books.

As is tradition, I thought I'd post some of our favorite new books. As most of you probably know, books are dearly loved in our family and it has been a tradition in the Mellinger family to always get a new book for Christmas. We just celebrated Christmas with my family on Sunday, so we now have a nice new stack of books. I'm also adding some new favorites from the past few months that we have either purchased or will be giving to the kiddos for Christmas. So, here they are ...

Long Story Short is a new devotional book by Marty Machowski geared towards families. The great thing about this book is that it follows the same children's curriculum that we use at our church, so you can follow along for further application of their lessons. Of course, you could also just use this book alone for family devotions. This is Volume 1 which covers the Old Testament, and eventually there will be a 2nd Volume released that covers the New Testament. These short devotionals are perfect for around the dinner table and we love how everything is prepared for you.

The Tale of the Three Trees is a classic folklore story that tells the tale of three trees that eventually play a vital role in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. Our kids have enjoyed this book for years, so it will be nice to have it in our personal library now.

The Three Gifts of Christmas is a sequel of sorts to The Princess and the Kiss (a favorite of our girls), where the princess learns the important truth that it is better to give than to receive. This particular book comes with an audio CD which our kids always enjoy.

My 1st Book of Christian Values is a part of the "My 1st Book" series (we already have My 1st Book of Questions and Answers, which is a great first little book for teaching the catechism), which teaches children the truths about humility, generosity, purity and respect. The values show us what Jesus is like and has a scripture verse, then applies how we should behave. The kiddos also received My 1st Book of Bible Prayers, which is a great tool for learning to pray the text of Scripture and apply its truth to our lives and My 1st Book about Jesus, which helps children to understand the truth about Jesus, who He is and what He has done for them.

The Creation Story for Children is a simply told and wonderfully illustrated book retelling the story of creation from Genesis 1-2. We love the gorgeous artwork, and also enjoy how the book uses actual Bible verses to tell the story. Kids of all ages will love this book!

Our Home is Like a Little Church is a cute little book written to teach children that the Christian doctrine of the home should be a place of worship where the father teaches his family God’s commands and leads them to worship the one true God. It also serves as a gentle reminder to parents that the spiritual disciplines present in church on a Sunday morning should also be applied in our home during the week.

The Pilgrim's Progress is a classic, and this version is currently our favorite for reading to the kiddos. Justin in particular has always loved this book. While the language is updated in this version to be more modern, it doesn't compromise the literary beauty of the book. It also includes scripture references at the bottom of the pages, commentary and thirty full-page color illustrations that are beautiful.

Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers is a cute little series with 4 different books (The Gospel, The Trinity, The Scripture and The Mission) that teach God-centered theology with simple and precise teaching.

I'll Love You Anyway and Always is a cute story about a little girl whose disobedience provides her dad with an opportunity to tell her about his unconditional love for her - just like the love of our Heavenly Father towards His children. The dad uses stories from the bible to show how God loves His children, and in the end the little girl has an opportunity to demonstrate love to her brother.

The Rag Doll and Over the Fence by Stephanie Carmichael and Jessica Green are two newly released children's books. Their aim is to help kids grasp the goodness of God and the joy of living in gratitude to Him through children's books. You can buy them through Westminster Bookstore; on their site you can also watch a video with the stories being read.

Mike Mulligan and More: A Virginia Lee Burton Treasury is a wonderful treasury that includes the following classics:
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
The Little House
Katy and the Big Snow
Maybelle the Cable Car
Our children love these stories and read them over and over again, so we love having the treasury that includes them all.

Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics has been a wonderful addition to our library. It includes 12 classic picture books, including some of our favorites such as "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina, "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown, "From Head to Toe" by Eric Carle, "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson and "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Joffe Numeroff. This treasury is great for babies and toddlers as the pictures are all very large. It's also a great book to have the big kids read to the little kids as they are all very simple, easy reading picture books!

And to add to our audio collection, we now have this version of The Chronicles of Narnia audio put out by Focus on the Family Radio Theater. It is an abridged version, but still has over 26 hours of listening with dramatized voices, sound effects and music which bring the stories to life.

We should have plenty of reading/listening material for our vacation next week!