Four Good Books for Littles

Young children need Truth, and it’s never too early to begin.

Board Books by Danielle Hitchen, illustrated by Jessica Blanchard. Baby Believer series.

First Bible Basics: A counting primer

An excellent God-centered, doctrinally solid, appealing introduction to the Bible and the Trinity. One God, two natures of Christ, three persons in the Trinity, four gospels…eight beatitudes, nine fruits of the spirit, and ten commandments. These are foundational truths that are worthy to be shared with little eyes who will enjoy the illustrations, ears that need to hear them, and hands that can be hard on regular paper. (Note: there is an illustration of Jesus and the apostles who wrote the gospels are depicted with halos, just so you are aware.) Harvest Kids, 2016.

Psalms of Praise: A movement primer

Have you ever noticed how much movement is in the Psalms? When you’re trying to have devotions with littles who can’t stop wiggling (which doesn’t mean they aren’t listening), teach them to use body movement to praise the Lord! Kneeling, standing, running, jumping, clapping, lying down…in every posture we are encouraged to use our bodies as instruments of praise. Harvest Kids, 2018.

These books would make a lovely baby gift or church nursery library addition.

Picture Books for Real-Life Questions

Fucci, Kathleen. Emily Lost Someone She Loved.

Emily is a happy little girl who loves to sing, wear sparkly accessories and practice diving. She loves school, her family loves her, and life is wonderful…until the horrible day when she loses someone she loves very much. The pain permeates everything she used to love, and the emptiness is everywhere. Finally she asks the hard questions like the psalmist was not afraid to ask: “Where is God?! Why has this happened to me?!” And God provides Truth through a loving conversation with a parent who proves that Emily is not alone.

Grief is not easy to write about, but Fucci’s story is beautifully based on experience. This is the best book I have seen on this topic. Give it to a child who is hurting, or a parent who doesn’t know what to say. Fucci’s website offers coloring pages and other helpful resources that point to Christ.

Linne, Shai. God Made Me and You. New Growth Press, 2018. Unpaged.

Ms. Preston is late to her Bible class, and the students take advantage of her delay to tease one another for typical reasons. This provides a perfect opportunity to instruct them from Acts 17, which teaches that we all descended from one couple, and that God loves variety.

“What some call ethnicity
and others call race,
We should celebrate
as a gift of God’s grace.”

God Made Me and You by Shai Linne

Our diversity extends beyond skin, eye, and hair color, and the illustrations include various differences in appearance, disabilities, culture, and even birthmarks. Tragically, as we know, the Fall ruined God’s original design, but not his entire plan. Because of Christ, the church unites every tribe, nation, and tongue in worship.

Besides being an author, Linne is a hip-hop artist and a father. He knows how racism feels, and ends the book with six helpful suggestions to practice biblical appreciation for ethnicity and diversity. They’re practical. They’re good.

Copies of the two picture books were provided by the publishers in exchange for honest reviews.

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