It’s back-to-school time. Soon kids will be choosing books to read for school assignments as well as for leisure reading.

Over the next few weeks, I would like to explore some things to consider when searching for great books for Christian children and teens. I introduced the series here last Saturday.

Parents want trusted content for young readers, whether they are in the public school setting or being homeschooled. What exactly is included in the concept of book content?

Let’s consider content to be the topic of the book.

CONTENT – What is the topic of the book?

Of course, a book is made of many more components, but let’s focus on content for today.

As a parent, you may have certain topics that are trusted for your child or teen’s reading. For example, if your child is an aircraft enthusiast, you may trust books on that topic. (Other components of aircraft books – such as reading level – may or may not fit your child’s needs.) Other nonfiction topics might be on  your list as well.

Make a list of trusted nonfiction topics.

Your family’s list of trusted nonfiction topics might include the following:

• Devotion books
• Hobbies
• Historical events
• How to books
• Inspirational books

Obviously, not all books are nonfiction books.

Recently, I had a conversation about children’s fiction books about horses. A child or a teen with a horse seems to be a trusted topic. Whether nonfiction (like Great Horse Stories for Girls) or fiction (like Heartbreak Trail). You can read about these new books (about horses) from Christian authors by clicking on the images.Great Horse Stories

Make a list of trusted fiction topics.

This list is a little harder to write, isn’t it? More things come into play when it comes to fiction, things like tone. For our purposes, let’s think about tone this way:

TONE – How is the content presented?

Next Saturday, I will explore how to consider tone when choosing great books for Christian kids.

Carol