Principles for Choosing Books for Your Children

Share Now

One of the things I loved about homeschooling was going to the library and bringing home stacks of books. However, I do remember the difficulty of choosing those books. We had wonderful libraries when we lived in Urbana, Illinois. One highlight of our homeschooling there was a library program involving a reading Bingo card. One of the purposes of the Bingo card was to encourage children to read books from many different sections of the library. It not only encouraged that in my children; it taught me possibilities, too.

These are some principles that might be helpful to you as you choose books for your children.

  • Encourage your children to read different kinds of literature — biographies, historical fiction, non-fiction, etc. — and encourage them to read non-fiction from many different sections of the library.
  • Judge classics carefully. Not every classic is wholesome.
  • Choose authors wisely.
  • Read the original, not the abridged, versions. If a child isn’t ready for the original, perhaps you can wait until they are ready.
  • Don’t feel bound by rigid age levels or book categories (it’s okay for girls to read “boy” books and for boys to read “girl” books)
  • Be careful of false world views.
  • Consider the maturity and special needs of each individual child. Not every child is ready for the same book at exactly the same age.
  • Make decisions based on God’s teachings.
  • Realize that every author is a flawed vessel made of clay.
  • Weigh the benefits versus the problems of a particular book.
  • Choose books that are well-written.
  • Choose books that tell a good story.
  • Choose books that inspire, teach, challenge, or comfort.
  • Choose books that honor God.
  • Choose books that are redemptive, books that take something bad or average and make something great out of it.

Don’t let your children read just anything. It is not true that it doesn’t matter what children read as long as they are reading something.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence
and if anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things.
Philippians 4:8

 

 

Share Now

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *