To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children’s reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field.

The Newbery was the first children’s book award in the world, and is probably the best-known award for young people’s literature in the United States.

Most books that receive this award are chapter books, although a few picture books do occasionally win the distinction.  Most years there are runner-up titles which are awarded the Newbery Honor.

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.

Click here reviews of titles that have won the Newbery Medal or Honor.

The Book Tree

Elizabeth McCallum. Canon Press 2008, Paperback, 256 pages, $12.19

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Book Tree is an annotated, age-graded bibliography of recommended books for children and teens.  Elizabeth McCallum has taught high school and college English for thirty years, and conducts seminars on education, literature, and shaping a Christian worldview in young people.  The Book Tree is co-written with her adult daughter, Jane Scott.

The titles are selected by the criteria of literary quality, accessibility and availability, and moral content.  Unfortunately, the notes supplied for each title consist of summary, rather than critical commentary that would explain why each title is recommended.  This makes the book less useful to parents, whose priorities may differ somewhat from the authors’.  However, in the titles I have read, there is a great deal of overlap between the authors’ priorities and mine.

There are about 760 titles recommended, almost half of which also appear in other book lists I use on this site.  Since about 380 of the titles are unique, this is a great resource for building a home library.  It might be especially attractive to those from a Reformed background, and for those who identify with the philosophies of Classical Education.

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.

The Children’s Hour review of this book list is available here.

Click here for reviews of titles recommended in this list.

Tim Challies is an influential Reformed Christian leader and the author of Challies.com, where he publishes book reviews, cultural commentary, and reflections on the Christian life.  He wrote The Discipline of Christian Discernment (recommended by John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, Don Whitney, Nancy Pearcey, Mark Dever, and Ligon Duncan), and in 2006 he founded Discerning Reader, a blog devoted to book reviews of all genres.  According to the “About” page,

Discerning Reader is a site dedicated to promoting good books–books that bring honor to God. At the same time, we hope to help Christians avoid being unduly influenced by books and teachers that are not honoring to God.

We do not seek to be harsh or judgmental. Rather, we seek only to be discerning as we compare books to the written Word of God. We let the words of authors speak for themselves and simply hold the books up to the light of Scripture. In doing so, we are building a database of reviews which we feel cast a discerning light on the books that are found in Christians homes, churches and bookstores.

The thirteen reviewers come from different backgrounds but are mostly pastors and other Christian leaders, and Challies writes the majority of the reviews.  They cover books of fiction, biography, Christian living, social issues, New York Times bestsellers, books for children, and other genres.  Whatever your reading interest, you are certain to find something of interest here.

Click here for reviews of titles reviewed by Discerning Reader.

The blog is maintained by Dr. Ray Van Neste, an Associate Professor for Christian Studies at Union University, and a pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Jackson, TN.  He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament, and maintains another blog  on pastoral ministry called Oversight of Souls.  He is the father of six children between the ages of 1 and 12.

Dr. Van Neste started The Children’s Hour in December 2005 and posts to it regularly.  The blog consists primarily of book reviews, as well as reflections on children’s literature, reading, and Christian parenting.  His reviews are thoughtful and readable, and his theological basis for them is solid and well-informed.

Unfortunately, there is no way to access all the titles he has reviewed other than paging through the blog or by searching the blog by keyword.  He does review books that he doesn’t recommend, and since he doesn’t use a rating system it is necessary to read each review to find out whether he recommends it.  For this reason his blog is limited for use as a reading list, but this is still the best online resource I have found of this kind.  It’s one of the first places I look for help when I need help forming a judgment about any book, and there is always something new, provoking or inspiring on his home page.  He also provides a short list of recommended Bible literature for children which alone makes the site worth visiting.

