Below is a list of good book titles for kids, recommendations for older children who can read storybooks already and have begun to enjoy novels. This list is for the junior to middle/upper levels such as grades 3/4 to grade 6+.
Many of these titles are also of interest to read by older students or adults or used as a read-aloud!
Some book or video titles may be available through our shop, others through a business we’re affiliated with or an organization we just recommend but are not affiliated with. And other titles in our list, if you want to find it, you might need to search at a yard sale, used bookstore, or similar.
(Note: For some of the resources on the list, this post contains affiliate links, through which we earn a small commission for purchases at no greater cost to you. Thanks for supporting our business efforts.)
A List of Good Titles
This is not an exhaustive list (and will not be) but we will add to it as we find more and time permits.
These literature lists (for children, for juniors and tweens, and for teens and adults) collectively represent recommendations of a few families and from up to four generations of people involved in child education and Christian ministry who have really enjoyed reading over the years! Some of these titles are out-of-print but still might be found somewhere, if I don’t already link to them.
I hope you find these lists helpful! 😊
Titles marked with a 🍁 are ones which have plot settings in Canada and/or were originally arranged for Canadian students.
Storybooks with Frequent Pictures
- A Light Kindled (Tracy M. Leininger) – Priscilla Mullins was an 18-yr-old girl who came across on the Mayflower. She was one of the few women who survived the first winter. Find how her faith in God kept her through these difficult times. This author has also written Nothing Can Separate Us which is a story of Nan and her father John Harper and the Titanic.
- Three Young Pilgrims (Cheryl Harness) – Mary, Remember, and Bartholomew sail on the Mayflower to America. With diagram drawings.
- Salmon Creek (Annette LeBox) – the lifecycle of salmon (fish) told in a vibrant literary style – this title can be used to teach literature techniques.
- The Great Wall of China (Leonard Everett Fisher) – an illustrated story of how people built this long wall around 2200 years ago.
- The Silk Route (John S. Major) – an illustrated story of the trade route from the Orient to Europe.
- Clara Caterpillar (Pamela Duncan Edwards) – Clara is a carefree cabbage caterpillar, but catty, conceited Catisha thinks she is common! Descriptive words and pictures tell the story of how when a crow comes, Clara finds out it’s better being commonly cream-colored than captivatingly crimson! This is an excellent book to teach about alliteration!
- Escape North! (Monica Kulling) – Read about Harriet Tubman’s childhood and the story of her escape, and how she returned again and again to lead more than 300 people along the Underground Railroad to freedom. A “STEP INTO READING level 4” reader.
- Moonwalk – The First Trip to the Moon (Judy Donnelly) – The story of Neil Armstrong and crew – a “STEP INTO READING level 5” reader.
- Helen Keller – Courage in the Dark (Johanna Hurwitz) – A “STEP INTO READING level 4” reader.
- Flashcard stories at Bible Visuals International such as A Little Rascal Who Became a Man of God (story of Tropicana’s founder), Fanny Crosby The Blind Poet, and Salvation in the South Seas A Story of Fiji and many more.
- Handel at the Court of Kings (Opal Wheeler) – This is one of the titles in the Great Musicians Series. black and white drawings, large print chapter book.
- The Journey that Saved Curious George (Louise Borden) – Curious George is known and loved all over the world. But few people know the exciting history of his creators and where they travelled.
- Dinosaurs by Design (Duane T. Gish) – illustration-rich with information about various kinds of dinosaurs which really existed; Christian perspective.
- One Wintry Night (Ruth Graham) – a special Christmas story
Novels
- Little Prairie Girl 🍁 and Little Pennsylvanian Dutch Boy (two series about real children by Sharon Schnupp Kuepfer)
- The Bible in the Wall (Ralph Bouma) – Among the ruins of a house, Giovanni finds a Bible. This Bible changes his life and he spreads the word to others. Then he meets a man who boasts how years ago he plastered one into the walls of a house… A true and shorter story from 1800 Switzerland which shows the convicting power of God’s Word.
