Age 04-08. 5 Stars. Everyone should have at least one Noah’s Ark story, and Peter Spier’s version is one of the best available. It is especially well suited to children, with its wordless format and careful attention to visual detail.

Age 04-08. In this quiet celebration of familial love, an eight-year-old girl attends the Nutcracker ballet with her grandfather — the same outing he once took with her deceased mother… Bunting has a rare gift for capturing complex emotions and portraying them in a way that young children can understand through vicarious experience. In this wonderful story, she makes a profound statement about refusing to live in the past but instead dwelling in present relationships.

Age 12-16. 5 Stars. In this poem Jesus, on his way to be crucified in Jerusalem, visits the innkeeper and hears his account of the Nativity. His story goes on, however, to dramatically describe Herod’s Slaughter of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16-18), in which the innkeeper lost his entire family and his right arm…. Piper draws together the stories of a joy-filled family, a terrible evil, and the great hope that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection bring to all who suffer under the reign of death and evil. Because of the violent content of the story, it may be better suited to teenagers than younger children.

Age 04-08. 4 Stars. The Plymouth Thanksgiving is a readable, straightforward retelling of the events leading up to the American Thanksgiving, targeted for readers ages 4-8. Based on William Bradford’s diary, it tells the story of the Plymouth settlers in their difficult journey, first to Holland and then to the New World, and of their struggle to survive their first year in Massachusetts…. It’s a fine addition to the holiday reading basket.

Age 04-08. It is important to acknowledge that while Thanksgiving symbolizes a young America’s hope and potential, it also commemorates the beginning of colonization, an event which meant grief and destruction for the original inhabitants of our country… [this story] emphasizes the sovereign, redemptive plan of God through Squanto’s personal suffering, and Squanto’s ability to do good in the midst of tragic circumstances. This is a hero worth emulating, and a perspective on Thanksgiving that should not be missed.

Age 05-10. This memorable story provides an example of genuine, loving friendship, which blooms among the hard realities of farm life… it is these contrasts that have made this story such an enduring classic — the reality of death and pain make joy and love all the sweeter where they exist.

Age 04-08. 4 Stars. The Clown of God is beautifully-illustrated, well-written retelling of a French legend. The orphan Giovanni achieves great heights of fame through a juggling act… At the height of his fame, some monks tell him his juggling “sings of the glory of God,” to which he laughingly retorts, “I only juggle to make people laugh and applaud.”… at the end of his life he devotes his talents to an act of worship toward God…. The main element biblically-centered Christians may want to supply when they read this story is to make it explicit that God will only accept our gifts when we trust in Jesus’ death, which opens the way for us to come to God…. This qualification aside, The Clown of God is a beautiful story for your Christmas basket or any time of the year.

Age 08-12. 5 Stars. Travis Coates is a 14-year-old boy, left alone to protect his mother and younger brother on his family’s 19th-century Texas homestead…. [He performs] an extraordinary act of moral courage, but it comes at the end of a story filled with ordinary acts of responsibility. In this outstanding coming-of-age story, Travis’s manhood is achieved at great cost, and in this cost he proves his worth as a man.

Age 00-04. 4 Stars. Swimmy’s courage and leadership, the teamwork and cooperation of the small fish, and the creativity with which they solve their problem, combine to make a satisfying story. The predatory behavior of the bigger fish is presented neutrally, as neither good nor evil — and since fish are less easy to identify with than other kinds of animals, the loss of Swimmy’s family isn’t too traumatic. Still, sensitive children may have trouble with this story’s beginning, so parents may want to use caution.

Age 09-12. 1 Star. In this modern-to-medievel time-travel fantasy, a family of three children and their father go to live in Wales for the winter, grieving the loss of their wife and mother. Twelve-year-old Peter finds a key which opens a portal into ancient Wales — and he and his sisters must resist a rising threat when knowledge of the key spreads to those who wish to misuse it. The book is recommended by several good sources and is entertainingly well written, with good character development and a sustained sense of magic lurking at the edges of the children’s dreary lives. Unfortunately, the dreariness of their lives seems to originate in their relationship with their father…. Although skilfully written, the bitter, secretive protagonist in this story is anything but admirable, and his father is worse. The biblical ideal of a family in which parents love, lead and train their children, is entirely absent. The magic in the story is enticing, and the interweaving of modern and historical Wales is masterful, but the detached, egalitarian family dynamic is quite poisonous.