Saturday, November 05, 2005

Thoughts on Books for Reading with Your Children


One thing I hope to do from time to time is to share my thoughts on certain books on biblical and theological issues for children. It is essential for the church to train parents to disciple their children. One part of this is reading good books to them. Reclaiming this practice will not only instruct a new generation of children but will also lead to dramatic growth in learning for the parents as well.
For the first installment in this topic, let me point out a short piece I wrote a few years back while we were still in Scotland. In it I recommend several books we found especially helpful for our children when they were in the range of 5 years old and younger. In future posts on this I will largely comment on books as I read them to my boys as well as share the thoughts I have jotted down along the way about books we have read together.

P.S. If you are not married or are married but do not yet have children, it is never too early to begin collecting thoughts and books for this important and fun task. If your children are grown, you can be an incredible blessing by passing on good thoughts and books for your grandchildren.

5 comments:

Mark and Hannah said...

Fabulous! Just the topic I have been reminding myself to ask you to blog about.
Danke,
--mab

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Ray. I've always loved reading aloud to my kids, and they love it too. We read the entire Chronicles of Narnia out loud at one point! They would frequently beg me to read chapter after chapter when I had only intended to read one.

I read your linked article and look forward to your future posts. Sinclair Ferguson has a book that I'm curious about, so I'm hoping it may be one of those you'll comment on in the future.

Anonymous said...

I have found biographies to be helpful things to read with my family. We recently read the short biography of Adoniram Judson by Erroll Hulse (free from Mount Zion!). Not only is it a good time with the kids it makes for good thoughtful conversation with my wife. I look forward to seeing some other recommendations.

Ray Van Neste said...

Thanks for the great responses and adding items you have found helpful. Narnia is a favorite of my boys as well. It is great to see their play shaped by stories that you intentionally give them.
The article I linked is from several years back so I have quite a back log to refer to, but in time I will plan to do so.

Brett said...

OK, I'll be the secular influence! My son (3 yrs. old) likes Where the Wild Things Are, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, the Berenstain Bears, and Dr. Seuss. We also use a picture Bible every night that has NIV text.