- Fine Print (Joann Johansen Burch) – a story about Johannes Gutenberg who invented the printing press in the 1400’s
- Germ Hunter (Elaine M. Alphin) – a “Creative Minds” biography about Louis Pasteur who discovered the rabies vaccine and process of pasteurization.
- Louis Braille: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind (Margaret Davidson) – True story of Louis Braille’s invention of the Braille alphabet.
- Days of Terror (Barbara Smucker) 🍁 – The story of a Mennonite family living in the Ukraine during the communist revolution in the early 1900’s. Peter, his little sister, and their parents eventually arrive in Waterloo, Ontario and then move out west, to enjoy the freedoms in Canada. Suspense, conflict, and dialogue.
- Underground to Canada (Barbara Smucker) 🍁 – This is the story of the Underground Railroad into Canada.
- Henry’s Red Sea and Amish Adventure (Barbara Smucker) – These are two other novels for kids that I remember by this Ontario author. (Jacob’s Little Giant is listed in our children’s list.)
- Five Little Peppers And How They Grew (Margaret Sidney) – This is a heart-warming story about a poorer family who tries to spread kindness to others. There are sequels available to this first book although we have not read those yet. The video of it is family-friendly too but, as is commonly-done, it changes a few parts of the story.
- Owls in the Family (Farley Mowat) 🍁 – This is a Canadian classic of a boy in the summertime on the prairies and his adventures with two owls, Wol and Weeps. When I was a student, this was our main novel study in grade 4 and a small group assignment was to act out part of the story. I was one of the owls with newspaper wings but, I had to also hop a lot on one foot since I was on crutches for an injury and my wings were too flappy! (Each year, from I think grades 2-8, we had one novel to study, alongside other short pieces of literature. In high school, per grade, I recall that English studies had one or two novels, one Shakespearean play, and one independently-chosen novel, alongside shorter literature pieces. Of course, I loved reading so would read many more books than what was assigned in school.)
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Richard and Florence Atwater) – Penguins provide adventure to a painter’s family for the time they live with them and tour around. (There is a video of it too but I do not recommend it as it strays quite far from the original story in my opinion.) When I was a student in grade 5, this book was the main novel study.
- Keeping Barney (Jessie Haas) – girls love a horse named Barney.
- A Heart Strangely Warmed (Louise A. Vernon) – Based on the life of John Wesley, evangelist in England in the 1700’s. This author also wrote Ink on His Fingers (story of Johann Gutenberg).
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Young Folks Edition (Harriet Beecher Stowe) – Uncle Tom, a slave, longs for freedom. Just before he gets it, his master dies and he is sold to a cruel man. (Adapted and condensed from the original novel)
- The Canoeing Safari, The Hunting Safari, and The Village Safari (3 novels by T. J. Matthews, Wycliffe Bible Translators in USA) – You create a unique story by choosing between story options. YOU are part of this story (written in “second-person point-of-view”). Sometimes we offer these in our shop too.
- The “Grandma’s Attic” series (Arleta Richardson) – (See the earlier titles in the series under our list for children.) These are my (Joy’s) favourite novels!
- Treasures from Grandma’s Attic
- Sixteen and Away from Home
- Eighteen and On Her Own
- Nineteen and Wedding Bells Ahead
- At Home in North Branch
- New Faces, New Friends
- The “Orphans’ Journey” series (Arleta Richardson) – These are told from a boy’s perspective about experiences with the Orphan Train in America in the mid-late 1800’s.
- Anita and the Driftwood House (Margaret Epp) 🍁 – a story of a girl in the Maritimes. The Earth is Round is another good novel by the same author.
- Sarah or Princess series (Margaret Epp) 🍁 – adventures of a girl and her family in the Canadian Prairies. (Note: Sometimes the title says “Princess” instead of “Sarah” but I understand that it is the same story on the inside of the book.) Margaret Epp was at the same Bible school that my grandma attended.
