I’m in a season of motherhood where I don’t get to read many books myself. If I compared the list of books I read this year to years before kids, my one book would look fairly pitiful. Even so, I did benefit from several wonderful, deep, simple, theological children’s books. I have a 4-year-old, 2-year-old and 9-month-old. This is what we read together in our family Bible time.
1. God’s Big Promises Storybook Bible and God’s Big Promises Bible Story Prayers (Carl Laferton)
Last Christmas we followed the God’s Big Promises Advent Calendar and then continued reading through God’s Promises Storybook Bible to follow Jesus’ life. You may be familiar with Carl Laferton from the beloved The Garden, The Curtain and The Cross, and this storybook is similarly rich with robust biblical theology. Instead of simply reading from beginning to end, you can also choose to follow one of six ‘promise paths’ to see how and when God gave and fulfilled a promise to his people.
We returned to this book twice again throughout the year. When we had a new baby, it offered an easy way through the Easter Story. Later in the year we played through stories from Mark’s gospel with peg dolls. As we did this we read through the ‘King’ promise path to help us understand how Jesus is God’s promised Forever King.
A useful standalone or companion book is God’s Big Promises Bible Story Prayers. It teaches four kinds of prayers: Wow!, Thank you, Sorry, and Please. We assigned a hand action to each prayer to help us remember them. This pattern gives a great foundation for kids to pray in response to scripture.
2. The Beginner’s Gospel Storybook Bible (Jared Kennedy)
Bible storybooks are often filled with illustrations of people, but this book is different. In addition to depicting dramatic scenes, it includes interactive images encouraging children to count, point, compare, and make noise. Our kids connected with the characters as they actively engaged in the storytelling. We also love that The Beginner’s Gospel Storybook Bible goes beyond simple storytelling and gives a point of application for each story. Our copy is beginning to look worn and well-read.
3. Everything a Child Should Know About God (Kenneth N. Taylor)
This book breaks up the usual pattern of reading through Bible stories. Each reading teaches a small piece of doctrine with a supporting Bible reading and a summarising question. Taylor does a wonderful job of synthesising essential doctrines into bite-sized pieces, and we find it’s accessible for both our big kids in different ways. Some of the questions have even become like pieces of a catechism that we use in our home. For instance, does God have a body? No, God is Spirit.
4. The Gospel Storybook Bible (Marty Machowski)
I’ve started sporadically reading this book with my 4-year-old during his sisters’ nap time. He loves getting to read the longer stories we can’t always read when they’re awake. We haven’t gotten very far yet, but my impression is this is another book with a strong emphasis on biblical theology. I especially like that it includes many lesser-told stories for this age group such as Lot and Naaman. Machowski lets Jesus shine naturally through Old Testament stories to faithfully unfold God’s gospel story.
5. Little Me, Big God: Stories about Jesus (Steph Williams)
These books have been available for some time as individual stories but this year we bought the ‘Stories about Jesus’ volume which contains all the stories in one book. There are only 10 stories, but we read through a story each lunchtime for a few weeks. The stories are joyful and interactive, telling notable stories from Jesus’ life and teaching.
6. New City Catechism App
There are book versions available, but the New City Catechism app is an easy way to add some Bible time into our day. If we’ve had a busy morning, are bored or stuck in the car, or grumbling children need a distraction, this app has been a fun way to learn doctrinal truths. Each question comes with a cheesy but memorable song. My 4-year-old firstborn loves showing off his memorisation while my 2-year-old enjoys singing along.
7. Promises Made, Promises Kept (Marty Machowski)
I have just begun reading this book with my 4-year-old in preparation for Christmas. Promises Made, Promises Kept reaches back before the nativity story to God’s promises about the coming king and continues beyond Christmas to show how Jesus’ life, death and resurrection give meaning to the Christmas story as God fulfils his promises. What a wonderful place to finish a year’s reading.
