CatholicVote teamed up again with Sophia Institute Press to bring you 10 must-have children’s books for Catholic families. Add these titles to your Christmas lists or stock up on multiple titles to use as gifts for First Communion, Confirmation, or baby showers!
Build a library that builds up the Faith!
Ages 3 – 5
Young children respond to beautiful pictures and heroic tales. These books engage the imagination and the mind – and will also draw in older siblings!
Our Lady’s Picture Book, by Anthony DeStefano
In this charming sequel to his bestselling book, Our Lady’s Wardrobe, Anthony DeStefano introduces Catholic children to more well-known images of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Only this time, he doesn’t use Our Lady’s clothes to teach children about the Mother of God, but rather, he gives kids a peek into her own personal “picture book.”
ABC Get to Know the Saints with Me, by Caroline Perkins
This beautiful collection of poems and pictures introduces young readers to the Communion of Saints in a simple and memorable way. Each page includes an easy to read letter of the alphabet and a charming rhyme about the life of the corresponding saint in heaven.
Angel in the Waters, by Regina Doman
This Catholic classic, with its gentle illustrations and wise words, tells the story of an unborn baby and its guardian angel . . . a story that will delight all young children, because the journey from conception to birth is their story, too.
Ages 6 – 10
These selections make great read-alouds as well as good silent reading for older elementary children.
Classic Bible Comics, by Sophia Institute Press
Vividly and imaginatively illustrated in lavish color, a vintage classic that sold in the countless thousands for two generations is now back in print from Sophia Institute Press. This thin volume includes 23 must-read Bible stories that will captivate the hearts of young children.
The Book of Saints and Heroes, by Andrew & Lenora Lang
The great Andrew Lang brings his story-telling prowess to the lives of the saints! The first Christians to visit Europe and the British Isles met pagans who told tales of fairies, talking beasts, and other wonderful things. To these marvelous stories, they soon added new ones about the Christian saints. Some were true, others improbable, and many simply fantastic. Lang retells these great legends with color and reverence.
You’ll also find here true tales of great saints such as St. Louis of France, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary — souls marked by courage, kindness, and piety.
This book is highly recommended as a family read-aloud throughout the liturgical year – a must-have for a Catholic family library!
Saint Thomas Aquinas: For Children and the Childlike, by Raissa Maritain
Initially written for children, but a delight for grownups as well, these pages show the beauty and holiness that belonged especially to Saint Thomas Aquinas, the man of learning who was also a man of God: the patron saint of all those, young and old, who love the truth with their whole hearts, and who wish to know and serve it well.
BONUS! The author, Raissa Maritain, was the wife of famed Thomistic scholar Jacques Maritain!
Ages 11 and up
Older children need time alone with God and the saints – and books are the perfect way to encourage this! Here are four titles for the pre-teens in your life.
Maximilian Kolbe: The Saint of Auschwitz, by Jean-Francois Vivier
It’s July 1941 in the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.
Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe steps forward.
“Let me take this man’s place,” he says, thereby volunteering to die in the place of a stranger who had just been condemned to death by his Nazi captors.
By means of this singular deed, Fr. Kolbe laid down his life not for his friends — as some might do — but for a complete stranger.
This compelling story, told in graphic novel form, introduces older children to history, the Faith, and the adventure of holiness.
Awakening, by Claudia Cangilla McAdam
This bold science fiction story casts a young, American Catholic girl as the unlikely protagonist of the plot to save Jesus from Crucifixion. Can she change the future? Should she? This exciting novel asks deep questions, while also bringing ancient Palestine to vivid life.
Christians Courageous, by Rev. Aloysius Roche
For every half-dozen heroes antiquity could muster, Christendom produced thousands; and often from the strangest holes and corners. Some of these priests, monks, and martyrs are brought vividly to life in these stories about courageous Christians from the earliest days of Christianity to modern times.
The Saints Chronicles Collection, by Sophia Institute Press Authors
Collection 1, Collection 2, Collection 3, Collection 4, Collection 5
The Saints Chronicles bring vividly to life the stories of courageous Christians from the earliest days of Christianity to modern times. All five volumes of this popular graphic novel series are packed with engaging texts and dramatic images that captivate readers of all ages and inspire them to appreciate and live out more fully their participation in the Mystical Body of Christ.