- Sarah and the Magic Twenty-Fifth
- Sarah and the Pelican
- Sarah and the Lost Friendship
- Sarah and Mystery of the Hidden Boy
- Sarah and the Darnley Boys
- Joy Sparton series (Ruth Johnson) – humorous adventures of twin “preacher’s kids” in America.
- Susie and Johnny stories (J.C. Brumfield) – These are little books with chapters, written many decades ago. The characters are children who are wanting to be a witness for the Lord in their community and adventurous situations.
- A Man Called Norman: The Unforgettable Story of an Uncommon Friendship (Mike Adkins, Focus on the Family) – The story of this novel is also told in film format with the real characters.
- Ginger and the Turkey Raiders (Dorothy Grunbock Johnston) – This is our favourite of the titles we have read of this author. She wrote several different series for this age, weaving Christian values into exciting adventures. This title is hard to put down until the mystery is solved!
- The Bandit of Ashley Downs (Dave and Neta Jackson) – This title is about George Mueller. There are several other Christian biographies in the “Trailblazers series” too such as Kidnapped by River Rats about William and Catherine Booth.
- Ice Wreck (Lucille Recht Penner) – A hundred years ago, Ernest Shackleton and his crew set out for the South Pole. This is a shorter novel/chapter book.
- John Wesley for Young Readers (Teri Smith)
- Children of the Storm (autobiography of Natasha Vins) – Natasha and her family have suffered much because of persecution in Ukraine. Father has spent many years in prison, and their home has been closely watched. Now, as a student, Natasha stands at the crossroads.
- The Hungry Year (Connie Brummel Crook) 🍁- In 1787, Kate with her father and brothers join other Loyalists in moving to Canada. The Perilous Year and Flight and Laura’s Choice are other historical books by this author.
- Tooga: The Story of a Polar Bear (Shirley Woods) 🍁 – During a cold night in northern Labrador, Tooga is born. He and his sister Apoon have a lot to learn! Other titles by this author include Amber: The Story of a Red Fox and Jack: The Story of a Beaver and others.
- Mr. Blue Jeans (Maryann N. Weidt) – Levi Strauss, a young Jewish boy, came to America 1847. From New York, he went (by ship) to work in San Francisco. After making a pair of canvas pants for a miner, Levi ordered more canvas, and was sent denim instead. This is a shorter novel/chapter book.
- Today’s Heroes: Ben Carson (Gregg and Deborah Shaw Lewis) – a shorter chapter book which I think has been retitled “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Revised Kids’ Edition” by the same authors.
- Wreck of the Ethie (Hilary Hyland) 🍁 – Colleen and her family live on Newfoundland’s coast in 1919. One day a ship is grounded offshore in a terrible storm. Waves and rocks are breaking the ship apart, but the waters are impassable… can Colleen’s dog Skipper help?
- Henry Ford: Young Man with Ideas (Childhood of Famous Americans series) (Hazel B. Aird)
- Samuel Morris (Men and Women of Faith series) (Lindley Baldwin)
- With Daring Faith (Rebecca Davis) – a biography of Amy Carmichael, missionary and children’s caregiver in India.
- Into Their Hands (Harvey Yoder) – This book tells stories of people who smuggled Bibles into communist countries – amazing experiences and joys expressed of those who received this priceless gift.
- A Home at Last (Marilyn Friesen) – The true story of faith and providence of God as children are separated from family during WWII in Russia. Well-written literature with good examples of foreshadowing, suspense, and irony. Gr. 5/6+.
- Pollyanna (Eleanor H. Porter) – a girl who faces challenges spreads optimism and hope to others. (This story is also portrayed in a classic video version.)
- Patricia St. John’s novels for children such as The Tanglewoods’ Secret, Rainbow Garden, and Treasures of the Snow. Flashcard stories at Bible Visuals International is another way to tell these stories.
Magazines or Comics or Puzzlers
- Bil Keane’s “Family Circus” books – so many fun titles!
- Who am I? (Virginia Beachy & Tabitha Schmidt, Nature Friend)- Hello! I am one hour old. Could you walk when you were my age? I can! …I have 4 legs, a long neck, perky ears, and lots of white wool over my body…” Answers included.
