My Favorite Children's Books

(Yes, I'll admit right now that I love children's books. There were more than five of my favorites, so I decided on seven. I hope you can forgive me. Maybe it's just me, but I think you could probably think of a couple children's books that you love too.)

(Click on the pictures to see them bigger)

7. Bible Stories for Early Readers Series. This set (well, actually four sets) of Bible stories brings Biblical happenings into real life here-and-now. Perfect for any beginner, these simple stories, beautifully illustrated, makes these books an easy read. I remember reading these just after I learned to read. When we went to a friend's house one day, I was excited to find a whole stack of them--many that I had never read before--and promptly sat down and read quite a few right there!

6. God is Good Series. This book series, published by Rod and Staff Publishers, brings many lessons (and quite a bit of humor!) to life in an easy-to-understand story. Each one teaches something different. The stories include, patience, thankfulness, and  how God made things to do different things. 

5. Say-It-Again Series. This book series is a 7-book Rod and Staff Publishers Bible stories, including in it; A Shepherd Boy, Bread and Fish, Daniel in the Lions' Den, David and Goliath, How God Made the World, My Book About Bartimaeus, and The Good Samaritan. Another easy-readers set, I read these from early on (even before I learned to read, actually!). The first book in the series, A Shepherd Boy, was given to me by Grandma on my second birthday. After that, Mum read it to me so much that this was one of the few books that I memorized! They have always been my in my favorite's list, and are a great way to teach children from early on stories from the Bible.

4. Little Jewels Books. These books, published by Rod and Staff Publishers (if you haven't figured it out yet, we really like their books!!!), are perfect for children (and adults!) of all ages. Each book tells a short story, and (just to list a few) teach kindness, friendship, and helpfulness, all in a story that is both interesting and humorous at times. This set has always been in my "favorites" list, because they not only told about helping Mother, they also tell about how to act around other people.

3. Arch Books. These books, mostly all in poetry form, are the perfect Bible story for all ages. I love reading them to my little brothers, and if you look at many in our collection (I'd guess we have around 20+ books in the series), many covers and pages are ripped and torn. They are well-loved; I have heard them read since before I can remember! My favorite book is about a blind beggar who is healed by Jesus, but I couldn't find that so I took a picture of some of my other favorites. The Strange Young Man in the Desert is one I can remember Mum reading when I was very, very young. It's always been a family favorite, and the pictures add a lot to the story. As you can see, the middle book has lost it's cover, and The Good Samaritan has lost its back cover. These are well-used books!

2. The Story About Ping. This hilarious story about a duck in China. The story starts out, 

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful young duck named Ping. Ping lived with his mother and his father and two sisters and three brothers and eleven aunts and seven uncles and forty-two cousins.  

Their home was a boat with two wise eyes on the Yangtze river."

 As the story goes on, Ping (a mischievous duck) doesn't go back on the boat at night and ends up surviving through a lot of adventures (one time, he almost got eaten for dinner by a Chinese family, but escaped when a little boy let him out!) and finally rejoining his family at the end of a tiring day.

1. Little Sal Books. These books (we have two of them) are about a little girl named Sal. In the first book, Blueberries for Sal, Sal is picking blueberries with Mother and she gets lost--then meets up with a mother bear and her cub. The story has a funny ending, but you have to go through some rather exciting adventures to get to it. In the second book that we have, One Morning in Maine, Sal wakes up and as she is brushing her teeth her first tooth falls out. After that, she goes with her father and sister across the lake to the store, and there she gets some pretty funny advice from a couple of old men about how she should have reacted when her tooth fell out. The story ends up happy, though, with both her sister and her getting an ice cream cone.

I think the best about the above favorites is the people who read them. Mum has spent many, many hours reading to us children, making the stories come to life in a way no one but her can do. And she only gets better at reading aloud as the days go by. Thank you, Mum! You've done a great service to your children in reading to us.

Written for the YLCF March of Books Children's Books link-up. Join us! It's a lot of fun, and almost every day there is a new book give-away!