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Faith and character-building books are powerful tools that can easily fit into your children’s daily education.
I believe there is more to education than just academic success and home education includes parenting and discipleship.
Giving our children a good education is important, but a strong faith foundation and good godly character are the most important gifts parents can give to their children.
In a time of rapidly spiritual and moral decline, I believe a strong faith and character should be a priority in our home education.
As parents we have the privilege to partner with God to mold and shape the heart and character of our children.
Look on education as something between the child’s soul and God. Modern Education tends to look on it as something between the child’s brain and the standardized test.
Charlotte Mason
What is education?
There is much more to education than just filling the brain with knowledge.
Education is more than just academics. Just as a child is made of a body, soul, spirit, and mind, we must educate her as a whole, not just in part.
Education involves parenting, character training, and discipleship.
Charlotte Mason believed that living books and real-life experience were the best forms of education
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
What are living books?
Living books are an alternative to boring textbooks. They include fiction and non-fiction literature written by an author with a talent for bringing the story alive and engaging children’s ideas and imagination, so they are able to better understand and retain the information they learn.
And all the time we have books, books teeming with ideas fresh from the minds of thinkers upon every subject to which we can wish to introduce children.
Charlotte Mason
Why adding faith and character-building books to your homeschool?
Children naturally love captivating stories!
- Stories are the way humans learn. A good story captures our attention and transports us into the world of the characters it helps us to experience similar emotional responses as the characters in the story.
- Stories are a crucial part of a child’s development.
- Stories influence our behavior and even shape our culture.
- Stories are effective in influencing the way our children think and behave.
Stories teach by example in a way that children can easily and fully understand.
Character Before Academics
Having good Character qualities is the foundation not only for academic learning but also for success in relationships, career, and even in finances. After all, who wants to have a relationship or do business with someone that is not honest and trustworthy?
Unfortunately, good character traits don’t magically appear overnight—they take practice, patience and persistence.
It takes work!
It is a daily task for the parents, and it takes intentional effort to teach our children the values of our beliefs and good godly character.
“Every day, every hour, the parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in their children upon which, more than upon anything else, future character and conduct depend…”
Charlotte Mason
Godly character is a product of daily teaching and cultivating in our children good habits.
We must make every effort to give our children an education that qualifies them for a godly life rather than one to simply prepare them for earning a living.
I highly recommend you to read Formation Of Character: Volume V of Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series.
4 Easy Way to Add Faith and Character Building Books into Your Family Daily Routine
1 – Morning Basket
Having a morning basket with great faith and character building books is a great way to start the day!
You can learn what a morning basket is and how to create one here.
We usually keep 2-3 great books and biographies in our morning basket each month.
We start our day with a devotional, prayer, a read aloud and memory work. It’s a nice way to wake up our brains and get the atmosphere settle for our homeschool day.
2 – Family Read Aloud
Anytime of the day can be a good time to read books cuddling together! Mom does not need to read it all aloud by herself! Have the children take turns reading a page or a chapter.
To make reading aloud time more exciting, bake some cookies, make some hot chocolate or lemonade to drink.
My children like to act and make funny voices when they read aloud, that does keep everyone engaged. try that!
3 – Bedtime Stories
Bedtime stories are a great way to involve daddy with reading and getting inspired before bedtime prayer.
For faith-building, I highly recommend reading missionary stories. We like to make sure that God is the first and last thing in our minds.
4 – Audiobooks
Audiobooks are not cheating! They are as effective as reading aloud ourselves. Audiobooks can be life-saving for busy moms too.
We listen to audiobooks while doing chores, driving back and forth into town for grocery shopping or for doctors’ appointments, while building with LEGO, drawing, painting, or eating meals.
Pick a way that works best for your family and start enjoying reading or listening to more books together!
