Building a Picture Book Library

Written By Aaron Friesen

A good picture book can be an excellent way to help a child to connect emotionally and cognitively with biblical stories and ideas that can often feel other worldly, abstract and disconnected from real life. Some picture books are so narrow in their depictions of God/Jesus and human beings that they limit a child’s imagination in a way that is counterproductive and unhelpful. However, there are a lot of picture books out there (many published in the last few years) that are appropriately broad and inclusive in their depiction of people/children and which do an excellent job of helping children imagine and understand the world of the Bible, faith and spirituality through stories, images, concepts, and experiences. We have incorporated many of these books in the Storyline K-5 Curriculum.

Below are some of the books that we suggest for building your picture book library at home or at church:

CREATION

  • Archer, Micha. Wonder Walkers.  New York:  Nancy Paulsen Books, 2021.

  • Evans, Tony. Made by God: Celebrating God’s Gloriously Diverse World. Eugene: Harvest House, 2021.

  • Pecinovsky, Teresa Kim. Mother God. Minneapolis: Beaming Books, 2022.

  • Thornborough, Tim. God’s Very Colorful Creation. The Good Book Company, 2021.

  • Turner, Matthew Paul. When God Made Light. New York: Convergent Books, 2018.

  • Turner, Matthew Paul. When God Made The World. New York: Convergent Books, 2020.

  • Turner, Matthew Paul. When God Made You. New York: Convergent Books, 2017.

  • Tutu, Desmond. Let There Be Light. Grand Rapids: Zonderkidz, 2013.

ISRAEL

  • Wildsmith, Brian. Exodus. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

PSALMS

  • Delval, Marie-Hélène. Psalms for Young Children. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.

  • Flinn, Amanda. God Made All Your Feelings. Minneapolis: Beaming Books, 2022.

  • Goble, Paul. Song of Creation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004.

  • Lock, Deborah. A World of Praise. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022.

  • Wigger, J. Bradley. Thank You, God. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.

  • Williamson, Dorena. The Celebration Place. Downers Grove: IVP Press, 2021.

LIFE OF JESUS

  • Tutu, Desmond. My Jesus Story Collection. Grand Rapids: Zonderkidz, 2019.

OTHERS

  • Evans, Rachel Held and Matthew Paul Turner. What God is Like. New York: Convergent Books, 2021.

  • McCaulley, Esau. Josey Johnson's Hair and the Holy Spirit. Downers Grove: IVP Kids, 2022.

  • Myers, Ben. The Apostles' Creed: For All God’s Children. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2022.

  • Tutu, Desmond. Children of God Storybook Bible. Grand Rapids: Zonderkidz, 2010.

  • Woodley, Randy. The Harmony Tree: A Story of Healing and Community. Victoria, BC: Friesen Press, 2016.

Aaron Friesen
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