The Search For Good Books

One of the big concerns my wife and I have had over the past twenty-two years that we have homeschooled our six children is finding good books for them to read. There are some good ones out there, but it’s kind of like prospecting for gold. It’s not too bad if you’ve got children who love to read, but if they don’t enjoy it much or if, like me, their attention span is short, it’s much more difficult. In that case, you need exciting stories that are fast paced that still have a biblical world view and, ideally, teach moral lessons.

So what do you think? Is my wish list too high? I don’t think so. There are some exciting, well-written books out there that can draw a reader closer to God, such as:

• All of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis
• We’ve gone through a lot of G. A. Henty’s books.
• The Cooper Kid’s adventures by Frank Peretti were enjoyable.
• The Sugar Creek Gang series by Paul Hutchins were good for younger readers.
• The Jungle Doctor series by Paul White we read as a family and thoroughly enjoyed.
• Cleared For Action: Four Tales of the Sea by Stephen W. Meader were fun stories that, though not spiritual, were written with a biblical world view.
• John Bunyon’s books are good (especially if you get them in modern English).
• R. M. Balantyne’s books kept my boys’ interests and taught them some character lessons.
• My daughters all enjoyed the Mandy books by Lois Gladys Leppard, as well as . . .
• The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
• Jeannette Oke has written a number of engaging books that are spiritually encouraging.

If some of you have other suggestions, be sure and list them in a comment to this blog. I’m sure the readers would appreciate the suggestions.

The lack of exciting, engaging books for my children was one of the reasons I write my Tales of Larkin books. I want to encourage those of you who are reading this who have active imaginations to start writing. We need good stories. Jesus Christ Himself was a master story-teller, and He used his stories to get His message into the hearts of His listeners. The world needs us to keep telling good stories. Remember, “The people who tell the best stories shape the culture” – Dr. Michael Ferris.

Blessings,

Alan Harris