Top Faith & Character Building Books for Homeschoolers:
1. A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla
2. A Penny’s Worth of Character by Jesse Stuart
3. A Tree for Peter by Kate Seredy
4. Aesop Fables
5. All-of-a-kind Family by Sydney Taylor
6. Anna and Solomon by Elaine Snyder
7. Beautiful Girlhood by Karen Andreola
8. Black Beauty (Anna Sewell)
9. Books by Isabella Alden (pen name Pansy)
10. Buried in the Snow by Franz Hoffmann
11. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
12. Call it Courage by Armstrong Perry
13. Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
14. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
15. Charlie’s Choice by M. L. Nesbitt
16. Charlotte’s Web by E. B White
17. Childhood of Famous Americans Series
18. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
19. Cornerstones of Freedom Series
20. Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
21. Elsie Dinsmore Series
22. Ester Reid by Isabella Alden
23. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
24. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
25. Five Little Peppers Series
26. G. A. Henty Series (Historical Fiction)
27. Gifted Hands: A Ben Carson Story by Gregg Lewis and Deborah Shaw Lewis
28. Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
29. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
30. Hedge of Thorns by Sherwood
31. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
32. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
33. Holes by Louis Sachar
34. Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
35. Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen by Howard Binkow
36. I Did It, I’m Sorry! by Caralyn Buehner
37. In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon
38. Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto by Susan Goldman Rubin
39. It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale by Margot Zemach
40. Just Do Something by
41. Kingdom Series by Chuck Black
42. Lamplighter Books Series
43. Landmark Books Series
44. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
45. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
46. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
47. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
48. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
49. Mary Poppins by Dr. P. L. Travers
50. Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard
51. Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
52. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a series by Betty MacDonald,
53. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
54. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
55. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
56. Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat
57. Passage to Freedom by Ken Mochizuki
58. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
59. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
60. Please Say Please by Margery Cuyler
61. Pollyanna (book) (Audiobook available from Raising Real Men))
62. Rascal by Sterling North
63. Redwall by Brian Jacques
64. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe
65. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
66. Sir Knight of the Splendid Way by W.E. Cule
67. Sir Malcom and the Missing Prince by Sidney Baldwin
69. Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss
70. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
71. Sugar Creek Gang Series by Paul Hutchens
72. Teddy’s Button by Amy LeFeuvre
73. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
74. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
75. The Battle by A.L.O.E.
76. The Beatinest Boy by Jesse Stuart
77. The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy
78. The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
79. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be by Farley Mowat
80. The Empty Pot by Demi
81. The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit
82. The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
83. The Father Brown Reader by Nancy Carpentier Brown
84. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
85. The Good Master by Kate Seredy
86. The Green Ember by S. D. Smith
87. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
88. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
89. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
90. The Lord of the Rings Series by J.R.R. Tolkien
91. The Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis
92. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
93. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
94. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
95. The Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler’s Sons by Ruth Sawyer
96. The Rightful Owner by Jesse Stuart
97. The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
98. The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit
99. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
100. The Terrestria Chronicles Series by Ed Dunlop
101. The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill
103. The White Stag by Kate Seredy
104. The Wonderful O by James Thurber
105. The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
106. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom with John Sherrill
107. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
108. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
109. The Wemmicks Series by Max Lucado
110. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
111. Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman
112. Thy Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle
113. Tip Lewis and His Lamp by Isabella Alden
114. True North: A Novel of the Underground Railroad by Kathryn Lasky
115. Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
116. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
117. White Gypsy by Anette Lyster
118. Wisdom and The Millers Series
American History Character-Building Biographies
- Christopher Columbus: Across the Ocean Sea
- John Smith: A Foothold in the New World
- William Bradford: Plymouth’s Rock
- William Penn: Liberty and Justice for All
- Benjamin Franklin: Live Wire
- George Washington: True Patriot
