8 Children's Books a Gospel-Loving Dad or Mom Would Love Reading to Their Children

Our youngest daughter Callie (3) and I recently got to 'talking about books', and we decided to make a post of our favorite children’s books to read together. If you’re at that stage where you read to little ones a bunch, hit the library often, or are in need of buying a spectacular gift that a child will want to read 10,000,000 times, these qualify. (We did leave off any Dr. Seuss books - how can you choose among those, right?)

In our family's mind, the basic criteria for an excellent children’s book are:

1 – intriguing, magnetic story that you don’t mind experiencing over and over

2 – unique illustrations that you enjoy lingering over

3 – a theme that resonates with the gospel (every good story is a variation of 'the story')

4 – able to point a child’s soul in some way toward holiness and maturity

5 – extra bonus if it is particularly helpful in shaping manhood (for sons) or womanhood (for daughters)

So here are 8 Melrose Public Library book that we've loved (in no particular order):

The Big Green Pocketbook

What a delightful story of a daughter spending the day with her mom! This is one of those books where, even though you know what’s coming, you get caught up in the story every time. I have often prayed that our Father would give my wife deep friendships with her daughters. This book gives me a little bit of vision of what the formative moments of that sometimes look like. And what little girl doesn’t love a book about filling her pocketbook with stuff? Everything about this book works.

Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs

This one is an action packed adventure as school-boy Flinn takes on the meanest pirate imaginable. Any book where a boy defeats a ‘dragon’ is a good one to be reading with your sons. The book’s got a fun twist (those pirates are … dinosaurs) and giant pages with killer illustrations. We loved any book that tells a wildly imaginative story because they help us think in terms of the stunningly wild and never-would-have-imagined-it-could-happen story of the gospel.

If I Built a Car

No way for the Kruses to not love a book about cars given their GrandPapa’s infatuation! This one is about a boy dreaming out-loud of all the amenities he would install if he could manufacture his dream car from scratch. Unique and fantastic illustrations, some great vocabulary words to make the rhymes work, and a great stimulation of what it’s like to dream big dreams.

Scaredy Squirrel

This one was so good that it spawned a franchise! What happens when a squirrel who is terrified to ever leave his tree accidentally tumbles out of his safe perch toward the dangerous world below? Callie and I are detail people (she misses absolutely nothing) and this fun book was filled with lots of little details that it takes 20 readings to digest. Plus it’s a helpful lesson to encourage our kids to engage the world around them without fear.

The Biggest Bear

I have never fired a gun, don’t own a gun, and have never been to a gun convention. But we did appreciate that you can still borrow a book from the library that has a rifles in it. (And in our Melrose, Massachusetts library no less!) Best part of this book is how the little boy wants so badly to be a strong man, and how brave he is marching off into the woods alone. Good reading for sons.

The Wolves in the Walls

This is one of the funnest books we’ve read. Lots of words, lots of pages, but so unique (both the story and the artwork) that even our youngest have sat through to the end no problem. It’s the story of a little girl whose clueless family doesn’t realize that there are wolves in the walls. After being evicted, she then bravely leads her family to reclaim their home. We loved the little girl’s resolve in this one.

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown

Another delightful story of what it’s like to be a child. Little Emily has a special friend (rabbit) and she is not letting anything separate them. When a lazy and naughty spoiled queen steals her rabbit, Emily takes on then whole kingdom to get her back. And she manages to do it in a way that is loving toward the thief. By the end of this your little girl will know how to love a friend and love an enemy. Superb.

How I Became a Pirate

This one became a series as well. When a little boy is recruited from playing in the sand to serving as a pirate, a fun adventure begins. At first he is ready to jettison everything about his previous life, but then comes around to realize how much grace has been given to him by his dad and mom. Any story with swashbuckling pirates is a favorite, but one that helps in the fight with envy and teaches your son or daughter to appreciate their family is a winner.