I have loved books for as long as I can remember, and though I do not yet have kids of my own, I already love fostering a love of reading in the children and teens around me. If I have an excuse to buy one of them a book as a gift, you can best believe I'm going to! Reading is so beneficial on a number of levels, and I believe encouraging kids to read when they are young is so important.
If you are looking for some new reading material for your child, no matter their age, I'm here with some recommendations for you! Check them out below:
BABY BOOKS
I came across a Pride & Prejudice counting book years ago and just had to buy it for the baby girl of a fellow book lover at my church. It was the cutest little book and the perfect way to introduce a child to classic literature early on. I was pleased to discover later that there is a whole line of these "Baby Lit" books for every classic you can think of, like Little Women, The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, The Odyssey--you name it! I've bought several of these for people through the years and I look forward to collecting them for my own babies some day!
PICTURE BOOKS
I LOVED this book as a kid! It's just so cute and such a fun read for little ones. There are other books by this author that are companions to this one (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Moose a Muffin, among others) but this one was my personal favorite.
This series of books are all themed around, you guessed it, things God has given us. God Gave Us You talks about how each child is a gift from God, God Gave Us Two is perfect for kids that have a new sibling on the way, and God Gave Us Heaven helps explain the beauty and hope of eternity life. There are several other books as well (11 total) and each are beautiful stories to read with your family--and they just so happen to be written by one of my favorite authors of Christian Fiction. She's a gifted writer in any genre!
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
This was my FAVORITE picture book as a kid (I had my parents read to it to me countless times) and it always will be. You truly can't get any better than this classic! The illustrations, with their unique style and intricate details, always fascinated me as a child, and the story itself is so much fun to read. I definitely look forward to sharing this one with my own kiddos in the future!
It's funny how certain things from childhood stick with you and leave a lasting impact. This book is one of them. It's a sweet little story about how a man helped a turtle cross the road and how that simple act of kindness set off a series of events that eventually came back around to bless that man. I've never forgotten the moral of this story and still think about this book every time I happen across a turtle!
CHAPTER BOOKS
I have not personally read this series, as it it relatively new. However, I am tempted to read it for myself even as an adult because I have heard nothing but wonderful things about it on Christian book podcasts and Bookstagram (the book loving corner of Instagram). This exciting, uplifting Christian fantasy series currently consists of four books (not sure if there are plans for more in the future or not) and there is also an animated streaming series that recently launched, if that's something you and your children would be interested in as well.
Now, I hope you have already heard of this spectacular, classic piece of Christian literature, but if you haven't, I'm thrilled to be the one to tell you about it! The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis is my favorite series of ALL time, and I find it holds even more enjoyment for me the older I get. After all, as Lewis himself said, a children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story.
These books are responsible, more than any other of my childhood favorite reads, for sparking in me a love of books and storytelling. They awakened my imagination and captured my fascination like nothing else ever has. And they have taught me countless profound lessons that I still recall in my daily life on a regular basis. If you or your children have not yet read this series, let this be your sign to buy the books and step through the wardrobe into the fantastical world of Narnia!
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
