.
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