Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books

Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books
Tony Reinke
Crossway
2011

Lit! is a terrific introduction to what it means to read as a Christian, from a Christian worldview; Reinke covers why we, as Christians, should be readers, how we should read, and what we should read. He covers a lot of ground succinctly (less than 200 pages) and includes both theoretical and practical information. This book, in particular, is a good introduction to a Reformed worldview, to the idea that the gospel is both central to our existence and informs everything we do, that common grace insights can be found in many places, and to a basic understanding of Christianity and the arts. If you are already familiar with the ideas of thinkers such as Neil Postman, James Sire, C. S. Lewis, Puritan theologians such as John Owen, Reformation "greats" such as Calvin and Luther, and are widely read in the more well known creative authors in Christendom (Tolkien, Lewis, John Donne, Dostoevsky, Flannery O'Connor, etc.), then this book will be a refresher course. If most of what I've just discussed in this first paragraph sounds like Greek to you, I highly recommend this book.

Books Children Love

Books Children Love
Elizabeth Laraway Wilson
Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Crossway
2002

Another must have resource for parents! Those familiar with Francis Schaeffer may recognize his daughter's name as one of the co-authors. Wilson and Laraway have put together a terrific collection of book lists in the educational spirit of Charlotte Mason who advocated "living books" as a means to educate children (instead of "dead textbooks"). Thus, the book is filled with lists of nonfiction books that are really interesting to children and accurate enough to be good sources of information. There are nonfiction categories as well (fantasy, fairy tales, etc.), but I think the nonfiction sections really shine. So many other lists for children ignore these types of categories or under-represent them. Nice, succinct summaries of books are provided so that readers can know what the book is about. Lists are categorized and well-organized.

Again, a print-based book of book lists can only include books published before its own publication date. Megan and I seek, on this blog, to direct you to recent books that might be included in such worthy resources as this when next they are updated. (And critically evaluate current resources in general) We also enjoy reviewing books that have already been covered in such books as Books Children Love and examining whether they have stood the test of time.

Honey for a Child's Heart

Honey for a Child's Heart
Gladys Hunt
Zondervan
2002

This book is a must for Christian parents. Hunt gives a marvelous rationale for why we should be reading to our children--and what we should be reading to our children--in the light of Scripture. Fully half of the book is her philosophy of reading and her encouragement to us to read to our children.

The second half of the book is comprised of lists--suggestions of what to read to your children that meet her standards given earlier. The books are divided up by age and category. I use these lists often to put books on reserve at the library. I'm rarely disappointed. This is one of the few books I think is definitely worth owning.

But a print-based book inevitably falls behind. While there are truly wonderful books published in the past that shouldn't be missed, there are also new, truly wonderful books being published all the time. I suppose what Megan and I hope to do here on this blog is direct you in one of two ways: to books we think are truly wonderful and shouldn't be missed (both past and present)--in the spirit of Honey for a Child's Heart. The other direction is to critically evaluate some of the new books that are bestsellers or garnering praise from the biggies in the publishing/library worlds (sources such as Horn Book, Scholastic, ALA Awards, etc.).