Book List. 4 Stars. The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the book they deem the “most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” published the previous year… Since the ALA is a secular institution, their selections tend to follow the morality and priorities of American culture. I have found it helpful to read the list of awards with an eye for when each title was published. This helps me anticipate whether a book is likely to fit in our home library.

Book List. 4 Stars. The Book Tree is an annotated, age-graded bibliography of recommended books for children and teens… If you have to limit yourself to one list, I recommend Books Children Love or Honey for a Child’s Heart, since they tell you why specific titles are recommended. But if you can use a third, this is a fine choice.

Book List. 5 Stars. Several friends have read this site said “I wish there were a site like this for adult books.” To which I am delighted to say, there is, except better.

This book review blog is devoted to children’s literature with an emphasis on Bible, history, and fiction.

Book list. 4 Stars. Books That Build Character has been influential since its publication in 1994 by three influential Catholic educators…. The book opens with four chapters… presenting the goal of promoting “moral literacy.” This is defined as emotional attachment to goodness, plenty of good examples to emulate, and knowledge of appropriate ways of relating to others…. Just over half the 350 titles also appear in the other Christian book lists that I use… While the authors are philosophically in harmony with my approach to selecting books for children, practically their selections tend to place a greater emphasis on moral behavior than on heart motives for what we do…. This is a good resource for building a good home library, especially for Catholic and Orthodox families, but parents ought to be on the lookout for self-righteousness and moralism.

Book List. 5 Stars. Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt was the first of the Christian book list books. First published in 1969, it is now in its fourth edition…. While it is more comprehensive, it is less selective than I would prefer in terms of excluding objectionable content — it includes several titles that I do not recommend…. As compared to other lists, it seems to include more titles (at least in my part of the country) that are widely popular and easily available at libraries and used book sales. Because of its excellent introductory chapters and its easy-to-use format, it is the second best book list I have found…. This is an excellent resource, especially for pleasure reading as opposed to educational books.

Book list. 4 Stars. The Caldecott Medal, probably the most well-known picture book award, is presented by the American Library Association for the picture book deemed to be most distinguished of the previous year…. Because of its focus on artistic excellence, reading through this list (307 titles in 2009) is an excellent exercise for parents like myself who lack experience in discerning artistic and aesthetic value. It helps cultivate an eye for quality and set a standard of excellence. Of course, since the ALA is a secular institution, their selections tend to follow the morality and priorities of American culture. I have found it helpful to read the list of awards with an eye for when each title was published. This helps me anticipate whether a book is likely to fit in our home library.

Book list. 4 Stars. Amblesideonline.org offers a free homeschooling curriculum guide and reading list based on the principles of education promoted by Charlotte Mason…. This list, like the Classical Homeschooling list, contains over 1000 titles, and there is about a one-fourth overlap between the two. Because the list is so extensive and was compiled by a number of individuals with different criteria, the quality is a little mixed, but it still provides a significant corpus of good titles to work from.

Book list. 3 Stars. Jim Trelease… emphasizes reading aloud with parents and other adults, and his arguments for reading are focused on preserving culture, as well as benefiting children educationally and emotionally… Because of his secular approach, Trelease’s primary criteria for selecting books are suitability for reading aloud, writing quality, and appeal to children. His emphasis is not on moral formation, and his moral criteria seem representative of our mainstream culture, especially the increasingly liberal educational culture… I have used it primarily to see what books might be popular with children in more secular circles.

Book list. 3 Stars. This volume is an annotated list of 100 movies and 100 books selected using ten criteria: “decency, fairness, empathy, self-sacrifice, responsibility, loyalty, duty, service, honesty, and honor” (9)…. his selection of books covers a pretty good cross-section of classics and modern works. This book is worth borrowing from your local library, especially for its movie list.