Books That Build Character

Robert Coles (Foreword). Touchstone 1994, Paperback, 336 pages, $6.24

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Books That Build Character has been influential since its publication in 1994 by three Catholic educators. William K. Kilpatrick (not to be confused with William H. Kilpatrick), a professor at Boston College, is known for his work with Christianity and psychology, wherein he argues that psychology is a separate religion at odds with Christianity.  He also wrote Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong, a treatise about problems in the moral formation of young people in our society.  Gregory and Suzanne Wolfe teach English at Seattle Pacific University; Gregory founded Image magazine and describes himself as a Christian Humanist.

The book opens with four chapters (the first one is here) which present the goal of cultivating “moral literacy” in children.  Moral literacy is defined as an emotional attachment to goodness, and knowledge of appropriate ways of relating to others.  This quality is formed by engaging children’s imagination, because “It’s not enough to know what is right.  It’s also necessary to desire to do what is right.  Desire, in turn, is directed to a large extent by imagination.” The fifth chapter is a practical guide to selecting and introducing books for children at different ages.  Most of the book consists of an annotated list of 350 titles, organized by genre and reading level.  Just over half the titles also appear in the other Christian book lists that I use.

While the authors’ philosophy is in harmony with my approach to selecting books for children, and most of the recommendations I have read are pretty good, some of their selections tend to place a greater emphasis on moral behavior than on heart motives.  A few of the titles (Marcella’s Guardian Angel, for example) veer into moralism (doing the right thing by force of will) which can contribute to self-righteous pride or legalistic condemnation rather than opening the door to the Christian Gospel.

This list is unique among others I use because the titles are chosen from a more Catholic perspective.  Some titles (The Legend of the Christmas Rose, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and The Clown of God, for example) feature miracles that express God’s favor toward someone who has been rejected by religious people.  The kinds of mystical signs used to show God’s favor (a smiling Christ-child in the creche, for example) are part of a distinctively Catholic sensibility.

This is a good resource for building a home library, especially for Catholic and Orthodox families, but parents ought to be on the lookout for self-righteousness and moralism.

Click here for reviews of titles recommended in this list.

Honey for a Child’s Heart

Gladys Hunt. Zondervan 2002, Paperback, 256 pages, $5.34

Rating: 5 out of 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, published in 2002.  The author has written other books in the same genre (Honey for a Teen’s Heart, Honey for a Woman’s Heart, and Read For Your Life), as well as several books on other topics.

This volume opens by laying out a case that children need not only physical nurture but also relational joy and pleasure  from their parents.  Hunt likens the provision of basic physical needs to giving children milk, and relational nourishment to giving them honey — hence the title of the book.

She devotes a considerable amount of time to introducing easy-to-read, well-researched guidelines to help adults discern what makes one book superior, helpfully supplying a brief history and description of the field of children’s literature.  She delves into the realms of fantasy versus realism, and considers questions such as how to include classic books in family reading and whether Christian parents ought to read books about magic to their children.  She spends a chapter about the bonding that happens when adults share books with children, and another on how to introduce the Bible and moral literature.  This is one of the more comprehensive, knowledgeable and practical guides to building a children’s library that has appeared in any book of this type that I have seen.

In terms of how books form children’s character, she writes that “[e]xample always speaks louder than precept, and books can do more to inspire honor and tenacity of purpose than all the chiding and exhortations in the world” (53). She suggests that while parental relationships are the primary influences on children’s development, we should not discount the effect of television and other social pressures.  In response to external influences, she suggests that parents seek to increase their influence through books.  In her words:

Parents who read widely together with their children are going to be those who most influence their children, who have the largest worldview, who have an uncommon delight in what is good and true and beautiful — and an uncommon commitment to it.  Sharing and feeling and talking together will come naturally.  Books shared with each other provide that kind of climate (99).

She ends this opening  section by suggesting some good strategies for locating and selecting books for a home library, giving a few resources, and suggesting how to include children in the exploration and selection process.

The annotated book list is fairly extensive, containing about 1000 titles, one-third of which overlap with my other Christian book lists.  It is organized by reading level and further by genre, and most titles are individually annotated.  Unlike some other book lists, it focuses almost exclusively on story literature, historical fiction, and poetry as opposed to nonfiction.