- Win Mumma’s Bible stories – these were sometimes published in magazines produced by the Back to the Bible (Good News Broadcasting) ministry in the 1980’s.
- Bible Story Cartoons (Norman E. Lynch) – various titles called “Book 5 – Moses in Egypt” or similar.
- The Picture Bible (Iva Hoth) – This version was originally published by Chariot Books from David C. Cook. Its illustrations are much nicer than the popular Action Bible. It was printed at least for the years 1979-1985 and then later updated with extra fact pages, maps, etc.. The illustrations appear to be kept the same from what I can tell.
- Bible Stories to Colour and Read (Karen Troman, Day One Publications) – These have a fair amount of detail to read alongside lots of colouring. There are about 20 titles such as The Story of Ruth, The Story of Abraham, The Miracles of Jesus.
- (See more Bibles and Bible Storybooks listed in our children’s list HERE.)
- Jungle Doctor Fables (Paul White, missionary to Africa) – this series of thin paperback comic-style books tell single stories with a gospel message. They were also put into filmstrips which have since been put into video format online. Example titles are “The Great Wall” and “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?” Recently, fables were compiled to be retold in chapter book format (with fewer pictures) for a few titles such as Jungle Doctor’s Hippo Happenings and others.
- Peanuts and Charles M. Schulz Comics – Online, there are “how-to draw” and other fun and educational activity worksheets with the Charlie Brown and Snoopy characters… which involve following written instructions (a.k.a. reading skills)! Here’s the link for Schulz Museum At Home”.
Information Books
Learn about creation and how people work within it!
- African Critters (Robert B. Haas) – a National Geographic wildlife photographer goes through the wilds of Africa with firsthand stories of personal encounters with majestic, and sometimes dangerous, animals. This was one of our oldest son’s favourite books when he was this age!
- Air is All Around You (Franklin M. Branley)
- Who Eats What? (Patricia Lauber)
- What Do You Do If Something Wants To Eat You? Steve Jenkins
- Using a Microscope Nelson Focus 2B – easy-to-read print, photos, small booklet
- Animal Predators: Owls Sandra Markle
- The Honey Makers Gail Gibbons
- Origami Paper Airplanes Didier Boursin
- From Oil to Gas (Shannon Zemlicka), From Cocoa Bean to Chocolate (Robin Nelson) – other titles in this series are mentioned in our list for children since they are large-print, easy-reading. However, the titles given here I think are better understood/interesting for juniors and tweens.
- How People Learned to Fly (Fran Hodgkins) Read about early flying experiments, learn about gravity, molecules, the force and drag of air, and how finally these forces were overcome and people took off! A “Let’s Read and Find Out SCIENCE READER level 2” but the topic relates more to this grade level of studies.
- Coming to Canada: Building a Life in a New Land (Susan Hughes) 🍁 – a WOW Canada Book.
- Let’s Explore Canada! (Apple Press) – lesson worksheets for discovering the history and geography of Canada. This can also be a book that is used for referring back to later, like an information book. Apple Press’ series of individual provinces and territories titles could also be used like that, due to the amount of text in those books.
- You Can’t Do That in Canada! (Bev Spencer, Scholastic) 🍁– silly laws still in place; humorous.
- Growing Up in Viking Times (Dominic Tweddle)
- Early Explorers (a set with various authors) 🍁- These fascinating 5 hardcover books + 1 paperback contain primary source information, coloured drawings, and much historical information about the discovery of Canada by Cabot, Cartier, Champlain, Hudson, Columbus, and LaSalle.
- A Dog Came, Too (Ainslie Manson) 🍁 In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie journeyed across the North American continent to become the first European to reach the Pacific by land. The level of reading is simpler but the topic is more for junior-senior grades.
- The Canadians 🍁 (various titles, for example, Ernie Coombs: Mr. Dressup by Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic) published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside. There are approximately 40 names of famous Canadians in this biography series and perhaps will be at your local library.
