Faith-Based Books for Kids

Today I'm sharing our favorite faith-based books for kids.  Yes, all my kids read novels BUT who doesn't love reading a picture book every once in a while.  

The Prisoners, Earthquake and the Midnight Song is a newish favorite it details he powerful witness of Paul and Silas, who sung while they were held captive and refused to break free when an earthquake destroyed the prison they were trapped in.

There is some suicide talk when it comes to the jailer so keep that in mind if you have younger kids or kids who may be super sensitive to that kind of content.

Jesus and the Lions Den is my personal new favorite - and honestly, I feel like I learned something reading it ;)  It drew parallels between Daniel and Jesus and, as always, the illustrations are perfection.

The God Contest is another excellent choice. 

"This beautifully illustrated hardback retells two extraordinary events in history when the God of the Bible proved himself to be the one true God.

First it takes children back to Elijah’s time and the gripping “God contest” between the God of the Bible, Yahweh, and the false god Baal. Then it fast-forwards to a different mountain and another “God contest” at an empty tomb.

Once the evidence is examined, it invites kids, in a world of so many options, to decide with confidence to join Team Jesus."

Jesus and the Very Big Surprise talks about what Jesus' return will be like and how we can prepare while we wait.  It's uplifting and sweet and I really liked this one.

The Big Wide Welcome encourages children to love and welcome people regardless of their wealth, personality or background, just like Jesus does.

The illustrations are PRECIOUS and the message is just perfection.

If you're looking for a really unique and really beautiful book for Easter,  He is Risen would be a great choice.

It tells the entire story of Jesus and is illustrated with photographs of rocks.  It sounds strange but it's SO BEAUTIFUL.

Mason has been super inspired by this book and he has flipped through it almost daily.

Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer has been a super timely addition to our home library.  Griffin tends to have a lot on her mind and talking through taking ALL THOSE THOUGHTS to God has been super helpful.

THE FOLLOWING BOOKS ARE FROM PREVIOUS POSTS BUT I WANTED TO SHARE THEM ALL IN ONE PLACE ;)

Bible Infographics for Kids has been a HUGE HIT!  My kids all love these kinds of books and the information is presented in such creative, colorful and engaging ways for kids that they actually fight over who gets to read it :)

The information has sparked some great discussions and the kids have "wowed" friends and family members with the facts.

There's even a fold out game...

They all loved the infographic book so much we bought one for each of their teachers to have in the classrooms and got a couple more to give to friends.

And great news...  there's a second book that's just as great.

We're still doing daily reading time and Mason especially loves reading these kinds of books.

The One O'Clock Miracle has been a great addition to our home library.  The illustrations in this series of books are some of my favorites.

I ADORE  "The Friend Who Forgives".  It tells the story of the friendship of Jesus and Peter and  describes how "Jesus is not like our other friends. He wants to forgive us when we are really sorry, even when we mess up again and again and again. And because Jesus died and rose again he can. Jesus' death took the punishment for all of Peter's mistakes and all our mistakes, and his resurrection showed the penalty was lifted."

It's a wonderful story of forgiveness and how Jesus loves us no matter what.  Again with the amazing illustrations, too.  SO GOOD!!!

Now on to devotion books.  We like to do a "family devotion" at dinner time (or another time during the day when we're all together) and have several that we pull from.  Sometimes I'll let one of the kids randomly pick one to read and other times Dave or I selects one based on an earlier conversation, behavior, etc. :)

"I Am" is 40 devotions based on 40 of the names of God used in the Bible.

"Through Bible stories, short devotions, and prayers, children discover the meaning of each name and how it relates to their lives. As they develop understanding of God’s character and His love for them, children will grow to know, love, and trust the great I Am more and more."

Those who know your name put their trust in you. —Psalm 9:10

The pictures are really pretty and I loved that the book was focused more on the character of God than on an object type lesson.  Each devotion was super thorough including a story from the Bible, a key takeaway, a "what does it mean" section, a "learn more" section that leads kids to more verses and passages and a prayer.  

Y'all know that I declared Love Does my best book of the summer last year and I LOVE Bob Goff so it shouldn't come as a surprise that    Love Does for Kids is in our stack of devotion books.  Like "Love Does" it's full of beautifully-told stories about living out the love of Christ and I don't think I'll ever tire of Goff's story-telling style. If you're looking for a nightly scripture type of devotion this isn't it BUT it does have some great lessons, conversation starters and practical application ideas.

Last, but not least is Indescribable by Louie Giglio.

The book "displays the majesty of creation with scientific findings, photography and original illustrations.  The 100 devotions encourage awe at God's creativity with an in-depth look at space, galaxies, planets, stars, earth, geology, oceans, weather, animals, our minds, bodies and imaginations. 

My kids LOVE THESE SO MUCH!!! The topics are interesting, the mix of photos and illustrations capture their attention and the "be amazed" section has been a huge hit as they've learned some amazing information/facts.

If you're trying to pick one book from this post to order I'd pick this one 100%.

The Biggest Story  is one of my new FAVORITE books.  I tried explaining it on my own but the Amazon description does a way better job than I was doing ;) 

In The Biggest Story, Kevin DeYoung—a best-selling author and father of six—leads kids and parents alike on an exciting journey through the Bible, connecting the dots from the garden of Eden to Christ's death on the cross to the new heaven and new earth.

With powerful illustrations by award-winning artist Don Clark, this imaginative retelling of the Bible’s core message—how the Snake Crusher brings us back to the garden—will draw children into the biblical story, teaching them that God's promises are even bigger and better than we think.

Luke read the entire thing over the course of two days and Dave and I have both read it since and loved it.

And it doesn't hurt that the illustrations are GORGEOUS!!!

I want this nativity scene framed and in our playroom at Christmas... isn't it fantastic?

The Storm that Stopped  tells the story of how Jesus stopped the storm while on the boat with his disciples...

... but the coolest part is how at the end it draws the conclusion that "if God is the one that created the Heavens and the Earth and HE was the one who can control his creation and Jesus came and was able to control the sea then Jesus must be God".  It was a great way of explaining the trinity (which can be hard to explain to kids!) and was perfectly in line with what Mason's been learning about in school this year about how God reveals himself to us.

I mentioned  The Garden, The Curtain and The Cross before Easter but it's worth mentioning again because I think if you're going to order one book from this post it should be this one :) 

It starts in the garden, explains how sin separated us from God and how the curtain represented that.

It goes into Jesus and the crucifixion and how on the cross Jesus did away with the need for the curtain.

The illustrations are beautiful but the message is even better.  I really can't recommend it enough!

Last, but not least, is  God's Very Good Idea.

And again I'm going to quote Amazon...

God's very good idea is to have lots of different people enjoying loving him and loving each other. This stunningly illustrated journey from the garden of Eden to God's heavenly throne room shows how despite our sinfulness, everyone can be a part of God's very good idea through the saving work of Christ.

This book will help children see how people from all ethnic and social backgrounds are valuable to God and how Jesus came to rescue all kinds of people. It will also excite them about being part of church.

If you couldn't tell I love kids books :)  I hope you found something that you think your kids will love and that you'll love reading to them!  Happy Wednesday, friends!!!

PS - this post contained affiliate links... thanks so much for reading and supporting my blog!