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 (among them Harry Potter, Sounder, and Jacob Have I Loved).  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.  (The best is Books Children Love, which overlaps with one-eighth of this list.)  This is an excellent resource, especially for pleasure reading as opposed to educational books.

Click here for reviews of titles recommended in this list.

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.  While the text is considered in the selection, the award focuses specifically on the illustrations and their contribution to the plot and themes of the book.  The Caldecott has been presented annually since 1938, and for most years there have been several Caldecott Honor Awards (runners-up) as well.

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.

Click here for reviews of titles that won the Caldecott Medal or Honor.

Amblesideonline.org is a homeschooling website which offers a free curriculum guide and reading list based on the strategies of education promoted by Charlotte Mason.  These ideas were popularized by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay in her 1984 book For the Children’s Sake, and today they form one of the primary streams of the modern homeschooling.  The Charlotte Mason philosophy is centered around the idea that education is made up of Atmosphere (especially home life), Discipline (good habits), and Life (dynamic thoughts and ideas).  It is best known for its emphasis on the use of “Living Books,” or books that draw the reader into their subject, allowing them to relate experientially rather than intellectually to their ideas.  The Charlotte  Mason approach is geared toward experiential acquisition of understanding, a narrative focus, and an emphasis on cultivating a love of learning.  It also incorporates a good deal of Bible study and memorization.

The list is maintained by a co-op of homeschooling parents and is still in some transition (I added it to my database in 2008, so there may be some differences between my records and theirs).  The list is unannotated except for a suggestion of grade level (there is an optional reading schedule for homeschoolers) and occasional notes by the contributor; helpfully, they have noted when a book is available for free online.  For people who are interested in implementing this list as a curriculum, there is an email support list for discussion.

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.

Click here for reviews of titles recommended by this list.

The Read-Aloud Handbook

Jim Trelease. Penguin (Non-Classics) 2006, Paperback, 432 pages, $7.94

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Jim Trelease’s Read-Aloud Handbook, first published in 1982, has sold over one million copies and gone through six editions.  Trelease traveled extensively for the next 25 years, speaking to American educators and parents about how to promote a love of reading among children.  He 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.

This book consists of ten chapters, the first nine of which  a case for reading aloud to children, discussing when to begin reading, and treat other topics related to childhood literacy.  Chapter three is especially helpful, describing the stages of reading aloud to children.  Trelease follows children them through their maturation process, suggesting specific reading strategies and kinds of books for different stages of maturity.  The tenth chapter is an annotated list of recommended readings.

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.  Still, this collection is highly respected, and contains many classic books.  I have used it primarily to see what books might be popular with children in more secular circles.

The sixth edition is extensive, with over 1000 titles, more than in previous editions.  Just over one-fifth of these appear in my book lists from Christian sources.  Rather annoyingly, many titles are only suggested in topical unannotated lists such as “Fairy Tale Parodies” and “Sports Stories.”   If you use it, I recommend the final edition because it is more up-to-date and thorough than previous ones.

Jim Trelease has a web site listing many of his educational resources, excerpts from his book, as well as a page for reviews of books that were published since the last edition of the book.

Click here for reviews of titles recommended by this list.

What Stories Does My Son Need? A Guide to Books and Movies that Build Character in Boys

Terry Trueman (Contributor). Tarcher 2000, Paperback, 142 pages, $6.56

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This book list book is compiled by Michael Gurian, a secular family therapist and educator.  He is the founder of The Gurian Institute, an institution committed to equipping teachers and parents to help young people reach their potential.  Hes best-known book, The Wonder of Boys, was a national best-seller, and has been followed by a number of other books on children and gender.

Gurian rightly believes that children and teens are tremendously influenced by the stories they hear, both through media and literature, and he recommends that parents and educators expose young people to stories that will not only do no harm, but will cultivate character and positive life lessons.  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)

These “moral competencies” are somewhat different from the idea of biblical Christian virtues — Gurian’s perspective is humanity-focused without a transcendent purpose.  Still, 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.

Click here for reviews of titles recommended by this list.