Every day Lydia is at school she gets to pick out a new book from her class library. This book must be read out loud and then a mini book report filled out and turned in the next day. She loves showing off her new book and I love hearing her read to me. (And the little book reports? Cutest thing ever! 99% of the time she writes, “the book was funny.”)
We’re still working on using pauses between sentences and using a little bit of inflection, but it’s still fun to watch her proudly finish an entire book herself. And as much as I love her reading Five Little Monkeys and Biscuit’s Picnic to me, I’ve been on the lookout for some Bible-based, Christian-themed Easy Readers or Level 1-type books for her.
And whadya’ know, we’ve found two in the past week!
The first one I posted about on Facebook on Tuesday because I could barely contain myself! (And off topic, it got here in one day! Hello Amazon Prime!) Robin Jones Gunn has a new kids’ book called God’s Mountains, Meadows and More! It’s actually her first kids’ book but has recently been newly illustrated and re-released. It’s a super simple book about a little boy who flies in a hot air balloon all over the world discovering that God made the sea, the ocean, the mountains and more.
The illustrations are pretty cute and the words are definitely on a new reader level. Lydia and I read this last night and we really enjoyed it!
Of course, Robin Jones Gunn also wrote my favorite easy reading books, The Mrs. Rosey Posey series. They are Level 2, but I might see if Lydia can tackle them!
The next set of books was actually sent to me by Zonderkidz. It’s a series about Princess sisters. Hello. Princess sister books! How could Lydia not like those?!
The books are based on some previously released picture books by Jeanna Young. The stories are actually Jesus’ parables retold in this Princess-castle-fairy-tale setting. For example, Princess Charity’s Courageous Heart is based on the Good Samaritan, Princess Grace and the Lost Kitten is about the parable of the lost sheep, etc. Isn’t that fun?
I haven’t read all of them (and honestly, when I first picked them up at the bookstore was turned off because HOW MANY PRINCESS STORIES DO WE NEED?!) but I love the idea of the retold parables! Perfect for conversation starters and supplements to a Bible study.
Lydia read Princess Joy’s Party to her Daddy before bed the other night–he read one page, she read the next. She and I are reading Princess Grace and Poppy tonight!
A few other I-Can-Read, early reader type books we have are Happy Birthday, Barnabas (we save this one for birthdays!), Snug as a Bug (a perfect bed time story), Zachary’s Zoo (this one is on permanent rotation) and Super Ace and the Space Traffic Jam (sadly, not our fave).
Does your family have any Bible-based easy reading books to recommend?
Ooooh- I love your recommendations! I bet my little new reader would love those too!
Right now, she is enjoying reading a story from “The Early Reader’s Bible” (also from ZonderKidz) every day and loving it!
Hope you’re doing well!
Jessica
Hmmm. We don’t have that Early Readers Bible. I need to get it!
a
I love that your ideas are right on track with where our family is. My daughter goes to public school but is just becoming an independent reader. I would love to pick up some of these faith based books for her to read.
I was actually surprised how much we both liked the Princess books. And of course, anything by RJG is gonna be my fave!
a
This is such an exciting stage in our childrens lives! The Princess stories sound great. We found a dynamite set for very beginning readers that uses repeated words to tell Bible stories. Here Me Read 3 Book Set, online at Catholic Child Catalog.
Thanks, Marci! I’ll look them up!
a
Yikes! We totally have those books and I forgot about them! They are illustrated by my favorite artist, Dennis Jones!
Here’s a link to one of them on Amazon:
http://amzn.to/SlKgAa
Thanks for reminding me, Marci!!
a
I didn’t realize Robin Jones Gunn wrote books for children. I knew that she wrote books for teens, though.
This is not an early reader book, but Mom and Dad can read it to their little one. It is a favorite in our house because it reminds us of our Nana. Miss Fannie’s Hats by Jan Karon.
Fun — I’ll have to check out that princess series!!