- Boy of the Deeps (Ian Wallace) – describes a day in the life of a young coal miner. (The story is set in Cape Breton Island, NS but it is based on stories from a boy mining in England.)
- Eye Wonder: Ocean (Samantha Gray)
- Amazing Animal Journeys (Liam O’Donnell)
- Oh Say Can You Seed? Bonnie Worth (Cat in the Hat Learning Library Series)- All about flowering plants such as photosynthesis and more.
- Why Do Leaves Turn Color? (Betsy Maestro) – I like having this book around in the fall season!! The interest/understanding of the concepts I think are better for the junior/tween ages. A “Let’s Read and Find Out SCIENCE READER level 2”.
- Germs Make Me Sick (Melvin Berger) – A “Let’s Read and Find Out SCIENCE READER level 2”.
- Why I Sneeze, Shiver, Hiccup, and Yawn (reflexes) (Melvin Berger) – A “Let’s Read and Find Out SCIENCE READER level 2”.
- The International Space Station (Franklin M. Branley) – A “Let’s Read and Find Out SCIENCE READER level 2”
- Sounds All Around (Wendy Pfeffer) – Sound travels in waves, so when the waves reach your ear, tiny bones vibrate and you hear the sound. Learn about decibels and more! A “Let’s Read and Find Out SCIENCE READER level 2”.
- Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats (Ann Earle) – A “Let’s Read and Find Out SCIENCE READER level 2”
- A Walk in the Rain Forest (Rebecca Johnson) – a book in the Nature Walk series, along with A Walk in the Desert. (The ones for Tundra and Prairies are in our list for children here.)
- How You Are Changing (Concordia Publishing House) – “Honest, sensitive information…presented with a Christian perspective” – one title is for Boys-ages 10-12 and one title is for Girls-ages 10-12.
- William Booth (Andrew Edwards and Fleur Thornton) – a story/activity book from Day One Publications. There are more titles in this series too.
- Mary Jones and Her Bible (a story of a Welsh girl who walked many miles just to buy a Bible of her own).
- Travel Through America (or other similar titles featuring other countries) (Lynn Huggins-Cooper) – Learn about people and places around the world! (See also “Kids Around the World” listed in the children’s list.)
- Spain the Land (or other similar titles featuring other countries) (A Bobbie Kalman Book)
- Christian Heroes: Then & Now series (Janet and Geoff Benge) such as Cameron Townsend: Good News in Every Language (story of the man in Central America who began Wycliffe Bible Translators).
- Thundering Waters (Arnot McIntee) 🍁- True stories (with some photos) of famous feats around Niagara Falls along with spiritual lessons by a Christian author in the St. Catherine’s, Ontario area.
- Rain Tonight (Steve Pitt) 🍁- about Hurricane Hazel in the Toronto area. This book details one family’s amazing true story… an unexpected flood, climbing onto the roof, and the rescue efforts. See photos from that time and read educational tidbits of hurricane facts and hurricanes in history.
- Uncovering the Mysterious Woolly Mammoth (Michael and Beverly Oard) – This title is good for older kids and teens or interested tweens but another good book by the same authors is Life in the Great Ice Age with an interest-level of all-ages, including grades 2-5+.
Readers, Poetry, Devotional, Reference Books
- Up and Away 🍁– This is the grade 4 reader from the Canadian Reading Development series. It has many Canadian stories in it!
- Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary (Jack Knowlton, Harriett Barton) – a picture dictionary of landforms and other geographical terms.
- A Picture Dictionary of Geography (Apple Press Publishing) 🍁 – Examples of diagrams, maps, photos and brief explanations on landforms, water bodies, and other geographical terms.
- Find the Constellations H.A. Rey Have you ever looked up at the stars and wished you know some of their names, or could pick out constellations? Simple drawings of constellations and stars, and “sky views” for different times of the year make this a great reference book!