- Daniel Boone: Frontiersman
- John Adams: Independence Forever
- Benjamin Rush: The Common Good
- William Wilberforce: Take up the Fight
- Meriwether Lewis: Off the Edge of the Map
- Elizabeth Fry: Angel of Newgate
- Davy Crockett: Ever Westward
- Abraham Lincoln: A New Birth of Freedom
- Harriet Tubman: Freedombound
- Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire
- Thomas Edison: Inspiration and Hard Work
- Milton Hershey: More than Chocolate
- Theodore Roosevelt: An American Original
- George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist
- Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life
- Orville Wright: The Flyer
- Ernest Shackleton: Going South
- Douglas MacArthur: What Greater Honor
- Ronald Reagan: Destiny at His Side
- Louis Zamperini: Redemption
- Billy Graham: America’s Pastor
- Alan Shepard: Higher and Faster
- Ben Carson: A Chance at Life
Faith & Character-Building Biographies of Missionaries
- Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf: Firstfruit
- John Wesley: The World His Parish
- John Newton: Change of Heart
- Francis Asbury: Circuit Rider
- William Carey: Obliged to Go
- Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma
- John Williams: Messenger of Peace
- George Mueller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans
- David Livingstone: Africa’s Trailblazer
- William Booth: Soup, Soap, and Salvation
- Hudson Taylor: Deep in the Heart of China
- D.L. Moody: Bringing Souls to Christ
- Lottie Moon: Giving Her all for China
- Mary Slessor: Forward Into Calabar
- Florence Young: Mission Accomplished
- Jonathan Goforth: An Open Door in China
- C.T. Studd: No Retreat
- Wilfred Grenfell: Fisher of Men
- Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems
- Samuel Zwemer: The Burden of Arabia
- Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts
- Rowland Bingham: Into Africa’s Interior
- Mildred Cable: Through the Jade Gate
- John Flynn: Into the Never Never
- Lillian Trasher: The Greatest Wonder in Egypt
- Sundar Singh: Footprints Over the Mountains
- Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angel’s Den
- Norman Grubb: Mission Builder
- Cameron Townsend: Good News in Every Language
- C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller
- Clarence Jones: Mr. Radio
- Isobel Kuhn: On the Roof of the World
- Eric Liddell: Something Greater Than Gold
- Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the Midst of Wickedness
- Richard Wurmbrand: Love Your Enemies
- Jacob DeShazer: Forgive Your Enemies
- Rachel Saint: A Star in the Jungle
- Paul Brand: Helping Hands
- Betty Greene: Wings to Serve
- Nate Saint: On a Wing and a Prayer
- Helen Roseveare: Mama Luka
- Elisabeth Elliot: Joyful Surrender
- Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose
- Brother Andrew: God’s Secret Agent
- Loren Cunningham: Into All the World
- David Bussau: Facing the World Head-on
- Charles Mulli: We are Family
- Klaus-Dieter John: Hope in the Land of the Incas
- Christopher Columbus: Across the Ocean Sea
- John Smith: A Foothold in the New World
- William Bradford: Plymouth’s Rock
- William Penn: Liberty and Justice for All
- Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf: Firstfruit
- John Wesley: The World His Parish
- Benjamin Franklin: Live Wire
- John Newton: Change of Heart
- George Washington: True Patriot
- Daniel Boone: Frontiersman
- John Adams: Independence Forever
- Francis Asbury: Circuit Rider
- Benjamin Rush: The Common Good
- William Wilberforce: Take up the Fight
- William Carey: Obliged to Go
- Meriwether Lewis: Off the Edge of the Map
- Elizabeth Fry: Angel of Newgate
- Davy Crockett: Ever Westward
- Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma
- John Williams: Messenger of Peace
- George Mueller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans
- Abraham Lincoln: A New Birth of Freedom
- David Livingstone: Africa’s Trailblazer
- Harriet Tubman: Freedombound
- Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire
- William Booth: Soup, Soap, and Salvation
- Hudson Taylor: Deep in the Heart of China
- D.L. Moody: Bringing Souls to Christ
- Lottie Moon: Giving Her all for China
- Thomas Edison: Inspiration and Hard Work
- Mary Slessor: Forward Into Calabar
- Florence Young: Mission Accomplished
- Milton Hershey: More than Chocolate
- Theodore Roosevelt: An American Original
- Jonathan Goforth: An Open Door in China
- C.T. Studd: No Retreat
- George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist
- Wilfred Grenfell: Fisher of Men
- Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems
- Samuel Zwemer: The Burden of Arabia
- Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life
- Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts
- Orville Wright: The Flyer
- Rowland Bingham: Into Africa’s Interior
- Ernest Shackleton: Going South
- Mildred Cable: Through the Jade Gate
- John Flynn: Into the Never Never
- Douglas MacArthur: What Greater Honor
- Lillian Trasher: The Greatest Wonder in Egypt
- Sundar Singh: Footprints Over the Mountains
- Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angel’s Den
- Norman Grubb: Mission Builder
- Cameron Townsend: Good News in Every Language
- C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller
- Clarence Jones: Mr. Radio
- Isobel Kuhn: On the Roof of the World
- Eric Liddell: Something Greater Than Gold
- Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the Midst of Wickedness
- Richard Wurmbrand: Love Your Enemies
- Ronald Reagan: Destiny at His Side
- Jacob DeShazer: Forgive Your Enemies
- Rachel Saint: A Star in the Jungle
- Paul Brand: Helping Hands
- Louis Zamperini: Redemption
- Billy Graham: America’s Pastor
- Betty Greene: Wings to Serve
- Nate Saint: On a Wing and a Prayer
- Alan Shepard: Higher and Faster
- Helen Roseveare: Mama Luka
- Elisabeth Elliot: Joyful Surrender
- Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose
- Brother Andrew: God’s Secret Agent
- Loren Cunningham: Into All the World
- David Bussau: Facing the World Head-on
- Charles Mulli: We are Family
- Ben Carson: A Chance at Life
- Klaus-Dieter John: Hope in the Land of the Incas
How about you? What are your favorite faith and character-building books?
Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know down in the comments!
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Wonderful list of book suggestions!
I realized later that in 3rd list, the list is duplicated. (search for Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf: Firstfruit and you will see where the duplicate list starts).
Nonetheless, this is a wonderful resource I’m saving down!
Oh yes!! It would be so helpful to have this list in a PDF form to be able to print and take to the library!! Thanks so much for all your work creating such an important resource for our families!!
On it! 🙂 I started already.
Did you get this done? I just watched you on the generations curriculum webinar.
I did! It’s on my computer and I haven’t uploaded yet. 🫣 Oops! I’m not home now but I’ll try to upload it tomorrow.
I love the pdf list idea of all these great books you recommended. Do you have one on this blog?
Thanks for the great suggestions. The few I’ve already read are awesome, so I imagine I would enjoy most of these.
What a wonderful list—ty.
Im so glad I found your blog! Thanks!
This is a great resource. You have listed a lot of our favorites.
This is a really great list! I agree with Marlene about The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz. Another good series is The Britfield series. It’s not necessarily Christian, but the main characters learn and display good character while exploring Great Britain and France and also display great courage and love for each other.
Thank you for this list! It is amazing! I will definitely be saving this list for future reference!
I’m glad to hear that! I need to make this list into a pdf so you all can download it!
I would love it if you made this list into a downloadable pdf!
I’m always looking for book lists for my kids. I have found we can’t just walk into a library and grab books anymore, I need a plan. This will give us more options to choose from now.
I really appreciate you sharing such a comprehensive list of books to help build faith and character. I will be returning to it, multiple times.
You’re welcome, Kristy!! 🙂
Faith Builders – Building faith one brick at a time, is a great Christian book for kids who love legos! Our kids love it!
Thanks for sharing it!
Oh how cool is THIS!! I read many of these wonderful books growing up as a homeschool kid. One series I and my siblings found particularly character-building, Christ-centered, family-focused, and spiritually inspiring (not to mention suspenseful!!) was the Baker Family Adventure Series by C R Hedgcock. I can not recommend these books enough. The author is a strong, previously homeschooled Christian, and currently the series has 8 books and it growing!
It is really look so amazing and show your efforts that you spend to make this article but I truly excited to read out this instruction. I appreciate you for post this amazing artwork with us but I enjoyed….
Thank You So Much
Another great find for faith series is by Jenny L. Cote. This author loves to excite young people about God and history. The Epic adventure begins with the two-book prequel series: The Amazing Tales of Max & Liz, where the Maker begins building His team of animals to be His envoys through pivotal points of history. Max, Liz, Kate and Al launch the adventure in book one, The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud, and are joined by their British mouse friend, Nigel, in book two, The Dreamer, the Schemer, and the Robe. With book three, The Prophet, the Shepherd, & the Star, the team of seven animals is finally complete, and known forevermore as the Order of the Seven for the remainder of the book series. Working behind the scenes in the lives of Noah, Joseph, Isaiah, Daniel, those in the Christmas story, Jesus, the Disciples, Paul and the early church, the team will pass through Biblical and world history up to modern times with Patrick Henry and the Revolutionary War, and C.S. Lewis and World War II. Jenny has a passion for making history fun for kids of all ages, instilling in them a desire to discover their part in HIStory. Readers are able to walk alongside and see not only strong biblical account of events in HIStory but also read about the parallel stories of world events. It’s like walking through some of the greatest events of history with people who were there. Our family will never look at scripture the same in the best of ways as these books touched our hearts and brought the pages of scripture to life. My daughter Madison designed a download printable game for this series (it is her first job for a real author and she couldn’t have been more thrilled for the opportunity to work with Jenny L Cote and help prolong the journey and savor the memories of these books. Look for these books under http://www.epicorderoftheseven.net (only place the game is available as well).