- The New Manners and Customs of Bible Times (Ralph Gower, Moody Press) – This is an excellent reference book on the life in Bible times! Full-colour pictures, easy-to-understand yet detailed information on a variety of cultural-related topics which give insight to various Bible passages. Learn about food, medicine, housing, occupations, the laws, politics, wars, festivals, and more.
- The Student Bible Atlas (Tim Dowley) – We really like this one.
- Heroes for Young Readers series (YWAM) such as William Carey: Bearer of Good News by Renee Taft Meloche. This is story in rhyming poetry format.
- The Story of the Middle Ages (Michael J. McHugh & John Southworth) – a textbook that can be used as a reference book to read instead of as a textbook.
- Images of the Middle Ages (Apple Press) – reproducible book of worksheets with text to read about history; fairly interesting.
- Catholicism: Crisis of Faith (Lumen Productions) – This video respectfully explains basics of Catholicism easily enough for most ages to understand. It’s important to understand what people believe in order to understanding the Middle Ages/Reformation period of history.
- Early Civilizations (Pat Waters, 2001) – a secular text designed for mid-elementary with pictures depicting a summary of life in China and in Greece (but not other civilizations). I think it does very well in how the material is presented.
- Faces of Government by Mary Cairo and Luci Soncin (2006) – This was a textbook for grade 5 students but it can be used as a reference book instead.
- Ontario: An Informal History of the Land and Its People (a government publication from the 1980’s)- This is an information book/reference type book and copies were given to students in classes years ago. It tells the history of Ontario with significant detail and graphics.
- Howard Bean’s Devotionals for Families 🍁- These are collections of character-building family stories which are simply nice to read together in the evenings. Sometimes this author and his wife looked after the Christian Light Publishing vendor space near our vendor tables at homeschool conferences in Ontario years ago! Titles include:
- Fruitful Families: Cultivating Spiritual Fruit
- Worshipful Families: Marveling at God’s Awesome Creation
- Faithful Families: Stimulating Trust in God
Videos and Other
- Napoleon – children’s story of a puppy who lives in Australia and goes exploring in the wilds, to meet many animals from that area – real photography/video with “talking” (“lip-syncing”) animals.
- MVP – Most Valuable Primate (Keystone Family Pictures) – sign language and a monkey at work.
- Lyric Language videos (Penton Overseas Inc.) – These are kids’ songs using both French and English words to learn the second language. It also uses Bil Keane’s “Family Circus” cartoons.
- Littlest Hobo 🍁 (Dorrell McGowan) – This was a television series featuring a brilliant but ownerless dog and his journeys to help people.
- Introduce children to non-cartoon Christian character-building biographies sometimes through audio stories such as “Let Me Die in Ireland” (Story of St. Patrick) or video stories such as “Lord, I’m Yours” (Story of Billy Graham) and “Celebrating Ruth Bell Graham: A Life Marked by the Faithfulness of God” (Story of his wife). (We choose biographies which have less “action/drama” compared to some missionary stories for young listeners.)
- Torchlighters Videos such as The Story of Jim Elliot (Ecuador) (Gateway Video) – the animated story plus an interview section. These are animated (cartoon) biographies.
- Dangerous Journey (animated video based on Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan) – this free version to watch online is a Answers in Genesis. See other versions listed in our other lists.
- Moody Science videos
- There are three titles of “Moody Science Adventures” which contain selections of their older full-length “Classics” and are nicer, in my opinion, to use for children until they are older and more interested in some of the longer ones.
- The Wonders of God’s Creation: Animal Life, Human Life, and Planet Earth
- The Awesome Forces of God’s Creation: Roaring Waters (hurricanes), Thundering Earth (volcanos), and Whirling Winds (tornados, storms).
- Journeys to the Edge of Creation (astronomy topics summarized)
- Newton’s Workshop episodes such as this one which is about bugs and functions of parts of a cell.
- Day of Discovery’s Land of the Bible videos such as Hebron, Beersheba, Bethlehem (Beyond the Christmas Story), Nazareth, Capernaum, Galilee (a “family favourite”), Jerusalem, Judea, Land of the Seven Churches (another favourite).
- David Nunn’s videos (Vision Video) such as In the Steps of Moses: Exploring the Exodus (Another video for studying about the Exodus is Steve Law’s presentation on the Red Sea Miracle.) David Nunn has other Bible places in other videos too.
- Ken Ham’s Foundations of Creation videos (Answers in Genesis) – These tend to be presented in a good manner for elementary students as well as adults to understand. This set has some of their more common presentations.
- Elizabeth Urbanowicz’s website has various resources on teaching worldview comparisons from a Christian perspective. We have not personally previewed these however I did speak with her personally for a while at a homeschool conference a number of years back. (See also “Kids Around the World” listed under our list for children.)
- Pioneer Life Sticker Picture Book With 50 reusable peel-and-apply stickers on the interior of a log cabin or the homesteader’s outdoor pasture, garden, and barnyard. Stickers include stove, spinning wheel, churn, family members working together, etc. 18 ½ x 12 ¼” open size. This is nice to supplement a literature or history study about pioneers, to illustrate settings.
- A “beach ball globe” is cheaper than a real solid globe. Sometimes a dollar store has these or missionary organization websites.
- GeoPuzzles – These unique puzzles help students to memorize the names of various countries since the pieces are in colorful shapes of the countries (or in the shapes of provinces, territories, and states for the U.S. and Canada puzzle).
- Road Maps – of within Canada and also perhaps of other countries studied (e.g. USA). Many kids like to read paper maps!
- Letters and Cards – from people your family knows (e.g. extended family, friends, missionary newsletters, birthday cards, etc.)
- Calendars – especially if it has pictures from other places which have captions
- Seed Sowers’ Bible verses in other languages (or similar) – Try reading or listening to a language different than the one(s) you speak.
Not Recommended
Obviously, we cannot list all good titles in the above list. We welcome your suggestions for other good titles that we might eventually add to the above list.
Here are a few guidelines we can provide for not recommending some titles you might see suggested in lists from other websites.
- A free downloadable/printable on standards for entertainment is mentioned on the blog post “Examples of Minimalistic Homeschooling“. Look for that one in the section on that page of “Reading”.
- In “Our Biblical Philosophy of Education“, you can see our general standards for when we preview materials for our online shop.
- And finally, when we consider specific titles for character-building recommendations of literature (and videos), we do overlook minor negative matters in a piece of literature or video if we feel the overall effect of exposure to it will be beneficial. But, IF a title has what we consider to have significant amounts of upholding of the following incidents or expressions that we do not appreciate as Christians, then we try to not put these titles on our list of recommendations.
- Unacceptable language (crude, swearing, etc.)
- Lying, deceit, dishonesty or unchecked pride of hero/heroine
- False teaching (e.g. evolution, contemplative/mysticism, occult themes (e.g. necromancy))
- Violence, hatred
- Fearful (which means full of fear; this is notably different than expressions of fear or an intense climax in a plotline)
- Wrong Passions/Lust/Greed
- Emphasizing a distortion or confusion of God’s holy character
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)
“For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”
1 John 2:16
“Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Thessalonians 5:21-23 (NKJV)
If you ALREADY OWN books (or other media) which are not good, then what? The thing to do is to get rid of them. Israel was to do this with influential bad items (Deuteronomy 7:26) and the early church did this with their bad books (Acts 19:19-20). Despite efforts nowadays to “reduce waste, recycle or reuse”, these are items which should be destroyed to the extent that their horrible message not be propagated into the next household but rather purged from having that potential. Resist the urge to offer it for free to a friend or neighbor or sell at a used sale. No, this is a situation that truly fits under a “time to throw away” (Ecclesiastes 3:6). If we put something like this in a blue box, we shred it. Otherwise, we break it (e.g. with a hammer) and put it in with garbage or burn it in a woodstove if it’s paper. Let’s live for Christ – it points to His worth when we purge out the trash!
“Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses [purges] himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
2 Timothy 2:14-22 (NKJV)